Thread: Narration

Free Online text to speech (TTS) converter SpokenText -- I just found a free online tool that converts your text into an mp3.

1. Copy and paste your page content into Spoken Text (personally, I like John's voice).
2. Download the mp3.
3. Using a program like Camtasia, remove the Spoken Text advertising.
4. Save the file as an mp3.
5. Upload the mp3 to a directory on the same server as your Web site.
6. Create a new file with a ".m3u" extension.
7. Copy/paste the direct URL of the mp3 into the .m3u.
8. Insert this code onto your Web site (placed appropriately).
   Code:

   <p><embed type="application/x-mplayer2" pluginspage="http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/MediaPlayer/" src="http://www.iknewit.org/index.m3u" name="MediaPlayer1" width=549 height=46 autostart=0 showcontrols=1 volume=-300></p>

9. Change the src to the direct URL of your .m3u.
10. Alter the width and height dimensions. Enjoy.

Tips:

• Create an <h2>, and place your keyword in it. Example of finished product: How to Carve a Wooden Pipe
• Place a fullstop after each heading, to make sure that Spoken Text does not think it needs to roll-on to the next set of words immediately, thinking that it is the same sentence. Remove periods after numbering (i.e. s/1./1/), and place them at the end of the list item.

I only just thought of the idea, and am now going to do this for every other page on I Knew It!

That sounds awesome. Any other formats of it as I would love to see a preview but my FF needs that plugin and cant find it. Will it run in other formats so visitors dont need to add anything in order to see the video or hear the file?

It's simply calling upon Windows Media Player to stream the file. For people using other OS's, I've just linked the <h2> directly to the .mp3.