How important is text-to-speech capability to you?

[watchMaker]

Every single comment on this thread was read to me via TTS.
Listening to text gives my eyes the freedom to browse other things...
such as skimming the home page to see if anything new has been posted.

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

When I first used TTS, I found it pretty awful, entire sentences would just sound like gibberish. But then I got used to it, and it sounded much better. I had thought they had improved the quality, but my brain just became trained to listen to it.

Yeah, there are some words a speech synthesizer will mispronounce.
It is good to sit and read along side it & learn what those words are
that way the next time you hear them you know what it meant to say.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by watchMaker

Every single comment on this thread was read to me via TTS.
Listening to text gives my eyes the freedom to browse other things...
such as skimming the home page to see if anything new has been posted.


Yeah, there are some words a speech synthesizer will mispronounce.
It is good to sit and read along side it & learn what those words are
that way the next time you hear them you know what it meant to say.

It's not so much mispronunciation (which it does do), it's more like an accent that is hard to understand at first, but you learn to decipher.

One funny thing is that when a sentence ends with "coop." the TTS assumes it is an abbreviation and pronounces it as "cooperative". Another is that it mispronounces "pinnaces" (a type of sailing ship) as "penises". It doesn't come up often, but it's funny.

[Shadowplay]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

It's not so much mispronunciation (which it does do), it's more like an accent that is hard to understand at first, but you learn to decipher.

One funny thing is that when a sentence ends with "coop." the TTS assumes it is an abbreviation and pronounces it as "cooperative". Another is that it mispronounces "pinnaces" (a type of sailing ship) as "penises". It doesn't come up often, but it's funny.

You summed it up with in that it's like an accent that you eventually get used to.

Also those interesting pronunciations certainly take some getting used to. Just read a book with a character named "Ahm Lin" and my Kindle would say the letters "A H M" Lin. Previous book (Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe) had a sword named Terminus Est, in Latin, but of course the Kindle assumed Est was short for Estate so it was always things like "I killed him with Terminus Estate."

Oh and the always annoying confusion over wind and wound. Is it "wind" or "why-nd" and then "woond" or "wownd"?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Which is why Amazon acquired Ivona, the company behind the Kindle Fire's Text-to-Speech, Voice Guide and Explore by Touch features, earlier this year?

PocketBook 623 Touch Lux uses Ivona. Pretty good. Lots of voices.
Just to to the http://www.ivona.com/en/ page ans listen to the Ivy voice sample. Ivy is the first child voice.
There are quite a few voices and languages and PocketBook 623 users can download any of them for their reader.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The iPad's built-in TTS works fine with the Kindle App.

Android TTS seems to require in-app integration, so the only option (and a fairly easy one, but requiring a PC) would be to de-DRM and/or format shift through Calibre and open the book in an app that supports TTS.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by taosaur

You know, I didn't realize the extent of this issue with regard to Amazon's ebooks. The only currently available hardware/software that can provide TTS for Amazon titles (without stripping and/or converting them) is the Fire line. Is that correct? The mobile apps don't have TTS, and wouldn't the DRM prevent using other TTS software on the unmodified files? Balabolka for Windows lists AZW3 as a supported filetype, but I assume it wouldn't be able to open DRMed files.

I know there is a kindle for PC with text to speech and I believe some android apps that will allow you to have text to speech on kindle boos.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

I know there is a kindle for PC with text to speech and I believe some android apps that will allow you to have text to speech on kindle boos.

I just installed the Kindle for PC app last night and poked around for TTS, but didn't find it. Setting up de-DRM in Calibre was easy enough, though, at which point any number of Windows and Android apps can run TTS, just without the syncing across devices. Most Android reader apps are plugged into Google TTS, though I think only Play Books can use the cloud-assisted TTS at present.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I just installed the Kindle for PC app last night and poked around for TTS, but didn't find it. Setting up de-DRM in Calibre was easy enough, though, at which point any number of Windows and Android apps can run TTS, just without the syncing across devices. Most Android reader apps are plugged into Google TTS, though I think only Play Books can use the cloud-assisted TTS at present.

There is a special version with a plugin with TTS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000632481

Helen

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

There is a special version with a plugin with TTS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000632481

Helen

Thank you, that's interesting. In particular, it's a little crazy that their TTS for PC requires not only an alternative program, but also other screen-reading software to be installed. It's a relatively low hurdle, but still sending the message that they want to restrict this feature to the "certified disabled," as if it threatens some aspect of their business with the able-eyed.

Honestly, it doesn't impact my use of Amazon's store much, because I'll go to Google Play Books or Diesel first unless there's a decent deal on the Audible narration from Amazon (in which case TTS is moot). It does, however, reinforce my inclination to steer clear of software and vendors that are managing DRM first and serving the consumer second.

[patrickt]

My Kindle Keyboard has TTS. I listened to it twice and when I quit laughing I forgot about it. If I were blind and couldn't read, I'd go with audio books. The TTS sounded as if the book was being read by a tone-deaf, arrhythmic developmentally disabled person. TTS has absolutely no value for me.

[QuantumIguana]

If you don't like TTS, feel free not to use it. It's only being taken out as a side effect of removing audio from e-ink devices.

[meeera]

[emphasis is mine]

Originally Posted by patrickt

The TTS sounded as if the book was being read by a tone-deaf, arrhythmic developmentally disabled person.

Could you not, please?

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

If you don't like TTS, feel free not to use it. It's only being taken out as a side effect of removing audio from e-ink devices.

Well, except that it's also left out of the mainstream Kindle for PC app and the Kindle mobile apps, and some publishers, writers or agents are blocking its use even on Kindles that do support TTS (which was the point of the OP). But yeah, I'm sure it's about the speakers.