ReadPlease 2003 - Text-to-Speech Software

ReadPlease 2003 is an excellent freeware program that converts text to speech. To use it, you simply copy and paste the text you want to hear into the program window and press "play". There are two female and two male voices to choose from and you can vary the speed of the voices as well as the font size of the written text. The voices that ship with the software have American accents, but you can also download English speaking voices with British accents as well as voices from other nations.



I use ReadPlease as a way of checking essays or other written work. Hearing the material spoken out loud can help to identify grammatical errors, missing words and even spelling mistakes.



You can also use ReadPlease to read emails or website content while you relax with your morning coffee.

A bonus for me is that my young children love it. They can type in words or sentences and have it spoken back to them very slowly or very fast. Also, if they type in some strange word like hoooaaaaaapppp, the voices come out with some weird sounds, which they think are hilarious.

The standard version of the software is free, but you can also purchase a "plus" version. When you download the free version, you can choose to install a trial of the plus version. This will revert to the standard version after a set time.