Speaker

Let us say that you need to read a large text that you have just received on your computer while doing your daily chores. The most effective solution would be if somebody could quickly and clearly read you the text while you carry on with whatever it is that you are doing.
There is an even better solution to overcome this inconvenience, and it comes in the form of Speaker. It is a straightforward and efficient piece of software that basically reads out-lout any text you paste in its main window, assuming the text is in English.

Simplicity and efficiency working together

The fact that Speaker was built with simplicity and ease of access in mind becomes evident once you start the application for the first time. You are greeted by a clean and clutter-free interface and, despite its simplicity, feels right at home on latest versions of Windows.
Consequently, the main window of Speaker is just as simple as the app itself. It comes with a text-box, a mini drop-down menu for choosing the reading voices and buttons for starting and stopping the reading process.

Uncomplicated workflow makes it ideal for all categories of users

Thanks to its intuitive layout, working with Speaker is reduced to a simple paste action of your text into the dedicated box, choosing the voice and starting the reading process with one click.
Furthermore, if you are in a hurry and you want to catch up on your latest reading while on the go, you can easily set up the app to export your text to WAV files, which you can later take with you on other devices.

A good and useful app, with a lot of room for improvement

While the tool works great and everything is exactly as it should be, we would have liked it even more if it would have featured support for other international languages, besides English. Also, you cannot open TXT or DOC files directly from their source, since you can only paste or type the text yourself.
Last but not least, a wider variety of export formats would have been very useful. These are not something to fret about though, as all of the mentioned features can be easily implemented in future versions.

Undeniable usefulness

Taking all of the above into careful consideration, Speaker is an efficient and straightforward text-to-speech application. It features a lean learning curve thanks to its simple workflow and intuitive interface.
It is perfectly aimed at people who don't have the time to sit in front of their computers to read large texts.