All information is only based on my expeirance using Microsoft XP. It might by different for you on your system.

Text Readers Table 1
FREE or less than £50,
display the text in their own window.
Roy's Opinion and Summary

 Tried
with
windows XP		 Change
Colours
Change Use
Auto-start
with
Display
Other
 E = Excellent or Easy
 Y = Possible
 - = I can't
 ? = not sure
 * = see notes on the right

Change the font & font size.
 Change the reading speed.
 Change the pronunciation.
 Use any voice
 Use Drag and Drop.

Good help.
 Tutorial Video.
 Record Audio files for burning CD.
 Speaking Clock.
 alarm clock.
change the page colour.
 Change the Text Colour.
 Change the colour of the Spoken Word.
 Change the highlight colour of the spoken word.

Autostart with display on drop.
 Autostart with display on Copy.
 Autostart with display on Paste.
 Autostart with display on Select.









 Excellent Displays.
ReadPlease Free 2003,
E
 E
 E
 E
E
 E
 -
 -
 Y
*
 -
 -
 -
E
 E
 -
 -
 -
*autostart but NO display.
ReadPlease Plus 2003
30d trial £26
 E
 E
 E
 E
E
 E
 Y
 Y
 Y
Y
 Y
 Y
 -
E
 E
 -
 -
 -
Drag & drop works perfectly.
























 Stressful Displays
Speak Text Aloud
30d trial £18
 -
 Y
 -
 -

Y
 Y
 -
 -
 -
-
 Y
 -
 *
-
Y
 -
 -
*autostart on select and Hot Key (select & copy is much quicker).
TextAloud
15d trial £18		 - - - -
Y
 Y
 Y
 Y
 -
-
 Y
 -
 -
-
Y
 -
 -
crashes on copying full page table from MS Word or any large file.
DSpeech
 Free		 - - - -
E
 E
 -
 E
 -
-
 *
 -
 -
Y
 -
 E
 -
 -
*autostart but NO display.
Excellent for making audio; files, CDs (mp3, wav)
NOT for small screens.
NaturalReader Free Y
 Y -
 -
Y
 Y
 Y
 -
 *
-
 *
 -
 *
-
-
 -
 -
NEVER use "drag and drop" as it corrupts the original document.
Crashes on copying large tables from M.S. Word.
Free version difficult to close.
NaturalReader Pro. £24
 Y
 Y -
 -
Y
 Y
 Y
 Y
 *
-
 *
 -
 *
-
-
 -
 -
NaturalReader
Ent'prise £48
 Y
 Y -
 -
Y
 Y
 Y
 Y
 *
-
 *
 -
 *
-
Y
 -
 -










 Do NOT use these
 very poor Displays.
ACE-HIGH
30d trial-£18
 * Y
 -
 -
Y
 Y
 Y
 Y
 -
-
 *
 -
 -


Y
 Y
 Y
*Page- gray when reading.
*autostart but NO display.
2nd Speech Center
30d trial-£22
 Y
 Y
 - -
Y
 Y
 Y
 Y
 -
-
 *
 -
 -


Y
 Y
 Y
*autostart but NO display.










 Poor Displays
SayzMe free
 -
 - Y -
Y
 Y
 -
 Y
 -
-
 -
 -
 -
E
 E
-
 -
difficult to install and
awkward to use.
Speaking notepad
14d trial
-
 -
 - -
Y
 ?
 -
 Y
 -
-
 Y
 -
 -


?
 ?
 ?
out of time before I finished testing.
Others with displays but not tested fully.
Cool Speech
 My trial period run out before I started testing.
Key2Speak
 Very uncontrollable and  intrusive advertising prompted me not to test this one
HelpRead free
 Hawaiian Literacy Education Project, 1998 technology abandon 2001.