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Free Microsoft online voices

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j001
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2023/01/22 12:34:46 (permalink)

Free Microsoft online voices

Hi again,
Voice Aloud offers a possibility to use Microsoft Azure voices, but only with API key. I did a quick research and these voices are freely available, either through Microsoft Edge and it's Immersive reader and Read Aloud feature:
(1686) These TTS Voices Sounds So Real (Microsoft Natural Voices) - YouTube
or even desktop application called Balabolka:
💬 Text to Speech Converter - FREE & No Limits - YouTube
With this software I was able to convert long texts to audio file, so it works great. It would be great to have this possibility in Voice Aloud app, is it possible? The quality of voices is amazing and there are plenty of languages and dialects available (even Azerbaijani, Zulu, and such exotic languages) so many new users would appreciate it, I'm sure.
Thank you.
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    Re: Free Microsoft online voices 2023/01/22 13:15:36 (permalink)
    Microsoft Edge is a Microsoft product, so they offer the voices in it for free. Same for Immersive Reader. Microsoft chooses not to collect royalties from themselves. They do not offer these voices for free to 3rd party developers. I don't know what Balabolka does and what kind of a deal they have with Microsoft (or if they hacked somehow into their system). Since theirs is a Windows product, maybe Microsoft offers Azure voices within their SAPI service for free too, I have no idea how that work there. I reviewed the website of Balabolka product, they do not mention MS Azure voices anywhere.
     
    See Azure TTS pricing at Cognitive Speech Services Pricing | Microsoft Azure https://azure.microsoft.c...vices/speech-services/
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    j001
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    Re: Free Microsoft online voices 2023/01/26 12:51:53 (permalink)
    It's in the video I provided, you can find them under Tools -> Use Online TTS voices. They offer more online voices then just MS Azure voices.
    According to this answer, if the software is free, they can use it:
    Is Balabolka app legal when using Azure voices? - Microsoft Q&A
    So I'm not sure if Voice Aloud Reader could use them since it offers also free version. Maybe it would be good idea to contact Microsoft if you can include them without their API key?
    btw, IBM Watson voices sound also good, I guess they can be used under same conditions...
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    Re: Free Microsoft online voices 2023/01/26 18:29:38 (permalink)
    This information is simply NOT correct. The Bala-something app may be free, but Microsoft does not dispense their services for free to everyone.
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    j001
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    Re: Free Microsoft online voices 2023/01/27 09:10:30 (permalink)
    I see, I didn't read their terms and conditions, just assumed it could be free to use under certain conditions. Maybe sometimes in the future...
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