Will Kindle DX read aloud PDFs?

JoeC · 05-06-2009, 05:55 PM

I've scanned the Kindle DX documentation and can not understand whether or not the new Kindle DX text to speech feature would work with a PDF. Does anyone have any details on this feature?
Thanks.

Nate the great · 05-06-2009, 10:15 PM

Probably not.

Ervserver · 05-06-2009, 10:27 PM

Doesn't the Kindle 2 read aloud all supported formats? I would think the Kindle DX would do the same

JoeC · 05-06-2009, 10:37 PM

I guess I'll have to wait and see.

daffy4u · 05-06-2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeC

I guess I'll have to wait and see.

You can contact Kindle support and ask them.

JoeC · 05-06-2009, 10:49 PM

Excellent point. I'll do so and report back.

sirbruce · 05-06-2009, 11:07 PM

There's nothing in the manual to indicate that Text-to-Speech would *not* work on a text PDF, so there's no reason to believe it wouldn't.

nrapallo · 05-06-2009, 11:38 PM

The Kindle DX Product Link in Alex's front page news reveals that:

Quote:

Read-to-Me Feature

Kindle DX can read to you. With its Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle DX can read books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable. You can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and your spot is automatically saved. Pages automatically turn while the content is being read, so you can listen hands-free. You can speed up or slow down the reading speeds or choose a male or female voice. In the middle of a great book or article but have to jump in the car? Simply turn on Text-to-Speech and listen on the go.

But, of course, you know this will mean, no support...

wallcraft · 05-07-2009, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbruce

There's nothing in the manual to indicate that Text-to-Speech would *not* work on a text PDF, so there's no reason to believe it wouldn't.

Much of the manual seems to be a cut and paste from the Kindle 2 manual, with some mis-statements about PDF support.

A reason for thinking that text to speech might not work for PDFs is that getting the text in the right order for speech is essentially the "reflow" problem (although images and most formatting can be ignored). We already know that reflow can work much of the time, and is included in Adobe Digital Editions that Amazon has licensed for the DX. This might be good enough, given that read aloud is "experimental", but my guess is that Amazon has not implemented even this special case of reflow for PDFs.

Having said how hard, in general, PDFs are to read aloud, I need to add that Adobe Reader (for Desktops) has a read aloud option but with four reading modes based on the type of PDF.

sirbruce · 05-07-2009, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Much of the manual seems to be a cut and paste from the Kindle 2 manual, with some mis-statements about PDF support.

What are the mis-statements in the manual about PDF support, and how do you know they are mis-statements?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

A reason for thinking that text to speech might not work for PDFs is that getting the text in the right order for speech is essentially the "reflow" problem (although images and most formatting can be ignored).

That fact that text-to-speech may not always follow the flow "correctly" (I don't expect multicolumn support) doesn't mean it won't work.

I see your point, but they go out of their way to note the numerous things that don't work in PDFs, so I don't know why they would neglect to mention this one. (Although the inability to hilight and annotate PDF is almost hidden.)

wallcraft · 05-07-2009, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbruce

What are the mis-statements in the manual about PDF support, and how do you know they are mis-statements?

Page 15:

Quote:

Do you like to take notes and make comments while reading? You can add notes to any of the content on Kindle.

Page 14:

Quote:

you have the option to search for that item in
all of your books, newspapers, blogs, personal documents, and annotations.

Both are contradicted for PDFs elsewhere in the guide.

tommywjf · 05-07-2009, 03:28 AM

Definitely not, coz PDFs text-to-speech recognition needs a very processor, whereas it's not there in Kindle DX

JoeC · 05-07-2009, 10:10 AM

I just called Amazon support. I got passed around until I found an engineer. The quick answer, as I suspected, is "no" their text to speech feature will not work with a PDF. It makes me less tempted to by the DX. <g>

wallcraft · 05-07-2009, 10:15 AM

One work around is to convert the PDF to MOBI. Unfortunately, Amazon won't do the conversion for you if you have a KDX (as they will for the K1 and K2) - but Windows MobiPocket Reader does a similar job and there are other tools that can do this.

JoeC · 05-07-2009, 10:21 AM

Excellent thought wallcraft. Thanks.

05-06-2009, 05:55 PM	#1
JoeC Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 2257942 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 2 and 3, Scribe, reMarkable Pro	Will Kindle DX read aloud PDFs? I've scanned the Kindle DX documentation and can not understand whether or not the new Kindle DX text to speech feature would work with a PDF. Does anyone have any details on this feature? Thanks.

05-07-2009, 10:10 AM	#13
JoeC Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 2257942 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 2 and 3, Scribe, reMarkable Pro	I just called Amazon support. I got passed around until I found an engineer. The quick answer, as I suspected, is "no" their text to speech feature will not work with a PDF. It makes me less tempted to by the DX. <g> Last edited by JoeC; 05-10-2009 at 01:18 PM. Reason: typo

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05-06-2009, 10:15 PM	#2
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Probably not.

05-06-2009, 10:27 PM	#3
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	Doesn't the Kindle 2 read aloud all supported formats? I would think the Kindle DX would do the same

05-06-2009, 10:37 PM	#4
JoeC Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 2257942 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 2 and 3, Scribe, reMarkable Pro	I guess I'll have to wait and see.

05-06-2009, 10:49 PM	#6
JoeC Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 2257942 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 2 and 3, Scribe, reMarkable Pro	Excellent point. I'll do so and report back.

05-06-2009, 11:07 PM	#7
sirbruce Provocateur Posts: 1,859 Karma: 505847 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Columbus, OH Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS	There's nothing in the manual to indicate that Text-to-Speech would not work on a text PDF, so there's no reason to believe it wouldn't.

05-07-2009, 03:28 AM	#12
tommywjf Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: None	Definitely not, coz PDFs text-to-speech recognition needs a very processor, whereas it's not there in Kindle DX

05-07-2009, 10:15 AM	#14
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	One work around is to convert the PDF to MOBI. Unfortunately, Amazon won't do the conversion for you if you have a KDX (as they will for the K1 and K2) - but Windows MobiPocket Reader does a similar job and there are other tools that can do this.

05-07-2009, 10:21 AM	#15
JoeC Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 2257942 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 2 and 3, Scribe, reMarkable Pro	Excellent thought wallcraft. Thanks.