Hello from NextUp.com
Spring is definitely upon us. It's beautiful here in our part of the world and we hope all of you are doing great wherever you are. We have some fun stuff this month with TextAloud integration for iTunes plus some new voices from Acapela. Also we'll give away a NextUp.com golf shirt in our newsletter drawing so be sure to
read on for details on how you can enter. Thanks for staying tuned. |
| TextAloud Is Now Integrated with iTunes®
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 The most recent update for TextAloud is now fully
compatible with the popular iTunes® software, adding ease and functionality for iTunes® users everywhere.
TextAloud now works seamlessly with iTunes, automatically placing
created audio files into iTunes® for easy syncing with your iPod®,
iPhone™, or other iTunes-compatible portable audio players. Audio files generated by TextAloud are automatically added to the
iTunes library, in a playlist name that users themselves can specify.
Once users have completed updating iTunes with audio from TextAloud,
they simply need to 'sync' their iPods from iTunes® as normal. This
will update their devices with their TextAloud audio and playlists
seamlessly.
You can go to the following webpage for more information
http://nextup.com/itunes.html
To download the latest TextAloud update with iTunes® integration, go to
http://www.nextup.com/TextAloud/download.html
You can purchase TextAloud starting at $29.95 at
http://nextup.com/purchase.html
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New Acapela Voices For TextAloud
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 Since their introduction, the TextAloud voices from Acapela Group have been very
popular. We are excited to add several new voices including additional voices
for UK British, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Additionally, we added
new languages to TextAloud with voices supporting Danish, Czech, Faroese,
Icelandic, Finnish and Turkish. You can sample and purchase these at
http://www.nextup.com/acapela.html
As
you likely know, these Acapela voices work only with TextAloud and our other
Aloud products. We are often asked about SAPI compatible versions of these
voices that will work with other Windows programs. We are glad to announce
those are now available in a product we sell called InfoVox Desktop. Available
through NextUp.com to US-based buyers, prices start at $190 for a six-pack of US
English Voices. More information is at
http://www.nextup.com/infovox.html
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| TextAloud Turns Drive Time to Prime Time
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With nearly a dozen hours of commute time each week (over two per day),
purchasing professional Brandon Jubar of El Paso, Texas, wanted to find
a creative way to make the most of that 'lost time' in his daily
schedule while also enhancing his studies in pursuit of his Masters
Degree. He found his solution with TextAloud.
"I had little time to devote to reading for work, as well as for
reading assignments in my Masters classes," comments Brandon, "so I
began to look for a program that converted text to audio. There were
also a variety of online resources and articles I wanted to review, but
I never had the time." TextAloud, however, made it easy for Brandon to
convert online articles, resources, and more to audio files that he
then burned to a CD so that he could listen on his way to and from
work. Once he'd chosen TextAloud, Brandon quickly settled on premium
voice 'Mike' from AT&T Natural Voices®. "It was the first of the
Natural Voices® I used," he adds, "and he just sounds familiar to me
now."
Brandon converted his course books and other work materials to audio files. "It was easy to do," he comments, "and I was able to listen
while I drove. It often allowed me to review work or course materials
two or three times per trip."
TextAloud proved easy to use, and maximized Brandon's time on commute
in a variety of ways. He was able to convert lengthy texts into audio,
breaking them up so that each section was its own separate, shorter
track. "It was the best thing I ever did," he comments. "Working this
way makes it easier to listen to when you want to find and listen to
separate critical sections more than once. It can be very difficult to
find those kinds of moments if everything is lumped into a single
60-minute audio file."
Brandon now actively recommends TextAloud and Text to Speech to others
seeking to maximize their commute times. "I've been amazed at how many
people don't realize that there is software to convert text to speech,"
he comments. "And of those who DO know about it, they all seem to
assume that the voices are still the old mechanical-sounding ones.
People need to realize that there are natural, human-sounding voices
available today."
For Brandon, TextAloud has given him back those double-digit hours of
commute time each week, turning the minutes back into time he can turn
to active use for work and study. "A single hour of text-to-audio
conversion," he adds, "can provide many hours of audio for my commute
-- time that's no longer wasted." Thanks to a program that frees up his
schedule and maximizes his commute, "TextAloud changed my life," says
Brandon.
You can download the demo of TextAloud at
http://nextup.com/TextAloud/download.html
For
more information about TextAloud and its features, visit
http://nextup.com/TextAloud/index.html
and
you can purchase TextAloud at
http://nextup.com/purchase.html
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| Revisiting Hotkeys in TextAloud
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The most common question we get is, what is the best way to get text into
TextAloud. There are literally dozens of ways including the Windows clipboard,
opening files directly, and web browser toolbars. These and more are explained
in detail in the TextAloud manual at
http://www.nextup.com/manual.html
One
of the most useful methods is using TextAloud Hotkeys. I'm sure you are
familiar with windows shortcut keys. If you look at the menu of any program,
you'll see some menu items have shortcuts defined. For example, if you look at
the TextAloud menu and choose File, you'll see "Open Ctrl+O". That is
telling you that within TextAloud, hold down Control and press O, and it will
perform File->Open. These are great and can save lots of time when you get
used to the shortcuts, but they only work while TextAloud is the active
(topmost) window.
Hotkeys are different. These are global keyboard
combinations that can perform a TextAloud function even if the TextAloud window
is minimized. Learning what Hotkeys are available and how to use them can make
your TextAloud use quicker and more powerful. Let's walk through a quick
example of Hotkey use to give you a little experience using them.
"Speak
Hotkey"
The Speak Hotkey simply speaks text that is highlighted in whatever
program you are currently working in. You might use this within an email
program, a web browser that doesn't have a built-in TextAloud toolbar, a chat
program, basically any program that allows you to highlight text. If you can
highlight it, a quick press of a couple of keys can have it spoken.
First, you have to define the keyboard combination you want to have
meaning. If just starting out, use the example I give, then you can play around
later with a different combination that might be more comfortable to you. Click
Options->Hotkey Setup in the TextAloud main menu. You'll see the 2nd item
listed is Speak Text. To the right of that is a dropdown list which has
basically every key on the keyboard. Select that box then scroll down to find
"S" and select S. Next, click the 3 checkboxes to the right. By selecting all
3, we are defining the Speak hotkey as Control-Alt-Shift-S. (Making it
obscure like this helps ensure that it is a combination that doesn't have
meaning to other windows programs to prevent problems).
Now, go to any
program where there is text you can highlight. Using the mouse, highlight some
amount of text, then hold down the Shift, Alt, and Control buttons on the
keyboard, and press the S key. Within moments, you should hear TextAloud speak
that highlighted text.
In addition to the Speak hotkey, there are several
others. One of the more interesting is the Proofread Hotkey, which is ideal for
proofreading text you are composing. There is a neat post describing this
at
http://www.texttospeechblog.com/2007/02/proofreading-with-text-to-speech.html
Experiment
and play around with Hotkeys and you'll quickly discover additional uses for
TextAloud. If you have any problems getting the hotkeys to work, be sure to
check out our FAQ item on Hotkeys at
http://nextup.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3461
and
as always, if you need help, don't hesitate to ask.
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| Monthly Drawing - Win NextUp Golf Shirt
|
We have tons of people enjoying the benefits
of using TextAloud in combination with a portable audio device like the iPod, a
PocketPC, flash memory MP3 players, or CD players.
We'd love to hear how you're using the software so if you want to take a minute to tell us that's great, but all you have to do to enter this month is send us an email
to
newsletterdrawing@nextup.com
We'll draw a winner from entries received by Wednesday, April 30 to win a NextUp Golf Shirt. Thanks and best of luck!
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If you find our products useful, please share the news with your friends and at
your place of business. We offer Volume Pricing with Site Licensing available
to schools, organizations and businesses. If you'd like more information on
this or have questions about any of our products, please don't hesitate to
contact us at support@nextup.comThank you for
your interest in our company & products. The NextUp.com
Team NextUp.com The Power of Spoken Audio http://www.NextUp.comA Division of
NextUp Technologies, LLC
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NextUp Talker
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| We've heard from many customers over the years who have lost their voice and need software to help regain conversational speech. NextUp Talker is designed to help you easily communicate with others despite vocal impairments using a Windows PC, notebook or Tablet PC. Click Here for more details. |
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