Amazon announces new 7" waterproof Oasis with 32GB storage option

[booklover6]

FYI My 2011 Kindle Touch can download and play Audible books. (Could it always?) Along with TTS and the ability to play mp3 files (which I guess Oasis 2 can't?). I'll be curious to see if the new Oasis can do TTS as easily as the Touch.

However, it does not do whisper-sync. It's straight up Audible, even when I have the companion ebook on the device.

Correction - I believe I was thinking of Immersion reading, which is what the Touch does not do. I think it would make the most sense if the new Oasis could do that, otherwise, I don't see much point of having Audible on it.

[vrf]

Originally Posted by booklover6

FYI My 2011 Kindle Touch can download and play Audible books. (Could it always?) Along with TTS and the ability to play mp3 files (which I guess Oasis 2 can't?). I'll be curious to see if the new Oasis can do TTS as easily as the Touch.

However, it does not do whisper-sync. It's straight up Audible, even when I have the companion ebook on the device.

This is a big question for me, too. My Kindle Touch and my Kindle Keyboard allow me to dump MP3 podcasts and audiobooks into the "audible" folder, and then plays them all just fine. It's difficult for me to believe that the new Oasis will not allow the same trick. How will Amazon be able to lock it down from playing sideloaded files? They've haven't managed to do so on books yet.

Maybe we just need to convert MP3s to AAX?

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by aceflor

Ok, slowly getting there (thanks....or not ) to vrf paper dummy idea, the new oasis fits (but tightly) in my handbag.

Aiming at 32 GB, 80% sideloaded books, not using the kindle collection for the time being.

Could I use the calibre metadata plugboard to incorporate my shelve names in the title of the books in order to find them quicker?

As in a real Library, each one of my books is filed in Calibre under one and only one shelf.

PS: Shelf? Shelve? Shelves? Oh dear.....

PS2: I know this would be better placed in the Calibre sub-forum, but I don't want to double post. Mods, feel free to move this post there if needed.

So.. tested the metadata plugboard to include #myshelves and it works on my Voyage. Which means I can include my shelf name in the title of my books, which means the search function of the Voyage immediately finds the books on the shelf I "sorted" them on in Calibre. Neat.

Now hopefully the search function will be quick on the New Oasis with 32GB, but I guess that's what the new processor is for....

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by booklover6

FYI My 2011 Kindle Touch can download and play Audible books. (Could it always?) Along with TTS and the ability to play mp3 files (which I guess Oasis 2 can't?). I'll be curious to see if the new Oasis can do TTS as easily as the Touch.

However, it does not do whisper-sync. It's straight up Audible, even when I have the companion ebook on the device.

There is no indication that the new Oasis will do TTS (like Kindle Paperwhite 3, Kindle 8th gen, it will have VoiceView support, but VoiceView is a screen reader, and as such changes the way you navigate the device). VoiceView is from their perspective a higher business priority than TTS (because of agreements they have made after getting sued by advocates for people with vision impairments, and because they can compete for education and government contracts that would be foreclosed if the device were not accessible). But maybe more people will ask for this now that the Audible feature is back. I’d like to see it.

Kindle Touch does support Whispersync for Voice - which synchronizes reading position between the audiobook and ebook. Note that W4V is something Amazon needs to add support for any given title, just because a title has both formats does not mean it will sync reading position. This feature will be listed on the ebook or audiobook description page if it is supported.

What I wish they would support is ‘immersion reading’: synchronized audio and text, a feature of Kindle apps for Fire, iOS, and Android. With Oasis you can either listen or read, but not both at the same time.

[vrf]

Originally Posted by tomsem

What I wish they would support is ‘immersion reading’: synchronized audio and text, a feature of Kindle apps for Fire, iOS, and Android. With Oasis you can either listen or read, but not both at the same time.

I personally don't have any interest in this function... I either read or listen, never both at the same time, and I'd rather have sideloadable audiobooks than immersion. But I can see the value, and it does seem like immersion could likely be made available through a future firmware update. Adding audible back to the Kindle line seems to have been a slow process, takes time, but I don't see why they would exclude the immersion option from the e-ink devices once they have the time to write the code.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by patrickt

You can have rapid charge without a computer. My Chromebook has USB-C, of course, so I could use that to update my Kindle. But, just think, in the near future, you will have to have USB micro cables around just for your Kindle. Right now, nothing else I have uses USB micro.

Hello.
I am curious as to what devices you have. The only device I have that doesn't use a micro or a mini is an old pandigital tablet that uses a (what do you call the circle ones).
Even my dash cam takes a mini usb. My Garmin takes a mini for charging and a micro for updating. Wireless speakers take micro for charging. My keyboard is also micro.

So now exactly what devices take USB-C?

[issybird]

I'm not invested in this so you can discount my opinion, but without immersion, I don't really see the point of Audible integration. I mostly listen to audiobooks when I'm in hands-free mode, walking, driving, puttering around the house, and I want a device I can stick in my pocket. Yeah, in the house I could stream it (assuming no one else is around to be bothered), but there's the nuisance of shifting the speakers if I'm moving around, and it could ride on the car seat easily enough, but I'm certainly not going for a hike with it flapping at my hip. Without immersion, the Oasis is just an oversized, overly fragile media player with lousy controls. IMO, of course. Doesn't mean it's not worth it for the size alone.

[vrf]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm not invested in this so you can discount my opinion, but without immersion, I don't really see the point of Audible integration. I mostly listen to audiobooks when I'm in hands-free mode, walking, driving, puttering around the house, and I want a device I can stick in my pocket.

Yeah, that's me, too. Hands-free mode--driving, walking at night, putzing around in the garage--is the only time I listen to audiobooks. I use an Olympus DM-901 because it has physical controls I can find without looking. And it also remembers the position of every MP3 file I'm listening, too, even if I've navigated to and listened to other files. That's a difficult feature to find on dedicated MP3 players.

Good point about immersion being another key factor that would distinguish the Oasis from any other MP3 player. Well, it also tracks progress in both the ebook and audiobook, so you can hop back and forth seamlessly, but immersion would add more value to that.

[HarryT]

I don't get the attraction of reading a book while someone reads it out loud. Personally, I read at probably 4x the speed that I could read a book aloud, so I'd constantly be getting ahead of the narration. What's the appeal of it? If I have the book in front of me, I could just read it aloud myself! It seems to negate the real benefit of audiobooks, which is that you can listen to them while doing something else, like driving.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't get the attraction of reading a book while someone reads it out loud. Personally, I read at probably 4x the speed that I could read a book aloud, so I'd constantly be getting ahead of the narration. What's the appeal of it?

I don't use immersion myself, but I know some like it. I just really don't see the point of audiobooks on an unwieldy device unless there's some value-added in addition to mere playback.

[Pjama]

I think some people like to use this with the sound down, so the ereader turns pages by itself, so they can read while their hands are busy.
At least, that's what people used to do with TTS.

[BenG]

I suppose it might be of value to someone whose first language is not English.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't get the attraction of reading a book while someone reads it out loud. Personally, I read at probably 4x the speed that I could read a book aloud, so I'd constantly be getting ahead of the narration. What's the appeal of it? If I have the book in front of me, I could just read it aloud myself! It seems to negate the real benefit of audiobooks, which is that you can listen to them while doing something else, like driving.

I once knew a guy that could only read out loud. I found that out when I was reading the Exorcist and he told me that it was bad for my infant son. My first thought was I'm not reading it to him.

[BenG]

Originally Posted by Pjama

I think some people like to use this with the sound down, so the ereader turns pages by itself, so they can read while their hands are busy.
At least, that's what people used to do with TTS.

That would be an expensive page turner if you bought one for each book.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't get the attraction of reading a book while someone reads it out loud. Personally, I read at probably 4x the speed that I could read a book aloud, so I'd constantly be getting ahead of the narration. What's the appeal of it? If I have the book in front of me, I could just read it aloud myself! It seems to negate the real benefit of audiobooks, which is that you can listen to them while doing something else, like driving.

Not reading a book while listening to the audio, but having the book there for visual reference is useful. It's like watching a movie with subtitle on. I can ignore it most of the time but if there's something I didn't catch, I just have to glance down at the subtitle.

It's especially useful for sci fi with made up words and terminology. I'm someone who needs to know how a thing or a name is spelled to have a mental grasp of it.

As pointed out by issybird, the oasis is a relatively lousy device for Audible. Large, fragile compared to say an iPod, expensive, poor control. "Immersion reading" would actually make it a superior experience rather than an inferior one.