Amazon Echo now reads Kindle books aloud - Page 3

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

The TTS on Alexa is Alexa reading it in her voice so if you haven't heard her read before and how advance she is you will be pleasantly surprise how good of a job she does.

Thanks! Last night I set up a low spec LG Fuel phone with Ivona and it did text-to-speech very well. It is dual core and has 500 mb ram, though somewhat better specs than Echo, as someone mentioned, Echo will be running off of the cloud which will help it out. So I can believe it will handle text-to-speech fine, but it would be a nice future upgrade if we could choose from a selection of voices and accents for Echo like with Ivona, which Amazon owns.

wodin · 01-11-2016, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

I have been considering getting a Wifi switch so I can tell Alexa to turn on the lights but I never seem to get around to it. There are too many more useful things to spend my little bit of money on. Still, I may eventually do that and have another way to show the Echo off.

Barry

I haven't tried TTS yet, but I use my Echos for other things like music, shopping list, answering miscellaneous questions, etc.

But the most use I get from her is controlling my lighting. I use her with a Wink hub, and currently have nine GE Link light bulbs which all have unique names so I can say "Alexa, turn off the dining room", and I don't have to go to the dining room to turn off the lights. At bedtime I can say "Alexa, turn off all of the lights" and be assured that I haven't forgotten to turn off the patio or carport lights. I also have two GE smart switches to install in places that have long tube fluorescent fixtures whenever I get any round tuits.

Cinisajoy · 01-11-2016, 01:18 PM

Actually, if you had the correct timer attached, Alexa could make a crockpot meal. Come to think of it, with the proper switch Alexa could do any of those.

Atunah · 01-11-2016, 01:46 PM

I tried it and it worked flawless. Picked up right where I left off on my Voyage and went to town. Instant too, no lag. I am reading something with lots of french phrases in it, a historical romance and french names and titles and such.

Since I don't speak french, I don't know how close Alexa was, but surely closer than I could ever be. Even when I read in my head I probably mangle that stuff.

This will be great for doing chores, folding clothes, cleaning the kitchen etc. Then I can pick right back up where I left off on the Voyage.

They played a short audible ad when I first tried it out.

tomsem · 01-11-2016, 03:13 PM

The TTS works as well as it does on Fire tablets, which is to say, it is pretty good. Also, I assume all of the TTS smarts are in the cloud, so it will only get better over time. One issue seemed to be that 'Alexa' became hard of hearing and would not respond to the 'Alexa' wake word as readily as normal.

I'm hopeful that this will come to Fire TV as well: the Alexa app includes both of my (1st gen) Fire TV devices in its device list, and while I cannot actually get either device to do anything via the app now, it seems they need only to get a firmware update to gain this capability, noting that both are eligible for Fire OS 5 beta, implying that they will get such an update in the future. The 2nd gen devices have some 'Alexa' capabilities, but not sure how it compares with Echo at this point. I don't see any technical reason the Fire TV Stick cannot do everything Echo does, except for the ability to respond to Alexa wake word without pressing a remote button (because that requires the directional microphone array of Echo).

cadele · 01-11-2016, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

If I catch it on sale for $99 I might pick one up, I think $179 is just too much. It would be different if it had a battery in it and could be moved from room to room without needing an electrical outlet all the time.

The Echo is not available in my country, but you might be interested in this http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/0...-need-or-want/

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadele

The Echo is not available in my country, but you might be interested in this http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/0...-need-or-want/

Wow, that sounds like the Echo I want. Thanks

Glad to know the text-to-speech is working well for everyone on the Echo.

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 05:00 PM

The news about a new Echo is showing up in more places
http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-to-u...n-of-the-echo/

tubemonkey · 01-11-2016, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

The news about a new Echo is showing up in more places
http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-to-u...n-of-the-echo/

Today is leak day

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Today is leak day

I'm pretty jazzed about this. Portability and a lower price should have this selling like hotcakes

tubemonkey · 01-11-2016, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conan46

I'm pretty jazzed about this. Portability and a lower price should have this selling like hotcakes

I'm predicting $99 for Baby Echo

Conan46 · 01-11-2016, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm predicting $99 for Baby Echo

I think you are right. Probably promotional & sale price of $79.

Tarana · 01-11-2016, 07:17 PM

I listened to Murder In Waiting by Robert Richardson for half an hour. It was GREAT! No, not as good as having an actual actor read, but for someone who has lost vision, it sounds great. The TTS on my Kindle Fire (the $229 one, not the $50 one) is quite excellent. My ONLY complaint is that I could not get the volume loud enough for me. If my Echo was sitting right next to me, wouldn't be a problem, but just couldn't get it loud enough. I will try again another day.

As to getting Echo to respond, room sounds can interfere. If my computer is on (with a really loud fan!) Echo doesn't always hear me or respond. Otherwise it works fine. Your friend should contact Amazon unless he's determined there is a lot of noise in the room. Should work better.

tomsem · 01-11-2016, 07:31 PM

Problem with 'alexa' response was not due to room noise (there was none, apart from what the device was reading out). We had to go right up to it and TALK VERY LOUDLY, whereas normally it would readily respond to 'Alexa, pause' from anywhere in the room.

Echo has visual volume indicator, you can adjust it with 'alexa, increase volume to 7' (scale of 10), use the remote (if you have one), the remote Alexa app on a mobile device, use a web browser on a computer on the same local network, or by turning the ring on the top of the device as it happens to be a volume knob (clockwise to increase volume, counter-clockwise to decrease). If the indicator is white 360 degrees, it is at max volume.

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01-11-2016, 01:18 PM	#33
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	Actually, if you had the correct timer attached, Alexa could make a crockpot meal. Come to think of it, with the proper switch Alexa could do any of those.

01-11-2016, 01:46 PM	#34
Atunah Wizard Posts: 1,817 Karma: 23400001 Join Date: May 2012 Location: USA Device: K1/K3/BasicK Voyage/Oasis1/Oasis3	I tried it and it worked flawless. Picked up right where I left off on my Voyage and went to town. Instant too, no lag. I am reading something with lots of french phrases in it, a historical romance and french names and titles and such. Since I don't speak french, I don't know how close Alexa was, but surely closer than I could ever be. Even when I read in my head I probably mangle that stuff. This will be great for doing chores, folding clothes, cleaning the kitchen etc. Then I can pick right back up where I left off on the Voyage. They played a short audible ad when I first tried it out.

01-11-2016, 03:13 PM	#35
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,478 Karma: 26425959 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	The TTS works as well as it does on Fire tablets, which is to say, it is pretty good. Also, I assume all of the TTS smarts are in the cloud, so it will only get better over time. One issue seemed to be that 'Alexa' became hard of hearing and would not respond to the 'Alexa' wake word as readily as normal. I'm hopeful that this will come to Fire TV as well: the Alexa app includes both of my (1st gen) Fire TV devices in its device list, and while I cannot actually get either device to do anything via the app now, it seems they need only to get a firmware update to gain this capability, noting that both are eligible for Fire OS 5 beta, implying that they will get such an update in the future. The 2nd gen devices have some 'Alexa' capabilities, but not sure how it compares with Echo at this point. I don't see any technical reason the Fire TV Stick cannot do everything Echo does, except for the ability to respond to Alexa wake word without pressing a remote button (because that requires the directional microphone array of Echo).

01-11-2016, 05:00 PM	#38
Conan46 Fanatic Posts: 575 Karma: 3400000 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Paperwhite 3	The news about a new Echo is showing up in more places http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-to-u...n-of-the-echo/

01-11-2016, 07:17 PM	#43
Tarana Wizard Posts: 3,978 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	I listened to Murder In Waiting by Robert Richardson for half an hour. It was GREAT! No, not as good as having an actual actor read, but for someone who has lost vision, it sounds great. The TTS on my Kindle Fire (the $229 one, not the $50 one) is quite excellent. My ONLY complaint is that I could not get the volume loud enough for me. If my Echo was sitting right next to me, wouldn't be a problem, but just couldn't get it loud enough. I will try again another day. As to getting Echo to respond, room sounds can interfere. If my computer is on (with a really loud fan!) Echo doesn't always hear me or respond. Otherwise it works fine. Your friend should contact Amazon unless he's determined there is a lot of noise in the room. Should work better.

01-11-2016, 07:31 PM	#44
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,478 Karma: 26425959 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Problem with 'alexa' response was not due to room noise (there was none, apart from what the device was reading out). We had to go right up to it and TALK VERY LOUDLY, whereas normally it would readily respond to 'Alexa, pause' from anywhere in the room. Echo has visual volume indicator, you can adjust it with 'alexa, increase volume to 7' (scale of 10), use the remote (if you have one), the remote Alexa app on a mobile device, use a web browser on a computer on the same local network, or by turning the ring on the top of the device as it happens to be a volume knob (clockwise to increase volume, counter-clockwise to decrease). If the indicator is white 360 degrees, it is at max volume.

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