Thread: Text to speech
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Old 06-20-2020, 07:15 AM   #8
Quoth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tomsem View Post
In my opinion, this is not Text To Speech. It is for people with vision issues. For anyone else, it makes navigation more onerous and some features are not accessible.
I downloaded all the firmware and support for the PW3 and external USB audio stick. You don't need the expensive Amazon accessory. Most less than €7 inc shipping adaptors and a €2 USB2Go adaptor work. The BT on the later Kindles is similar.

Compared to the text to speech on the DXG it's a dreadful UI / UX. It's actually an accessibility feature, but badly done.

The actual quality on the PW3 via USB or DXG (speakers or good earphones) is about the same. It's like 1980s Creative Labs on DOS and the Windows XP free optional from MS Text to Speech (since about 2003) is better.

I can't imagine the BT version for the Kindles that have it are any different to the PW3, you are just using the built in BT instead of a USB audio adaptor. USB audio is often better quality than BT as one less pair of codecs are needed, however the limitation is the Text to Speech libraries, not the hardware.

Any modern Linux or Windows screen reader is better, so I'd totally agree with tomsem. Though I've never tried iOS or Android screen readers.

It's not even a decently implemented accessibility feature. The DXG and Kindle Keyboard Text to Speech is FAR easier to use and is similar audio synthesis.
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