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Old 08-30-2013, 06:10 PM   #66
hwlester
Wizard
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Posts: 1,343
Karma: 2786741
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Birmingham, AL
Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1, Kindle Touch, misc. Android devices, Nook HD+
I'm not sure what all the hate for TTS is about... TTS has improved by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years. The version that came with Android pre-4.0 (perhaps even the version on 3.0, but I never owned a 3.0 device) was definitely robotic and you needed to purchase a decent one (SVOX at the time which was reasonably natural sounding, but mispronounced words occasionally), then Ivona released a beta on Android that was even more natural sounding, but still occasionally pronounced words strangely. Both would read "Ave I" in Google Maps as "Ah-vay Eye" as in "Ave Maria" instead of "Avenue I". The version that comes stock on Android 4.x, although not quite as good as Ivona, was good enough that I chose not to install Ivona or SVOX. I agree that I probably wouldn't want to listen to an entire book read by it (especially fantasy novels with strange names). I'd say the speech is more "stilted" than "robotic", like someone trying to enunciate very clearly to cover up an accent. I tried the TTS on my Kindle Touch and it seemed to be on a par with the modern Android implementations.
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