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Loosheesh · 10-05-2014, 07:51 PM

I've searched around and noticed the Voice Dream app mentioned a few times here and there, but mostly in connection with other conversations. I think it's a brilliant app and wanted to dedicate a thread to bring it to other people's attention, and also have a discussion spot for those of us who own it.

The Voice Dream app, at $9.99, is relatively pricey but is, IMO, worth every cent. I discovered it at a time when I was actively searching for a text-to-speech (TTS) solution for my iPad and it's now one of my most-used apps. It reads just about anything (DRM-free/doesn't read mobi) from your other reading apps, and it has it's own built-in thingy for getting reading material from Dropbox, Evernote, Gutenberg, and elsewhere. It can also be linked to the Pocket app, which is the handiest thing for me.

One of the things I love about the app is the variety of voices. It comes with a built-in voice (Heather) and also works with the iOS voices. However, you can also buy voices, as in-app purchases. There are 3 kinds of voices; Acapela ($1.99), NeoSpeech ($2.99), and Ivona ($4.99). I don't much care for the Acapela voices (Heather is one of those), the NeoSpeech voices have a mechanical/robotic undertone (what you may be used to with regular TTS but sounding more refined), and Ivona voices are, IMO, the best and most natural-sounding. The voices also come from different regions and in different languages.

I've bought some voices (Amy, Emma, Salli, James and Paul) and I think all of them are quite good; the female voices are all Ivona and both the male voices are NeoSpeech. The male voices are my one peeve; I find most of the available to be too languid/too affected that I think it would drive me crazy to listen to them for any great length of time. The male voices I got aren't that bad but I mostly use them with shorter reading material.

I have yet to listen to a full book (but I've done short stories) with this but I use it a lot for my Pocket articles and it comes in very handy for listening to chapters here and there when I have to desert my reading for housework etc. I do find it lends itself better to non-fiction than fiction, though.

If you're interested in the app, you can find more information here and on its Appstore page.

I would love feedback from other Voice Dream users; what do you like/dislike about it? Any tips for newbie users? Any questions, ideas for enhancement etc?

10-05-2014, 07:51 PM	#1
Loosheesh Wizard Posts: 1,681 Karma: 3137505 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Jianghu Device: PW1, PW5, iPhone SE 2016, iPhone 13 Pro, iPad Pro 9.7, iPad Pro 2021	Voice Dream: an iOS TTS app I've searched around and noticed the Voice Dream app mentioned a few times here and there, but mostly in connection with other conversations. I think it's a brilliant app and wanted to dedicate a thread to bring it to other people's attention, and also have a discussion spot for those of us who own it. The Voice Dream app, at $9.99, is relatively pricey but is, IMO, worth every cent. I discovered it at a time when I was actively searching for a text-to-speech (TTS) solution for my iPad and it's now one of my most-used apps. It reads just about anything (DRM-free/doesn't read mobi) from your other reading apps, and it has it's own built-in thingy for getting reading material from Dropbox, Evernote, Gutenberg, and elsewhere. It can also be linked to the Pocket app, which is the handiest thing for me. One of the things I love about the app is the variety of voices. It comes with a built-in voice (Heather) and also works with the iOS voices. However, you can also buy voices, as in-app purchases. There are 3 kinds of voices; Acapela ($1.99), NeoSpeech ($2.99), and Ivona ($4.99). I don't much care for the Acapela voices (Heather is one of those), the NeoSpeech voices have a mechanical/robotic undertone (what you may be used to with regular TTS but sounding more refined), and Ivona voices are, IMO, the best and most natural-sounding. The voices also come from different regions and in different languages. I've bought some voices (Amy, Emma, Salli, James and Paul) and I think all of them are quite good; the female voices are all Ivona and both the male voices are NeoSpeech. The male voices are my one peeve; I find most of the available to be too languid/too affected that I think it would drive me crazy to listen to them for any great length of time. The male voices I got aren't that bad but I mostly use them with shorter reading material. I have yet to listen to a full book (but I've done short stories) with this but I use it a lot for my Pocket articles and it comes in very handy for listening to chapters here and there when I have to desert my reading for housework etc. I do find it lends itself better to non-fiction than fiction, though. If you're interested in the app, you can find more information here and on its Appstore page. I would love feedback from other Voice Dream users; what do you like/dislike about it? Any tips for newbie users? Any questions, ideas for enhancement etc?