yRead Portable

yRead Portable is a software program whose purpose is to read text documents, custom strings and e-books to you using the default Windows voices.

Use it on the fly

The installation process is not a prerequisite, as this is the portable edition of yRead. This means that, it is not going to add any new items to the Windows registry and hard drive without your approval (as installers usually do) and no traces will be left behind after its removal.
You should also know that by placing the program files to a USB flash drive, you make it possible to run yRead Portable on any computer you come in contact with, by simply clicking the executable.

Access the online Gutenberg archive, configure a few settings and listen to various texts

This utility enables you to manually input a text string, as well as upload document in formats such as TXT, HTML, RTF and HTM with the help of a file browser. You can also read e-books, as this tool includes a catalogue screen for the online Gutenberg archive.
It is possible to play, pause and stop reading with the help of the incorporated playback controls, as well as increase or decrease the font size, so that you can see better, change the voice and adjust its speed. Log files can be opened in a Notepad window, you can select another language and setup a proxy.

Conclusion

Overall, yRead Portable proves to be a pretty efficient piece of software when it comes to reading texts out loud. The interface is user-friendly and the computer’s performance is not going to be burdened. However you should know that the response timer leaves a lot to be desired.