That depends on several factors. First off, which operating system are you most comfortable with? Windows has a few options; the two most popular are JAWS and NVDA. Mac OS has Voiceover built in. NVDA is free while JAWS is quite expensive. Do you prefer a tactile interface? If so then an iPad or iPhone is best suited for a sight-free workflow. Talkback for Android is an option, though it can be frustrating without any usable vision.

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It sounds like your main focus is on the TTS (text-to-speech) component of the screen reader. That is entirely up to personal preference. Apple features the most natural voices out of the box on their screen readers. JAWS ships with Vocalizer Expressive, which is based on DECtalk. NVDA taps into the Windows core voices, but you can use eSpeak if you really want. It's extremely robotic, but some users get more benefit out of it at very high speed. There are a number of aftermarket voices available for the Windows screen readers. Apple gives you a selection of voices to choose from, and you better like them because it's all you'll get. Talkback taps into whatever TTS engine is installed on an Android phone. Usually it's Google TTS which is on the harsh side but quite good. You can install new ones from Google Play, if you wish. When on Voiceover, I use a mix of voices depending on what I'm doing. When I'm on Windows, I usually use Microsoft Mark. As for Talkback, I prefer Google TTS English UK female.

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How far are you in learning a screen reader? If you need something right now, Smartphones are the easiest to learn and master. If you have a Mac and are good with computers in general, it will take you maybe 2 or 3 days to get used to the basics with the built-in tutorial. JAWS and NVDA have steeper learning curves, but they've given me the most versatility. If you need it, I can give you basic tutorials for all of them.

VoiceOver for Mac in my opinion, + its built in and integrated into the Operating System software.

I've used Narrator and Jaws and even tried ZoomText and I like VoiceOver best.

When I am running Windows 10, I usually use Jaws from Freedom Scientific, which I've been using since college. I now use NVDA at least some of the time and it is really starting to become a contender. I use voiceover on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

I lost my sight when I was in middle school so had to relearn the computer from scratch without sight. It was difficult but over time, I got used to it. The hardest part for me was no longer having visual orientation.

I didn't actually use windows much until I started college. I had a macintosh IIsi in high school with the screen reader called Outspoken. Do any of you remember that? This was in the mid to late 1990s...

Does anyone use the Chromevox plugin for Chrome? Or is it so bad that it's not worth the install?

JAWS and NVDA are standard. Jaws is free to try rn and NVDA is always free.

I’d recommend ZoomText if you have low vision- you can use it to read text and the edge smoothing is much better than the built in windows magnifier.

Once the world has opened back up again, you might find assistive technology training useful- your trainer can help teach you how to use screenreaders most efficiently and how to use shortcuts etc.

I use JAWS and it works fine for me.

note\* i use a crack version

I would also factor in what applications you need to use what screen reader works beat with those.

For just article/news reading from a webpage, $1 has in my opinion the most natural sounding voice and it cleans up ads and other unnecessary artifacts from the page. you can use the chrome extension to read directly from chrome and Microsoft edge as well . Disclaimer I'm the creator of Hewizo