I'm sure many of you already know about the 'Read Out Loud' capability of Adobe Acrobat. I've been doing so much writing lately (a dissertation chapter) that I end up reading the same passages over and over again and can't think of ways to fix problem areas or, worse, I miss glaring errors staring me right in the face.
So, i've started copying/pasting specific passages of text into a new document, converting it to a PDF, and then listening to it. Sometimes I think of new (once in a while, better) ways to say what I want to say. Other times, it's not so fruitful. But....it's another little tip that seems to help me produce better technical writing. The key is to only do a couple paragraphs at a time....the computer-guy voice (like from that Radiohead album) gets a little hard to listen to after a couple minutes.
The screenshot above simply shows where this functionality is in Acrobat.
If the voice was more realistic and easier to listen to, I would love to be able to download a paper as an mp3 and then listen to it on the train ride. Is anybody doing such a thing out there?
UPDATE: I found this ultra-easy web application that converts any text to mp3, which you can listen to right away or download to listen later. It's called vozMe. I tested it, the voice is pretty similar to one I discuss above. Okay...but still not sounding very human...yet.
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