Alternate Voices?

geneven · 08-05-2009, 12:41 PM

I am a text-to-speech fan in general and just got a Kindle 2. The Samantha voice is great, but I miss my Serena voice with its cool British accent (samples can be found on the net, but samples don't really do it justice; only extended listening really tells the tale).

Is it feasible that new voices could be made available? I would be willing to pay normal price for a good new voice, which would be around $30.

poohbear_nc · 08-06-2009, 09:06 AM

Since the Kindle is a closed proprietary system, I doubt any alternative voices would be available legally for purchase. You might contact Amazon CS with this issue, but don't hold your breath.
This sounds like another issue that would require an independent hack for what you want.

chip273 · 08-06-2009, 01:21 PM

At least when the kindle goes to other countries -if it ever does- we'll need new voices. The TTS right now can't handle anything else than english.

judib · 08-23-2009, 10:35 AM

please explain how you change the voice from male to female and also the speed, I've tried to push the Alt and aA at he same time and I can only view the start text or stop it.

chip273 · 08-23-2009, 10:46 AM

You can only change the settings if it is reading out right then. So push the "AA" key, (no need for alt) while you view a book, turn on text to speech, wait till it starts, press the "AA" key again and you can change the speed and voice.

geneven · 09-01-2009, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Since the Kindle is a closed proprietary system, I doubt any alternative voices would be available legally for purchase. You might contact Amazon CS with this issue, but don't hold your breath.
This sounds like another issue that would require an independent hack for what you want.

What makes this slightly different is that there ARE already alternative voices available legally for purchase. You can buy the Samanth voice (the female one on the Kindle) at www.nextup.com, for example.

HOWEVER, the Samantha voice is only available for a Windows environment. But since the same voice has been used on the Kindle, it is probably fairly easy to adopt a voice, so MAYBE someone would figure out how to take another commercial voice (like Serena, made by the same company and also available for purchase at www.nextup.com, among other places) and plug it in to a Kindle, somehow.

The company, btw, is Nuance. Maybe Nuance itself will make more voices available for the Kindle...

I'm not sure what the issues would be for creating an independent hack like this.

08-05-2009, 12:41 PM	#1
geneven Member Retired Posts: 124 Karma: 340 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Nokia N800, N810, Kindle 2	Alternate Voices? I am a text-to-speech fan in general and just got a Kindle 2. The Samantha voice is great, but I miss my Serena voice with its cool British accent (samples can be found on the net, but samples don't really do it justice; only extended listening really tells the tale). Is it feasible that new voices could be made available? I would be willing to pay normal price for a good new voice, which would be around $30.

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08-06-2009, 09:06 AM	#2
poohbear_nc Now what? Posts: 58,801 Karma: 135181808 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Durham, NC Device: Every Kindle Ever Made & To Be Made!	Since the Kindle is a closed proprietary system, I doubt any alternative voices would be available legally for purchase. You might contact Amazon CS with this issue, but don't hold your breath. This sounds like another issue that would require an independent hack for what you want.

08-06-2009, 01:21 PM	#3
chip273 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Kindle 2 with HSPA mod	At least when the kindle goes to other countries -if it ever does- we'll need new voices. The TTS right now can't handle anything else than english.

08-23-2009, 10:35 AM	#4
judib Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: kindle	please explain how you change the voice from male to female and also the speed, I've tried to push the Alt and aA at he same time and I can only view the start text or stop it.

08-23-2009, 10:46 AM	#5
chip273 Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Kindle 2 with HSPA mod	You can only change the settings if it is reading out right then. So push the "AA" key, (no need for alt) while you view a book, turn on text to speech, wait till it starts, press the "AA" key again and you can change the speed and voice.

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