How about creating MP3 files without using your voice or any recording material? Sounds like a dream come true, huh? Well, one company is mastering this technology. MagneticTime allows you to turn text into speech and listen to the output in a MP3 format on any device that can play audio.
I guess this tool is useful for those who have speech impediments or some sort of ability impairment that prevents the person from using a microphone to record. For this reason, I give MagneticTime a huge thumbs-up.
I downloaded the software to give it a whirl. There's a free 7-day trial, so that was nice. But that's the last nice thing I can say about this program because it turned out to be a clunky little thing.
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Note: Leesa Barnes takes over this blog while Jon enjoys his nuptials and honeymoon on the West Coast. He returns August 10th. Enjoy Leesa's take on podcasting in the meantime.
How about creating MP3 files without using your voice or any recording material? Sounds like a dream come true, huh?
Well, one company is mastering this technology. MagneticTime allows you to turn text into speech and listen to the output in a MP3 format on any device that can play audio.
I guess this tool is useful for those who have speech impediments or some sort of ability impairment that prevents the person from using a microphone to record. For this reason, I give MagneticTime a huge thumbs-up.
I downloaded the software to give it a whirl. There's a free 7-day trial, so that was nice. But that's the last nice thing I can say about this program because it turned out to be a clunky little thing.
First, It took several minutes to install on my machine and unfortunately, I had to reboot my system to get it to work. I had 7 tabs open in Mozilla, plus I was in the middle of writing an email, plus I was listening to a podcast (yes, I multitask, who doesn't), so it was quite an inconvenience to stop what I was doing just so I could get one little program to start working.
I rebooted my machine only to have the program hold my boot up hostage because it was still installing. Then, once it finished the installation, I couldn't find the thing in my start menu, nor did it place a shortcut on my desktop. I had to use the search tool to find it and even then, it wouldn't launch.
So, I quickly deleted the executable from my computer. Unfortunately, I can't give you my analysis as to whether it stands up from a usability standpoint, but I can comment on something bigger.
In the podcasting survey I co-authored, Canadians overwhelmingly wanted to hear original content in their podcasts. I wonder if this means they want to hear original voices as well?
I mean, if I came across 10 different podcasts that used the same robot sounding voice to deliver their podcasting content, that wouldn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart, now would it?
Is it content over voice, or voice over content? Or both? Or neither since my question doesn't make sense?
