Tivo with the Home Media Option allows you to play MP3 files stored on your PC on your TV.  It works by running a small program called Tivo Publisher on the PC, which communicates with your network connected Tivo unit.

NewsAloud is windows software that can automatically retrieve news stories from a variety of news sites such as Yahoo News and Reuters, as well as from any RSS Feed.  It then uses Voice Synthesis (Text To Speech or TTS) to create MP3 files from these news stories, for listening away from the PC, typically on portable MP3 players.

With the addition of a few new features, NewsAloud can now be used by Tivo Home Media users to add on-demand, interactive news to their Tivo experience.  Best of all, you can try it out free, following the details below:

1. Download NewsAloud Here.  Install this on the same internet connected PC that Tivo Publisher runs on.  During installation, you'll be given the chance to choose which news categories you are interested in.

2. Create a directory on your PC for the news stories.  This will work best if you name the directory NewsAloud or News.  Then, within Tivo Publisher, add this directory to the Music list by dragging the folder to the Published Music are. 

3. Start NewsAloud via Start->Programs->NewsAloud.  Click Options->Voice and File Options, then click the File Options TAB.  Here, set file type to MP3, and set the file output directory to be the News directory you created above.

4. Finally, click Options->NewsAloud Preferences->Misc. Options, and at the bottom, set the Maximum Files setting to something like 50 or 100.  This is the maximum number of stories NewsAloud will keep.  This insures you only have the newest stories on your Tivo, without the number of files growing too large to be useful.

5. You are now ready to let NewsAloud start retrieving news and create stories.  Click Speak Controls->Automatic Audio File Creation.  The program should retrieve new news stories, and begin creating MP3 files.  After several minutes, if you check in the News folder, there will be a number of audio files. 

6. From your Tivo remote, select Music and Photos, then Music on your PC.  Navigate to the shown News Folder, and you can scroll down headlines, listening to stories of interest.

We are very excited about this new use for NewsAloud, and the ability to add an interactive news element to Tivo.  Please let us know your feedback and if you have any problems or suggestions.  You can email us anytime at support@nextup.com and you'll be amazed how fast we answer.

NOTE ABOUT VOICES:  The demo version of NewsAloud comes with older microsoft TTS Voices.  These aren't always the most pleasant thing to listen to.  However, we do sell many better sounding voices.  To hear samples or order improved voices, check out
http://nextup.com/TextAloud/SpeechEngine/voices.html