ClipSpeak converts text to speech and save as MP3

Listening is a pleasure when one doesn’t need to strain one’s eyes for some reading material. There are many softwares available for converting text to speech (most of them are not freeware) but some days back I actually found a conversion tool which reproduces good speech (actually sounds like we human does) and that too a freeware. Best things in life are really for free.

ClipSpeak is a portable, lightweight text-to-speech tool with a minimal user interface that speaks text copied to the clipboard. It is compatible with all SAPI5 speech synthesizers, and can also be used to convert texts to MP3 files. It runs on .NET Framework version 2.0.

ClipSpeak features

• Speak text copied (or cut) to the clipboard.
• Stop ongoing speech with the right-control key.
• Quickly enable and disable ClipSpeak by hitting the right shift key and the right control key.
• Save to MP3 function lets you put your texts on your MP3 player (using LAME MP3 encoder).
• Fully portable (No installation required).
• Small size (567KB zipped file).

Settings

Right click on Clipspeak’s system tray icon and choose Select voice to configure speech volume and speech speed.

Adjust them as per your preferences.

Read text to speech

Just copy (or cut) anything to the clipboard and ClipSpeak will automatically start reading it. Great! Isn’t it. And to stop ongoing speech, just hit the right-control key once and it will stop speaking.

Convert text and save as MP3

Right click on Clipspeak’s system tray icon and choose Save to MP3.

Select the output folder and the file name. Copy-paste the text into the textbox and click on Save.

A MP3 file will be generated and saved.

Do you know of any other good software? Share it in the comments.