If you have a 2nd generation Kindle, it can automatically read the text out loud to you via text to speech software.

If you don't, there are quite a few programs on the market that can do it on your PC, including these free ones:

http://www.naturalreaders.com/ (Free NaturalReader 9.0 is free, but the Personal version will read from more document types)

http://www.datafurnace.net.au/sayzme/
(just past any text into the tool and it will read it)

http://www.readplease.com/english/downloads/#rp2003
(they have a free 2003 version and 2003 Plus trial version that works for 30 days)

In general, if you pay more for the product you usually gain the ability to read a wider range of document types and have interaction with more software, such as the ability to have it read from your email application. You also usually get more voices and/or better quality voices when you spend more (i.e. more human and less robotic sounding). Features to look for include a voice that you like and the ability to control the speed that the voice reads at. Free ones tend to have few controls, sound very robotic and grossly mispronounce unusual words.

Here's a bit more info on the technology in general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_to_speech

You can also do the opposite and speak into microphone and have software convert your speech into text. Here's the leading product that people use for this on the PC: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/

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