Microsoft Anna - Sensual Babe or Just Another Robot?

Microsoft Anna is the new English text to speech voice of Windows Vista. She replaces Microsoft Sam, the robot-like voice that comes with Windows XP. Microsoft Sam has probably single-handedly done more than anything to give text to speech a bad name. The only positive thing I can say about Microsoft Sam is that he reminds me of the Commodore Amiga, possibly the first personal computer to have a built-in text to speech capability.

Does Microsoft Anna sound any better than Sam? Does she have a sensual voice that you could listen to all day or does she have you reaching for the mute button? How does she compare to a voice from a leading speech engine provider, such as one of Nuance®’s RealSpeak™ voices?

To answer these questions, I’ve conducted a simple ’speak-off’ between Microsoft Sam, Microsoft Anna and RealSpeak™ Samantha. Each voice had to read three passages of text, ranging in difficulty from a simple news story to an abstract from a medical journal that most humans would have trouble pronouncing.

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