Here are two more free text to speech options I have recently learned about:
1) SpeakIt! is an extension for the Google Chrome browser that will read text online in your browser. It will read from webpages, emails, and most text you can highlight and right mouse click on. It is free, easy to install through the Chrome Web Store, and offers a pretty good voice for the money (did I mention it's FREE!). My only complaint is that it doesn't highlight words as it reads, but it still works great for a free tool. Click here for more info.
2) WordTalk is a free Plug-in for Microsoft Word. It will read text aloud in a Word document and highlight the text as it goes. (I have blogged about the Speak tool already built into Microsoft word before, but I like WordTalk better because the Microsoft Speak tool doesn't highlight words as it goes.) It offers lots of different options to read (by selection, sentence, paragraph, etc.) and even has a nifty talking spell checker and thesaurus. This is a program you will have to download and install from the website, and you need to make sure to download the version that is compatible with your version of Word. Once downloaded and installed, it shows up as an extra toolbar option at the to of the program screen. Click here for more information.
I hope these resources help. With the scarcity of money nowadays, it is always nice to have access to effective free tools. Please let me know if the comments if you have a favorite tool we haven't mentioned yet!
