GhostReader is a Mac program that helps you transform text documents into audio files. Its powerful text-to-speech engine enables you to listen to your written work and save the resulted audio file as an M4A or send it to your iTunes library with just one click.
The application comes with an intuitive interface, lets you import various types of files (RTF, TXT, PDF, etc.), and provides you with multiple text editing options. Furthermore, the program identifies the text-to-speech profiles that are installed on your Mac and loads them in its Preferences panel. You can choose the preferred speech profile and rate, adjust the sound volume, and pre-listen the voice.
Another great thing is that you can define global hotkeys for handling the app a lot quicker. You can use the shortcut keys to immediately play speech, listen to the previous paragraph, export to iTunes, etc.
In my testing, the utility worked 100%. It immediately loaded the imported text file, read it correctly, and exported the resulted audio without slowing down my Mac.
The one thing that could possibly bother you is that it supports only one output format (M4A). Still, files with this extension can be used in a wide variety of Mac apps and transferred to your mobile phone or tablet. So, this aspect isn't a big deal, at least not from my point of view.
Hence, GhostReader proves to be a reliable text-to-speech tool. It's efficient, simple to use, and affordable.
Pros
- Simple to use
- Fast processing speed
- Allows you to export the audio file
- Lets you define various global hotkeys
- You can export the resulted audio file to your iTunes library
Cons
- Supports only one output format (M4A)
An interesting tool, we can play with. The possibility to record the track I like most. It seems to be possible to do audio books from the written ones you like, though I'm not sure about the quality of the out-coming file. Besides I consider it to be a rather expensive one.