Making Blogs Talk

Cross-posted on cliotech

A friend of mine recently asked if I knew of any applications that would allow her elementary students, many of whom cannot read, to listen to her class blog. I shared that I had used Talkr in the past, but didn’t know of any other applications. So, I threw it out to my Plurk/Twitter network.

Here are some of the other suggestions shared by my network:

* vozME - vozMe allows users to copy/paste text for translation into an MP3 audio file. It also has plugins, widgets, and gadgets that can be incorporated into most blogging engines and Internet start pages (like, iGoogle.)
* odiogo - odiogo offers a free text-to-speech service for all major blogging engines. odiogo stores the audio files on their servers. Listeners/readers can download them and listen to them anywhere.
* SpokenText - SpokenText allows registered users to convert web pages, RSS feeds, PowerPoint, PDF, Word, and many other file types into audio files. SpokenText has some nice help tutorials so that you can maximize your use.
* Read The Words - Read The Words allows users to translate web pages, documents, and RSS feeds into audio files. The service is very simple to use and has instructions for adding a widget to your blog to convert your enteries to audio format. The instructions are very easy to follow and their FAQs page details how to embed a player directly into your blog.
* Blogboard - Blogboard lets users turn any blog into an audio file. Blogboard will create a new feed for the blog to which users can subscribe with their RSS aggregator. This service also generates a feed and embed code for your own blog. Here is Cliotech as an audio file.