NewsAloud 1.01 - User Guide and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions - NewsAloud

1. What does NewsAloud Do?
   NewsAloud can retrieve full news stories from some of the major news sites on the web and then speak the stories aloud, freeing you up to listen while you work. Think of it as your personal newscaster.
   
   
2. How to select types of news?
   By clicking Options->NewsAloud Preferences on the main menu, you can select the types of news you want ranging from top stories to sports, Weird News to Politics. Simply check off the categories you are interested in.
   
   
3. Retrieving New News.
   By clicking News Updates->Retrieve New News, or the left most toolbar button, NewsAloud will retrieve the latest stories on the web that you haven't yet received. You can also set NewsAloud to update automatically every 5, 15 or more minutes under Options->NewsAloud Preferences. Watch the status bar at the bottom of the window to follow progress, and when complete, dozens of headlines will populate the window.
   
   
4. Listening to stories.
   Select one or more headlines in the main menu, then right click your mouse for available choices, or use the Article Controls menu on the main menu. Choosing Read Aloud will add the full article to the Read Queue. The Read Queue is a list of articles you selected to have spoken. Each article is spoken, then when complete, it moves on to the next one. So by selecting several stories, you have built your personal newscast.
   
   
5. What is the voice about?
   NewsAloud supports a large number of voices, and you can adjust these in pitch and speed to make them easier to understand. On the main menu, choose Options->Voice Options to select different voices, edit the sound a voice produces, and select file options.
   
   
6. How to create WAV or MP3 files?
   Besides speaking stories aloud, NewsAloud can create .wav or .mp3 files from the news articles. These are great to save for listening later, sending an MP3 story to a friend, burning an audio CD to listen to in the car, or taking the news portable by placing MP3 files on portable mp3 players for listening away from the computer. Click Options->Voice Options, then the File Options TAB to set file types and directory. Then, when choosing articles to read, choose Read To File instead of Read Aloud. You can follow NewsAloud's progress on the status line at the bottom of the window when creating files.
   
   
7. What is folder in NewsAloud?
   Near the top of the window you'll notice a Folder selection. NewsAloud allows you to organize articles in folders. There are always 2 folders, "New News" and "Trash". Newly retrieved articles always go to New News. Articles that are deleted or already spoken go to Trash. By using the Add Folder button, you can create your own custom folders to store certain types of articles that you might want to save for later, or that are about similar items that you want to listen to altogether at some point. Right click on an article will give you a menu choice to move an article to another folder.
   
   
8. The Non-Stop-Newscast.
   If you are a real news junkie, you'll have to try out Automatic Continuous Speaking on the Article Controls menu. With this option enabled, NewsAloud will speak every story in the New News Folder, and automatically go get more when finished.