A program for reading all text formats. Best e-book readers

The program "" is designed to read text files aloud. Any speech synthesizers installed on the computer can be used to reproduce the sounds of the human voice. The reproduction of speech can be controlled using standard buttons, similar to those present in any multimedia program ("play", "pause", "stop"). The application can read aloud the contents of the clipboard, show the text contained in documents, change the font and color settings, control the reading process from the system tray (notification area) or using global keyboard shortcuts, pronounce the text typed on the keyboard, check spelling, share text file for several smaller files, look for homographs. "" provides the ability to remove all hyphenation characters at the end of lines from the text; this will avoid stumbling through the words. Supported file formats: AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PDB, PDF, PRC, RTF, TCR, WPD.


File size: MB
Version: Change history
License type: Freeware
Operating system:
Interface languages: russian, English, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Hungarian,
vietnamese, Dutch, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Chinese,
korean, German, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,
serbian, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Finnish, Filipino,
french, Croatian, Czech, Japanese
Help files: russian, English, Spanish, Italian, Korean, German,
ukrainian, French

Portable version: Download (MB)
Portable (portable) version of "Balabolka" does not require installation and can be run from a "flash drive".
The computer must have at least one speech synthesizer (voice) installed.

Console Application: Download (KB)
The console application has no graphical interface and runs in text mode.
The operating mode can be set using command line parameters or a configuration file.

Utility for extracting text from files: Download (KB)
The program allows you to extract text from files of various formats.
The utility has no graphical interface and runs in text mode.

It is still unclear why such a program is needed? Here are some helpful related links:


Forums where speech synthesizers and reading aloud programs are discussed:

The program "" allows you to change it appearance using themes.





The program can use computer voices that support SAPI 4, SAPI 5 or Microsoft Speech Platform. There are free and paid (commercial) speech engines. The most high quality speech synthesis is provided by commercial voices.

Speech synthesizers manufactured by the company RealSpeak (free votes were published on the Microsoft server):

  • British English (19.4 MB)
    Mirror
  • Spanish (21.7 MB)
    Mirror
  • Italian (21.5 MB)
    Mirror
  • German (20.7 MB)
    Mirror
  • French (22.5 MB)
    Mirror

Yaroslav Kozak from Lviv created a Ukrainian speech synthesizer UkrVox... The voice of the Ukrainian radio announcer Igor Murashko was taken as a basis.

  • UkrVox
  • Innoetics (demo)
  • Nuance (demo1, demo2)

Among commercial speech synthesizers, the following voices are of interest to Russian users:

  • Alyona (Acapela Group)
  • Katya, Milena and Yuri (Nuance)
  • Nicolai (Digalo - Acapela Elan Speech Cube)
  • Tatyana and Maxim (IVONA)

Microsoft Speech Platform


Microsoft Speech Platform (version 11.0) is a set of tools that enable developers to build voice recognition and text-to-speech solutions.

For the speech synthesizer to work, you need to download and install the following components:

  1. Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime - the server side of the platform that provides API for programs (file x86_SpeechPlatformRuntime \\ SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi).
  2. Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime Languages \u200b\u200b- a set of languages \u200b\u200bfor the server side. Voices for 26 languages \u200b\u200bare currently offered, including Russian Elena (files whose names start with "MSSpeech_TTS_").

Tags (control commands) that are used for SAPI 5 voices can also be used for Microsoft Speech Platform voices. But remember, SAPI 5 voices and Microsoft Speech Platform voices are incompatible with each other, so you cannot switch between them using the Voice or Lang tags.

Pronunciation correction


The user can use a special substitution list to improve the quality of speech reproduction. This is useful in cases where there is a need to change the pronunciation of words or individual syllables; for this, some expression in the text is replaced with the required readable expression. To write such replacement rules, use the syntax

Many of us love to read. We read at home and at work, on the road and on vacation, we like various literary styles and directions, and some simply cannot imagine their life without books. In this case, in addition to the visual display of texts, the user may need to voice the latter (for example, when implementing voice content on various sites). Then various voice engines online, allowing the user to reproduce the text in different voices. In this article I will tell you what is the voice over of the text online, what online services exist for this, and how to use them.

In most cases, the voice acting of the text with the voice online is rather standardized, and is aimed, rather, at demonstrating the capabilities of the selected voice engine, rather than for reproducing the huge sizes of user texts. The free functionality of most online services is limited to a text of 250-300 characters, and you will have to pay real money for the full capabilities of the voice engine and reproduction of large volumes of material.

The standard template for working with such sites is as follows: you go to the resource, select in a special window desired language, select a female or male voice, enter the text you want in the window and click on the play button. The service reads your text, you form an impression about the quality of the voice engine, and decide whether to work with it further or not.



Services for voice scoring online

So, there are several popular services on the network that can voice text online. Let's move on to listing them with an appropriate description of their functionality.

Acapela service

The first of the resources aimed at reproducing text by voice online is Acapela. Its engine has a sufficiently high-quality level of sound, there is a choice of female and male voices (Russian is represented only by the female voice of Alyona), while the volume of free-to-play text is limited to 300 characters, and you will have to pay extra for more options.

To use the capabilities of this service, go to it, in the window on the left, switch the language (Select a language) to Russian (Russian), enter your text under the phrase "type your text here", put a checkmark to the left of "I agree with terms and condition". To start listening, click on the "Listen" button below.

Google Translator service

The specified translator from Google can also be used to read the text online. To its pluses, I would include the absence of the classic limitation of several hundred characters and the free nature of the resource. On the downside, voice text reproduction can be inferior to paid competitors.



To play the text using this translator, go to https://translate.google.com, enter the required text in the window, and then click on the button with the speaker at the very bottom.

Linguatec service

Another online talker, while having the limitations of its "shareware" counterparts. The volume of the reproduced text in it is limited to 250 characters (you need to pay extra for a full-fledged functionality), and the quality of reproduction here is quite average.

To play the text by voice online, go to this resource, in the language setting, select Russisch instead of Deutsch, select a female (Milena) or male (Yuri) voice, enter your text and click on the play button below.



Text-to-Speech service

Another online talker is the Text-to-Speech service. The maximum size of the reproduced text is higher here - about a thousand characters, the reproduction quality is also at an acceptable level.

To listen to the text we need using this voice engine, follow the link, select the Russian language (Language - Russian), enter the text you want to listen to, and then click on "Say it".


IVONA service

And the last online service that I want to mention when considering the voice acting of typed text online is Ivona. This resource has probably the highest quality voice engine among all of the above, while its capabilities are available only on a paid basis, and the previously existing ability to listen to several sentences of text using this voice engine is now, unfortunately, withdrawn.

Voice reading software

Govorilka program

A small software product that can read your text with a voice, while it is possible to write the read text to files of audio format wav and mp3. The size of the readable file is limited to 2 gigabytes, there is an adjustment of the voice speed, its volume, highlighting of the read text, and so on.

Download the program (for example, from here), install and run. Enter text into the box and click on the corresponding play button at the top.



This is how the working window of the "Govorilka" program looks like

Sacrament Talker Program

Voice over text is also possible using the Sacrament Talker program. The program has its own Sakrament TTS Engine 3.0 and six (!) Possible Russian voices, works great with large files, the quality of the voice reproduction of the text is also excellent.

The specifics of working with the program are similar to the previous analogue.



Mobile applications for reading text

Many mobile readers have built-in functionality for reading text by voice, which can be used by an ordinary user. Among such readers, I would note Cool Reader, Nomad Reader, FBReader, EBookDroid and others. Almost all of them have an option for voice playback of text, which the user can search for in the settings of these programs.

If, for any reason, the services presented above did not suit you, also check out the list.

Conclusion

If you are interested in dubbing a text with a voice online, then it can be implemented using the online services I listed above. Moreover, in most cases, their free functionality is limited to a few hundred characters, and only the functionality of Google Translator is designed for solid amounts of text. Nevertheless, you can use the capabilities of conventional programs (in particular, the above-mentioned "Talker" and "Sacrament Talker"), which will help you reproduce the text you need without any problems.

In contact with

Those who consume the printed word exclusively on the scale of Twitter messages, a reasonable question arises: "Why are they even needed on a computer, these same reading programs?"

Indeed, open small texts in any operating system it is possible without problems - there are enough standard applications for this. But there are simply no tools that allow you to work normally with more solid dimensions in a "clean" system. And with regular staff it is very inconvenient to do this, and the eyes get very tired.

So if you have to read rather large texts from the screen, and you want to do it with maximum comfort, and at the same time still want to preserve your eyesight, you simply cannot do without specialized programs - electronic readers.

Reading programs e-books there are quite a few. Each has its own pros and cons. But it is impossible to cover them all in one article. Therefore, I will confine myself only to those that have "taken root" on my computers over the years. Or periodically, as needed, they appear.

Easy and convenient program. And although it is not updated very often, all versions are still functional. Designed for Windows, but usually works well under Wine on Linux. There is also an official one running Windows Mobile.

On mobile platforms, IMHO, there are no serious competitors at all, either in terms of capabilities or convenience.

It has a large number of all kinds of settings, which you don't need to look into if you don't want to - most of the options are reasonably set and by default.

Has a large list of supported formats, including the mega-popular now FB2. One of the few that works with ODT files (Open Document used in OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and LibreOffice) without prior conversion.

The default interface resembles an unfolded book, the yellowish background of the pages is more comfortable for the eyes and very convenient for long reading. As a bonus - AlReader does not require installation and can work from any mobile media. For me personally, this is the most convenient and favorite program for reading files in FB2 and EPUB format.

All health!

Folk wisdom: "From time immemorial a book has raised a person" ...

Who would not say anything about the modern digital world, that paper will soon die out, etc. - after all, books, in my opinion, will be useful and relevant for a long time. On the contrary, modern technologies help you more quickly and easily find the books and information in them that you need. Now, by the way, you can load a whole library into one tablet, and get acquainted with it anywhere, for example, on the way to work, at home, at school, etc.!

But there is another plus that modern software gives us - this is the ability to listen to books, as if a real person is reading them to you! Modern voice engines allow you to listen to text in male, female, children's voices. About everything, in more detail below ...

Important! In order for the programs presented below to be able to read your text of a book (magazine, newspaper, etc.), a voice engine is required. Those. you need a reader + engine to work! By the way, the reading quality directly depends on the engine (so that there is no "be-me", you need to choose a good voice engine).The engines are detailed in the second part of this article.

List of the best programs

(note: for reading text)

Govorilka

A very small program designed to read texts by voice. The program can read text in different languages, depending on which voice engine you connect. Provides the ability to create MP3 files (for example, create audiobooks, so popular recently).


The main window of the "Govorilka" program

Key features:

  1. reading text from various files: DOS and Windows encoding; readable text can be up to 2 GB in size; opens Word, Html files;
  2. the ability to adjust the reading speed, voice pitch, volume, etc .;
  3. the ability to record readable text in MP3 format (by the way, you can record at an increased speed);
  4. the program automatically flips through the pages (text) of the book as you read it (and shows it to you);
  5. it is possible to correct individual words and phrases, how they need to be pronounced correctly;
  6. when the program is closed, it automatically remembers the last cursor position;
  7. completely in Russian, works in all modern windows versions 7, 8, 10.

Demagog

This program is 2 in 1: it is a text editor with support for Unicode, and a speech synthesizer (i.e. software for dubbing text) with support for SAPI4 / SAPI5 ( note: about engines see the second part of the article). The program differs from many of its competitors, because during its development, special algorithms of dictionary substitutions were used, which affect the correct pronunciation of the read text. Also, Demagog has a wordless spell checker.


Demagog - example reading // main window

Key features of the program:

  1. reading texts from various formats: MS Word, E-Book and HTML (support for importing pictures);
  2. the ability to record audio files in formats: WAV, MP3, OGG, WMA, MP4;
  3. the ability to connect custom audio codecs;
  4. highlighting spelling errors;
  5. support for pronunciation dictionaries (DIC format), the ability to edit them;
  6. 100% Russian language support;
  7. works in OS Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits).

Balabolka

The main purpose of the "Balabolki" program is to read the texts of books, documents, etc. with a "living human" voice. Any voice engines that are installed on your PC can be used for reading.


Key features:

  1. in addition to "normal" reading (as other utilities do), "Balabolka" can read text from the clipboard, show text from various documents, pronounce text typed on the keyboard;
  2. supports just a huge number of file formats: AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PDB, PDF, PRC, RTF, TCR, WPD;
  3. can check spelling, divide large documents into several small ones, search for homographs;
  4. the text can be saved as an audio file formats: WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG and WMA;
  5. knows how to work with packages from Microsoft Speech API (SAPI);
  6. you can change the speed and timbre of speech;
  7. full support for the Russian language;
  8. OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7/8/10.

ICE Book Reader

ICE Book Reader is one of the most powerful text reading programs (both by ear and simply from the PC screen). One of the main advantages: the program saves your eyesight, making it possible to customize the display of text from the book so that it is most convenient for you (font size, indents, color, etc. - dozens of all kinds of parameters).


Example of reading a book

As for reading books out loud for the user, ICE Book Reader can do it, of course (otherwise I would not have included it in the review). Supports SAPI4 and SAPI5 voice engines.

In addition to reading, it can create MP3 / WAV files from a book (which can then be listened to on any MP3 player). When creating MP3 books, by the way, you don't need to store large WAV files - the program converts them to MP3 on the fly. By the way, thanks to the multi-threaded core, the program can create an audiobook very quickly: several speech synthesis modules (SAPI) can simultaneously "say" a whole book.

Last but not least, ICE Book Reader lets you tidy up your hard drive with books: a way to manage the information of 250,000 books! The program works in all popular versions of Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10.

Talker

Developer site: http://govorunplus.narod.ru/

Simple and reliable program based on MS Agent 2.0 technology. For speech synthesis, it can use any SAPI engines that are in your system. The program does not shine with its design, but it is made quite original (screen below). And the program is quite multifunctional (so this is the case when it is premature to draw conclusions at first sight!).


Program features:

  1. reads and saves file formats: TXT, RTF (can be prepared in any version of Word);
  2. the ability to work with the command line;
  3. the ability to integrate into the explorer to read the text by right-clicking on the file (only supported by Win 98 / ME, NT, 2000, XP);
  4. there is a built-in player of media files;
  5. the program includes anecdotes, aphorisms, humor, etc. - it will never let you get bored;
  6. the reproduced speech can be recorded in a WAV file;
  7. the program can be customized by yourself: color, design, fonts, etc .;
  8. in Russian, works in Windows XP, 7, 8, 10.

RussAcc

A very fast and convenient program for reading aloud texts and creating audiobooks (there are many formats, especially compared to similar software: wav, mp3, amr, aac). In addition, the program allows you to correctly place stress in texts and read books from the PC screen. The program has a built-in editor and any text reproduced by it - you can edit.


The main window of the program // RussAcc

In the program settings, you can set the font size, specify the color with which to highlight the readable piece. You can specify and configure the parameters for MP3 recording: bit rate, number of bits, etc.

RussAcc supports and works with all popular sound engines. In its own database, the program for each word has its special forms with stress in various situations (more than 3 million forms!).

By the way, RussAcc supports such a popular e-book format as fb2 (and can also convert it to a regular txt file). Supports Russian, compatible with new OS Windows 7, 8.1, 10.

Voice engines: male and female

Text-to-speech engines - this is special software, a kind of driver, required for the computer to "speak" (ie, to convert text to speech). There are hundreds of engines online now: there are both paid and free. The best reading quality, of course, is shown by paid engines.

Important note: the speech synthesis engine has no design or interface. After installing it in the system, you will not notice any changes at all! To work with the engine, you need some kind of program for reading texts: Balabolka, Talker, Ice Reader, etc., just above I gave those that "I like" 😆).

That is why, by the way, users often criticize this or that program that it cannot read Russian text (or cannot at all). They just forget about the need to install a speech engine.

A few words about standards ...

Voice engines can be implemented in different standards (so-called), the most basic three: SAPI 4, SAPI 5 or Microsoft Speech Platform (note: in almost every reading program, you can choose a speech engine).

SAPI 4

A solid standard, it was relevant a dozen years ago. It is outdated today, and its use is not justified on modern computers / laptops.

SAPI 5

Microsoft Speech Platform

Microsoft Speech Platform is a rich set of developer tools that enable you to implement text-to-speech capabilities.

it is a set of tools that allow developers of various applications to implement the ability to convert text to voice in them.

Note! For the speech synthesizer to work, you must:

Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime - server side of the platform that provides API for programs;
Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime Languages \u200b\u200b- languages \u200b\u200bfor running the server side.

Text-to-speech engines Digalo // Nikolay

Website: http://www.digalo.com/index.htm

Very popular Russian voice engine (male voice!). Suitable for most programs that can read text by voice. In my humble opinion, one of the best open source speech synthesis engines (in Russian). In addition to Russian, by the way, engines for several more languages \u200b\u200bare available on the developer's website. Minus: it only works for two weeks without registration.

Website: http://www.acapela-group.com/

Alyonka is a relatively new Russian female speech engine from Acapela. Operates according to the SAPI-5 standard with a frequency of 22 KHz. Some users believe that Alena's voice is nicer than that of Nikolai.

Developer company: ScanSoft RealSpeak

Pretty good female voice engine. After the engine was revised, it became comparable to "Nikolai". The phonetic base of the engine has undergone a significant update, the stress setting algorithm has been changed (which has a positive effect on the sound), the problem with the pronunciation speed has been fixed.

Website: http://tiflo.info/rhvoice/

RHVoice is a multilingual open source speech synthesizer source code... Can be used on Windows and Linux OS. The synthesizer is compatible with SAPI5. The synthesizer developer is Olga Yakovleva.

By the way, the engine is based on the speech base recorded by the speakers. Russian voices "Elena" and "Irina" are available for download on the official website.

IVONA Tatyana / Maxim

Website: https://www.ivona.com/us/about-us/voice-portfolio/

Very interesting young voice engines (there are 2 of them: male and female voices). Many consider Tatyana's voice to be one of the best (if not the best!). Using the link above, you can hear how your texts will sound, so to speak, a portfolio (in my opinion, they sound very nice).

Whether the engine will become the most used - I don't know, time will tell!

By the way, do you think there will ever be a speech engine that is indistinguishable from the voice of an ordinary person? Or maybe it already exists, but I haven't heard of it ... (discard the name!)

That's it, good luck!



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