Tech Review for reading solutions - need advice

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to figure out what are some of the best adaptive technology options for high school/college students in dealing with reading.

I couldn’t find a comprehensive review so I thought I would post what I’ve found and see what people have to add.

I’m really interested if anyone has tried Read Outloud 6 (University Edition) on the Mac??? It’s a bit expensive but it looks like it’s worth it.

These are programs I’ve tried/am thinking about trying and the cost…

Read: OutLoud Bookshare Edition: $0 - Free to Bookshare members.
I would like to try this but it’s not Snow Leopard compatible so I can’t. The company says that it should be Snow Leopard compatible by the fall.

GhostReader - $40
This doesn’t really do anything that the built Mac text to speech function doesn’t do except that it highlights the text so you can follow along easier and I really like that. It’s great for proofreading essays and emails. And it will make mp3s of the text.

ReadHear: $119
I’m using the free trial on this for reading books from Bookshare. It crashes regularly but when it works, it’s great (according to the website there’s a Mac software update coming so that may account for the crashiness). Don’t know that I would spend $120 on it though.

Read Outloud 6: $319
This looks like it has lots of great features and it works with pdfs, even ones I ocr myself. It looks like there’s not a lot of converting stuff. I think this is my best bet.

Kurzeil: $395/$1100/$1500
I think this probably works great but I’d have to buy the $1100 in order to scan in my own documents. Since I’m a grad student, I don’t have that kind of money!

Any thoughts? Anything you would recommend???