MT1 from MagneticTime lets you listen to email and Word docs on iPods, Pocket PCs or mobiles

An integral desktop player lets laptops and PCs in on the act

MagneticTime has announced the MT1 series of downloadable programs that convert emails and Word documents into speech via MP3s for use with iPods, mobile phones, PDAs, or any PC.

The software - available at http://www.magnetictime.com - is priced at £30.99 (Euro 44.99, US$54.99) and currently available in English with new languages like French, Spanish and German to follow, and will be available for Apple Mac in 2006.

Three versions of MT1 are currently available for download: MT-iPod, MT-Phone and MT-Pda. Each comes with a desktop player that allows emails and Word documents to be played on a PC or laptop. Users get a huge discount on the second product they buy; the third they get for free. Details on the website.

[Editor's note - the company is currently doing a reduced-price deal for individual products - £22.99; $39.99; Eu33.99 - BC]

In addition to producing email and Word documents as MP3s, MT1 acts “intelligently” – in the role of personal assistant - to organise information and make decisions. Its user definable Rules Engine provides a powerful tool to select and filter data - much like ‘anti-spam’ software does.

MT1 works with Windows 2000 and XP, and all versions of MS Word, Outlook and Outlook Express. Documents and emails are stored on the mobile device and PC in libraries the same way as songs. “Anything you can do with an mp3 “song” you can now do with your personal information - play it, copy it, archive it etc,” says MagneticTime CEO Richard O’Donnell.

MT1’s MP3 files typically use four-five times less “space” than the average MP3 song and MT1 can be set to automatically select and load emails on a regular (e.g. daily) basis. It works by being downloaded and installed on to a PC and is designed to work ‘out of the box’. Apart from being able to synchronise with a mobile device such as an iPod, some other novel features include, Natural Voices, a Desktop Player, Rules for selecting & filtering and Export to multiple devices.

Users can set MT to send emails and Word documents - all or selected ones - to the receiving devices. iPod users can use the auto-sync function of iTunes to download emails and Word documents and to listen to their work in iTunes itself.

“MT is a true next step in information handling and management,” says O’Donnell, who emerged from the dotcom boom of 2000 with $26m from his portion of the $60m sale to Clarus Corporation, Atlanta (NASDAQ clrs) of Software Architects International (SAI) and Redeo.com. SAI’s financial and electronic banking products are still used today in major corporates such as Yamaha, Ciba, Diageo, Bridgestone and Northern Telecom.

From his native Ireland and his base in the USA he plotted a return to business and established MagneticTime in 2005. For MT1, the company uses a combination of new and existing technologies, including algorithm-based technologies that are unique to MagneticTime. The output “voice” is a quality “new millennium natural voice” that “speaks” clearly and not too hurriedly.

O’Donnell sees MT1 being used as a day-to-day personal and business tool, allowing users to catch up with key work while commuting to or from work, for example, or listening to messages from friends or relatives. In addition, he sees applications in training, corporate communications and education.

“Several universities in North America are looking at the iPod as a means of communicating course information and limited course content – such as recordings of lectures - to students,” says O’Donnell. “The MT1 series takes that approach a step further by allowing any complimentary course content in Word to also be converted to voice.”

“The implications for corporate communications, training, and education are profound,” he adds. The MP3 files created by MT1 can even be stored on a central server - for general employee or student access - or saved on CD/DVD for distribution.

MT1 Features:

> New millennium ‘natural’ voices, NO bad sci-fi movie voices!
> Uses 4 times less space than a typical MP3
> Listen on your PC too (‘Desktop Player’ is included)
> Listen while commuting (car, train, subway, plane) or at the Gym
> Automatically selects and downloads your daily emails to your MP3 player of
choice
> Select Word documents to audioize and take with you
> Stores your emails and Word documents like music
> Builds your portable email & document ‘audio’ library
> Play them now, or anytime (or place) in the future
> No need to delete. Algorithms ensure minimum space requirements. (Storage
capacities on many devices are now so large that it would take a lifetime to fill
them up)

MT1 is currently in English only. MT2 will be available soon in many other languages.
All, for less than the cost of a couple of iPod cables!

The MT1 software is available for Windows immediately (and Apple Mac early ’06) for download at: http://www.magnetictime.com priced at $49.99. For more information, see the website http://www.magnetictime.com.