Speech -> Mp3

I remember reading somewhere that there was a program that took a text file, and converted it to an audio file of the mac voice software reading it aloud. Now I can't find it anywhere, because I have no idea what it's called. Anybody have a name or link?

If anyone doesn't know about the file, is there another solution for taking a text file and putting it on my iPod as an audio file I can listen to anywhere. Using a mic to record it and then listen to it would kind of defeat the purpose.

I think I found a solution to your problem. When I recently got my macbook, I went crazy getting all kinds of new apps to test the power of this thing

One program I came across was Audio Hijack Pro I got the trial version from versiontracker.com - don't know how long it last or what limitations there are, but I just tested it then, and it worked fine.

How it works: Once launched, it recognises all open apps. It took a bit of work to get it to record spoken text from textedit, but it DOES work. In Audio Hijack Pro, select the open app, and hit hijack (it may come up with a message saying you need to relaunch, do so - if you had to, hit hijack again) it's now in 'ready mode.' Hit record. It shouldn't record anything until it detects audio from the program, so you have time to switch to textedit, select the text and start it talking. Recording will then start, and be saved in the Music directory.

Files are small and quality is very nice. You don't need any cables or plugins at all. Just launch the apps and away you go. I'm sure you'd be able to figure out more advanced features if you need them - it's all pretty straight forward.
Good luck!

Automator is your friend

There's an action built-in that's called 'Text to audio file'. You can then also add actions to have the audio automatically copied into iTunes.

If you save this as a plug-in, all you have to do is right-click the text file, select your workflow and it'll do the rest for you!

Thanks so much guys. I love these forums and all the users.

books2burn

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21783