Alexander Wilson Studios has has upgraded AudioBookMaker, a software package that uses OS Xis built-in text-to-speech engine to build audio files, to version 2.0. The new version adds features such as the ability to control how fast the speech is read, and how numbers are read. From Alexander Wilson Studios:
Alexander Wilson Studios today releases AudioBookMaker 2.0, an upgrade to the Jaguar-exclusive utility that converts text files to audio files using Jaguaris built-in text-to-speech abilities. The resulting audio files may be then dragged into iTunes, used for multimedia projects, converted to MP3, and even carried with users on their iPods.
Version 2 of AudioBookMaker adds approximate words-per-minute control, allowing users to both increase the speed of speech and decrease file size and length. Users may also now control the length of preview and choose whether to have numbers read normally ("100" as "one-hundred") or as digits ("100" as "one-zero-zero").
AudioBookMaker 2 requires Macintosh OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Users may choose to have text read by any of the operating systemis 22 voices, and may initialize the conversion by either dragging and dropping text files or by cutting and pasting the text itself. Users may also type text directly into the program.
AudioBookMaker is US$2.50 shareware (US$1.50 for users of versions 1.0 through 1.5.1) and is available now.