Is the "Text to AudioFile" significantly better than the command-line program say? For example:

say -v Alex -f cleanfile.txt -o mybook.aiff

(see this old hint: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031113181603909)

I am honestly asking so please don't get angry. I was just wondering if "Text to AudioFile" is better in some way, e.g., better handling of unfamiliar words or long files?

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The say command is basically doing the same thing. The Alex voice is the same using both approaches. The quality is not going to get any better then Alex. You can pass additional parameters to slow Alex down a bit. Alex is the best text -> voice that I've seen. It's rather good but not yet perfected. It's an improvement over the voices in 10.4.

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I just found another advantage: I can use the new hint in the open Mac labs at school, where Terminal isn't allowed (so I can't run say without using a script anyway, right?).

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