10-02-2007, 11:41 AM | #1 |
Junior Member
Posts: 2
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2007
Device: None Yet
|
Reader with Audio Capability
I'm looking for an ebook reader that can also "read" the text to my dyslexic daughter through headphones. I've done some searching and looked at Sony's and iRex's sites, but I don't see a way to get the reader device to do more than display the text and play mp3 files.
I think the combination of listening to the books plus the ability to follow along, highlight, underline and annotate would be a real plus. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! Kathy Last edited by kjmay; 10-02-2007 at 11:46 AM. Reason: Additional information |
10-02-2007, 11:52 AM | #2 |
Gizmologist
Posts: 11,615
Karma: 929550
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3
|
I don't know of a device that will do that, but I think there are some PC apps that do ... I think MicroSoft Reader might, but I haven't really played with it.
Perhaps (probably) someone else around here knows more on the subject. |
Advert | |
|
10-02-2007, 11:55 AM | #3 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,999
Karma: 300001
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Citrus Heights, California
Device: TWO Kindle 2s, one each Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS-500, Axim X51V
|
Quote:
Right now, playing MP3 audio-books is probably all you're going to be able to do. Derek |
|
10-02-2007, 12:00 PM | #4 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,470
Karma: 13095790
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Grass Valley, CA
Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7
|
Quote:
Dale |
|
10-02-2007, 01:11 PM | #5 |
Junior Member
Posts: 2
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2007
Device: None Yet
|
Sounds like I need to look at the tablet laptop. Thanks for your advice!
Kathy |
Advert | |
|
10-02-2007, 11:41 PM | #6 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 75,917
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
MS Reader does support Text-to-speech. There is text-to-speech built into Windows, but you might want to look into better sounding text-to-speech such as that from AT&T.
|
10-03-2007, 05:04 AM | #7 |
Junior Member
Posts: 2
Karma: 28
Join Date: Oct 2007
Device: Nokia 6020
|
I used Verbose, it is a text to speech program which will read aloud any text or save it as mp3.
Last edited by christy65; 10-03-2007 at 05:08 AM. |
10-04-2007, 02:40 AM | #8 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
I don't think I could stand to listen to Microsoft's Reader's speech functionality reading out an entire book. It's pretty "robotic"!
An alternate - although more expensive - solution that you can use with many books would be to get an unabridged audiobook version of the book you want to read, and have it playing in parallel as you read the book. Most current bookreaders will let you read and play MP3 files simultaneously. |
10-04-2007, 09:28 PM | #9 |
Addict
Posts: 323
Karma: 358
Join Date: May 2007
Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800
|
TTS
You may want to look at TextAloud from NextUp.com. It is inexpensive and if you buy it with the AT&T TrueVoice Crystal/Mike voices, you can get the program for $10 off. I bought it recently. I also bought the NeoSpeech Kate/Paul voices from the same source. Although the AT&T voices are much better than the the voices that come with WinXP, I think the NeoSpeech voices are even better sounding. From reading the forums at NextUp.com, it appears that quite a few dyslexics are using their software.
Not to sound like a commercial, but TextAloud can read a TXT, HTML or PDF file. It can also read text pasted from the clipboard. It also comes with plugins for IE and Firefox, for reading web pages. You can also save the audio as a WAV or MP3. All in all, a nice program for the money. Oh, they are coming out with a major upgrade soon. If you buy the current version, you get the new one free. You can also get some voices by Acapela and RealSpeak that sound more lifelike. I did some testing with some of these other voices and found two things that I didn't like. First, they all seem to have too much silibance for my taste. Second, they mispronounce works far more often than either the AT&T or NeoSpeech voices. BTW, you can use the AT&T and NeoSpeech voices with any other voice software, including MS Reader. The Acapela and RealSpeak voices sold by NextUp.com are only useable with their software. One other company that may be worth a look is Cepstral. They have a wide selection of voices and some of them sound pretty good. I still think that NeoSpeech and AT&T are the best, but it doesn't hurt to listen to them all. To hear samples of all of these voices using your own text, Google on the word "demo" and each of the voice product names, in turn (TrueVoice, NeoSpeech, Acapela, RealSpeak, Cepstral). You will find web pages where you can enter short passages and hear what they sound like. If you need foreign language voices, all of these companies have a selection. For some reason, NeoSpeech only has oriental voices (I know they are currently owned by a Korean company, but come on). I was hoping they had Spanish, but they don't. Last edited by jbenny; 10-04-2007 at 09:32 PM. |
10-04-2007, 09:46 PM | #10 |
Addict
Posts: 323
Karma: 358
Join Date: May 2007
Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800
|
TTS Samples
I have created two short samples using the NeoSpeech voices I bought. The text is the first few lines from an Agatha Christie novel.
Kate - http://www.filecrunch.com/file/~wlrpop Paul - http://www.filecrunch.com/file/~ytogqx |
10-04-2007, 09:52 PM | #11 |
Addict
Posts: 323
Karma: 358
Join Date: May 2007
Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800
|
I haven't tried that one, but I have tried four other freeware TTS programs. They all seem to do a pretty good job. However, I noticed that TextAloud was more accurate with pronounciations. I think that it does something with the built-in dictionaries that come with the voices. Also, TextAloud has the ability to let the user correct pronounciations, in a separate user dictionary. I haven't seem that feature in any of the freeware programs that I have tried.
|
10-04-2007, 10:06 PM | #12 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 75,917
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
10-04-2007, 10:34 PM | #13 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 54
Karma: 326
Join Date: Mar 2007
Device: PRS-500
|
I know you'd probably want to be able to do this for any book, but for starters you could give her some of the 60 or so free classics available at http://www.babblebooks.com/shopping/shoppodcasts.asp and match them up with the Sony versions available on this site. The mp3s will play at the same time as you page manually through the book.
|
10-05-2007, 12:56 AM | #14 |
Addict
Posts: 323
Karma: 358
Join Date: May 2007
Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800
|
Yes, it does have a program that lets you customize the dictionary for AT&T voices. The NeoSpeech voices also come with a similar program. Both of these work by defining the phonemes that make up a word and each app only works with that vendor's voices. What I was talking about was a way to change pronounciations within the higher level application that affects all voices, regardless of vendor. Of the TTS apps that I have tried, only TextAloud seems to have that feature. There may be others, but I just haven't seen one yet.
|
10-05-2007, 01:41 AM | #15 |
Addict
Posts: 323
Karma: 358
Join Date: May 2007
Device: Tablet PC and Nokia N800
|
TTS in MS Office
In MS Office 2003, you can enable TTS capability. To do this, you have to install the optional speech components from your original CD. For some reason, the Office help only mentions speech recognition, not TTS. Even after you have installed the speech components, the speech toolbar doesn't show any buttons for TTS by default. You have to customize that toolbar to add the TTS buttons. Strange that MS hides the TTS features like this. I assume that newer versions of MS Office have similar capabilities.
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
has anyone tried the audio reader functionality? | Want2BKindle2usr | Amazon Kindle | 15 | 03-03-2009 11:00 PM |
Screenshot Capability? | wallcraft | OpenInkpot | 4 | 12-31-2008 01:41 PM |
Audio Player/ Sony Reader | kevinofengland | Sony Reader | 4 | 10-21-2008 01:08 PM |
Blackstone Audio to release audio books as DRM-free MP3s | Donnageddon | News | 4 | 07-07-2008 12:16 PM |
Sony reader battery on Audio playback | wadood | Sony Reader | 1 | 12-13-2006 04:02 PM |