• free voices better than XP (SAM) or Vista (Mary?)
• regional voices

Another option is the "Modeltalker Kate" which you can download as part of
> the Modeltalker package http://www.modeltalker.com/ which states this:
> "ModelTalker works as both a standalone text to speech system and a SAPI 5.1
> speech engine. The standalone application lets you type English text into a
> window and speak the text using your synthetic voice. Your synthetic voice
> can also be controlled by SAPI 5.1 applications including e-book readers,
> screen readers, speech generating devices (SGDs), and other software.
> Although the ModelTalker SAPI speech engine is not yet completely compliant
> with the SAPI
> 5.1 standard, it does work with most SGDs that support SAPI 5.1 voices."
> You need to register to be able to download it. I don't know if that's what
> you need but if so then that's there.
>
> You can hear a demo of her as the final voice in the table at
> http://www.modeltalker.com/comparison.html