LG Phone reads e-books out loud

Bob Russell · 09-22-2006, 06:42 PM

While regular e-books are still looking to find their feet in the marketplace, LG has come out with a phone that does the reading for you.

Put an e-book on the microSD card, stick it in the phone, and it will read the e-book for you. Of course, you could just put the audio (even from Gutenberg audio) on the microSD card, but that's no fun!

The phone also has bluetooth and can work as a walkie-talkie.

Interestingly, there is probably software out there already for PalmOS and Windows Mobile to read text. Knowing the creativity of gadget lovers, I wouldn't be surprised if someone somewhere has actually used that method to read an e-book on a pda.

Via Kevin Tofel at JkOnTheRun.

jswinden · 09-22-2006, 09:55 PM

Good idea except that most eBook titles that you buy seem to have the "Read" function disabled, at least on newer releases.

So what reader does it use? If it is proprietary, then good luck finding eBooks.

gadgetguru · 09-23-2006, 12:40 AM

This is just text-to-speech software. While they are really available for both Palm and Windows Mobile, the current version sound robotic so no fun reading a book or email using them. Hopefully, LG's text-to-speech and I believe Nokia have one too for certain phones are better. Text files are much smaller than audio files.

Personally, I use them all the time on my Windows PC, but as stated not on my Mobile devices.

eBooks bought commercially have the 'select all' function disabled (to deter piracy and format shifting), so unless they come with their own reader or you strip them of protection (if that is legal is another matter), I don't think text-to-speech will work...

09-22-2006, 06:42 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	LG Phone reads e-books out loud While regular e-books are still looking to find their feet in the marketplace, LG has come out with a phone that does the reading for you. Put an e-book on the microSD card, stick it in the phone, and it will read the e-book for you. Of course, you could just put the audio (even from Gutenberg audio) on the microSD card, but that's no fun! The phone also has bluetooth and can work as a walkie-talkie. Interestingly, there is probably software out there already for PalmOS and Windows Mobile to read text. Knowing the creativity of gadget lovers, I wouldn't be surprised if someone somewhere has actually used that method to read an e-book on a pda. Via Kevin Tofel at JkOnTheRun.

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09-22-2006, 09:55 PM	#2
jswinden Nameless Being	Good idea except that most eBook titles that you buy seem to have the "Read" function disabled, at least on newer releases. So what reader does it use? If it is proprietary, then good luck finding eBooks.

09-23-2006, 12:40 AM	#3
gadgetguru Addict Posts: 214 Karma: 6370 Join Date: May 2003 Location: Asia Device: Tungsten T5	This is just text-to-speech software. While they are really available for both Palm and Windows Mobile, the current version sound robotic so no fun reading a book or email using them. Hopefully, LG's text-to-speech and I believe Nokia have one too for certain phones are better. Text files are much smaller than audio files. Personally, I use them all the time on my Windows PC, but as stated not on my Mobile devices. eBooks bought commercially have the 'select all' function disabled (to deter piracy and format shifting), so unless they come with their own reader or you strip them of protection (if that is legal is another matter), I don't think text-to-speech will work...

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