Alternatively, Balabolka Portable
http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility/balabolka-portable
is another portable version in the PortableApps.com Platform.

Got it!

"The spell-checking will be enabled at the portable version of Balabolka, if any spell checker is installed on the user's computer. If you want to have Hunspell dictionaries on your USB drive, you need to do this:

Download the portable variant of Hunspell for a language from the list below.
Unzip the archive to the folder 'Hunspell' in the folder 'Balabolka' on the USB drive.

After that the portable version of Balabolka will load Hunspell files from the portable drive, not from the user's computer."

download here: http://www.cross-plus-a.com/bportable.htm

Anyone get the dictionaries to work as portable?. I copied the hunspell_English files from "%appdata%\Hunspell" to "Dictionaries" sub folder, but nothing happens.

Great format support!

AZW, CHM, DjVu, DOC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODT, PRC, PDF and RTF files!

I've tried downloading this several times and every time Malwarebytes blocks it as malicious, as does MS security essentials.

Found the solution here:

http://www.fixkb.com/2011/05/no-sound-from-text-to-speech.html

•Disable Sound Enhancements
1.Click the Start button.
2.Type mmsys.cpl and press Enter.
3.Click the correct sound device and then click Properties.
4.Go to the Enhancements Tab.
5.Check the “Disable all sound effects” checkbox.
6.Click OK.
•Install / Reinstall SAPI 5
1.Download the SAPI 5 installer.
2.Run the file and choose the Install or Repair option.

NOW - WORKS PERFECTLY :)

Thanks Zeke the Frog, but didn't make any difference :(

@SlowLearner:
That has happened to me. The solution was to
change my speakers audio quality to 24 bit 44100hz

Like anil, I'm running 64 bit Windows 7 and can't get any sound.

Following the advice of joe_1974, I installed it (something I never do) but still no sound.

When I click READ it looks like it is doing it (the play button grays out and I am left with pause or stop) - but there is no sound.

However, if I select SAVE AUDIO FILE, it saves a wav file that contains a perfect reading.

Can anyone help?

Works fine on my Windows 7 64bit (but I downloaded from the website and ran the installer [make sure you have balabolka closed if you are upgrading])

I know this is a limited functionality, but it would be nice if it could also read xls(x) files because I use TTS to proof read Excel documents against documents I have OCR'd. Other than that, looks very interesting.

Garry, Avast doesn't think that Balabolka V2.2.0.495 has viruses.

Balabolka V2.2.0.494 - It has Viruses - Office Scan

Cant get it working on windows 7 64 bit.
1. how to check if required winodws 64 bit components are isntalled or not? - sapi4, sapi5
2. if #1 is okay, what next.

basically looking for step by step guide to get it working on windows7 64 bit.

portable program is nice. but what about the portability of the voices?

@ German
It's probably the license of the voice you are trying to use with Balabolka. Bala doesn't need any license to work...

I have tried it three times (hoping there eas something bad when downloading, but it never worked. There is a voice saying "the lilcense you`ve got is not good". Is ther any other kind of ther "free" license?

Absolutely great program, and the fact that it's both portable and free simply puts icing on the cake. Thank you ! !

@Loner.

It did not come with that voice, that voice you heard was the default microsoft anna voice, which I just tried and it pronounced Donna as a weird version of donna. All my other voices which I purchaced separately say the name correctly. Also, you can add your own words and how you would like them pronounced.

For example, you can add the word Donna, into a custom dictionary. I added "Donna=Don-na" now Microsoft Anna reads it correctly. (Press the book icon with "A|B" on it to bring up dictonaries,which you can edit.)

I have an extensive 160k word pronounciation list, which I copied from another non-free TTS program I use. There might be a free one online somewhere.

@ Loner: BTW even my german TTS (SAPI 5) voice "Steffi", used with Balabolka, is able to pronounce "Donna" correctly ;-)

@ Loner: There are a lot of good voices to download if you scroll down at the Balabolka homepage.

Well, this was a waste of time downloading. Only one voice choice, and it was a woman's voice...no man's voice choice. Also, it could not pronounce words properly. Example, the word "Donna" was pronounced "Anna" ....no D sound. Other words were mispronounced as well. Needs more work and more voice options.

I could not get it to work. Hung opening a simple text file