"Read me a story, Mommy." (60% actual size.) NAME and DOWNLOAD LINK: ReadPlease 2002 DESCRIPTION: On-screen text reader. SIZE: 9MB, self-executing. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Win95/98/ME/NT4/2000, 25MB hard disk space, 32MB RAM, sound card. COMMENT: Since the invention of the text reader we've had to tolerate that dreadful mechanical voice which can irritate as much as inform. Though far from perfect, ReadPlease 2002 offers four human-like voices, two male and two female. Though still somewhat halting, they read more smoothly and are not distracting obstacles to communicating content. Happily, ReadPlease 2002 is a good deal smarter than previous text readers. It skips over most common punctuation so you're not pelted with "comma," "period," "parenthesis, " etc. It can read some emoticons (smiley faces) such as :-( which elicits "frowning face." Another pleasing feature is pauses after commas and periods - the way people read. The downside is abbreviations such as Mrs. and Nov., which are properly read, are followed by unexpected dead air. We tried several documents to see how well ReadPlease 2002 coped. In the first two paragraphs of the U.S. Declaration of Independence it had a problem only with the word "shewn" and an odd combination of periods with dashes. The opening paragraph of Grimm's Fairy Tale "Hansel and Grethel" was more of a challenge for the reader, but fully understandable. It did interpret "tear" as crying rather than ripping. On a lark we entered a paragraph of Italian, though we do not speak the language. It sounded terrible. Forget reading recipes. Not as simple to use as the paid version, ReadPlease 2002 requires you to copy and paste whatever text you wish read into its window. You can vary the voice, reading speed and type size. A "Pause" button permits you to take a bathroom break then pick up where you left off. BOOKS ON TAPE® it isn't, but if you like having stories, articles or news read to you while going about your chores, or want your children to benefit from fine literature, ReadPlease 2002 is certainly an economical choice.