Zamzar converts uploaded text docs to MP3 audio files
Online conversion service Zamzar recently added text to speech conversion to its massive list of file conversion capabilities. Here's how it works. Just upload a Word, PDF, TXT, Wordperfect, Works, or OpenDocument Text doc to Zamzar and select MP3 as the output format. Enter your email address and after a few moments Zamzar will send you a link to an MP3 file with a digitized voice doing a passable but somewhat awkward reading of the text you uploaded.
Of course, there are plenty of desktop applications that will do the same thing. But Zamzar comes in handy if you're away from your home computer or if you're looking for a single service that lets you convert a whole slew of documents. You can also convert documents from DOC to PDF, PDF to HTML, JPG to BMP, and so on.
The plain truth is I don't like working with media files. Watching them, or listening to them, sure, I'm just as into that as the next girl. When it comes to actually converting them from something captured off an external device or my screen, though, my stomach turns. It's not an aversion that's peculiar to Linux. I hate using the Windows for those same tasks. Since I don't have access to a Mac, I can't vouch for the ease of media conversion on them, but I can safely say that as ubiquitous as Quicktime is, I have very little luck working with (or viewing) Quicktime files on any machine with any operating system in my possession.
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They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
