Is it possible to convert an audiobook into an ebook?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Thanks everyone for helping me find a good solution. I bought a used copy of the book on Amazon for $2.47 and am having it shipped directly to 1dollarscan.

The whole process will cost around $30 (in addition to paying $7 extra for the direct shipping, I upgraded the scanning somewhat), which is quite reasonable considering the alternatives.

Excellent! Let us know how it works out, please.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You didn't know there was a different in pronunciation between British and American English, or between "merry" and "marry"? A short "e" and a short "a" are distinctly different vowel sounds in British English; I've noticed that the short "e" seems to have almost disappeared in many forms of American English.

I'm not familiar with any American accent that says 'merry' and 'marry' the same.
Not to say I couldn't come up with some INDIVIDUALS who say them the same, but I can also come up with individuals who pronounce the S at the end of Illinois and the M at the beginning of mnemonics.

I do sometimes hear marry and Mary said the same, even in "news anchor-speak", but mostly they are distinct. They have always been distinct for me, because I cannot hear or say the name 'Mary' without thinking of the way Jimmy Stewart says it in "It's A Wonderful Life."

[Bilbo1967]

Sightly off topic, but the landlady at my local pub before we moved was called Mary Christmas!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Heh. That does vary by location, of course, but yes, quite a few of us do call them Erbs.

After a few of my herbal brownies, proper speech is the last thing on your mind.

[Billi]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Thanks everyone for helping me find a good solution. I bought a used copy of the book on Amazon for $2.47 and am having it shipped directly to 1dollarscan.

The whole process will cost around $30 (in addition to paying $7 extra for the direct shipping, I upgraded the scanning somewhat), which is quite reasonable considering the alternatives.

Forgive me, I may be extremely dense once more, but I can't see so much reason here. I would have thought that reading the paper book for $2.47 is one of the alternatives...

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by Billi

Forgive me, I may be extremely dense once more, but I can't see so much reason here. I would have thought that reading the paper book for $2.47 is one of the alternatives...

This wasn't about "reading" the book (my friend already has the audiobook), but about how to digitize the book which thankfully has been solved

[ignacio ferrer]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Interesting! I hadn't thought of that, but it makes a great deal of sense. (Some) British English does tend to have more distinct sounds. My merry/marry/Mary do sound pretty similar.

'Course, here in America, we do enunciate our Hs. There's a difference between "Ana" and "Hannah".

What spoken languages does Dragon NaturallySpeaking support?
Answer ID 3315 | Published 07/09/2002 12:00 AM | Updated 04/16/2010 04:52 PM
What spoken languages does Dragon NaturallySpeaking support?
Question:

What spoken languages does Dragon NaturallySpeaking support?

Answer:

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is currently released in U.S. English, UK English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese.



http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answe...ing-support%3F

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by ApK

I'm not familiar with any American accent that says 'merry' and 'marry' the same.
Not to say I couldn't come up with some INDIVIDUALS who say them the same, but I can also come up with individuals who pronounce the S at the end of Illinois and the M at the beginning of mnemonics.

I do sometimes hear marry and Mary said the same, even in "news anchor-speak", but mostly they are distinct. They have always been distinct for me, because I cannot hear or say the name 'Mary' without thinking of the way Jimmy Stewart says it in "It's A Wonderful Life."

Are you from Philadelphia, Boston, NY, or Providence? Because otherwise the merry-marry-Mary merger is very common in the US. It even has it's own chapter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English...e_historic_/r/

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Are you from Philadelphia, Boston, NY, or Providence?

Well, I'm from that same megalopolis, anyway.
<--- See there. :-)

BTW, while there are some accents around NJ, most of what the wider pop culture thinks of as a "Joisey accent" doesn't exist, and is really a NY accent.

I, and the majority of native English speakers I know who were raised in the state, speak with what is very close to that "newscaster" neutral American accent.

Now that I think about it, I think that Wiki article is probably right in that "Merry" and "Mary" are said the same more often that "Marry." I've been asking around the office, and I think they are said the same around here moer often than I thought. Perhaps I've just been imposing my own mental distinction on them. Funny, when pronunciations are close, it's sometime hard to tell whether they are being said the same or not. An auditory illusion of some sort?

ApK

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ApK

Now that I think about it, I think that Wiki article is probably right in that "Merry" and "Mary" are said the same more often that "Marry." I've been asking around the office, and I think they are said the same around here moer often than I thought. Perhaps I've just been imposing my own mental distinction on them. Funny, when pronunciations are close, it's sometime hard to tell whether they are being said the same or not. An auditory illusion of some sort?

Possibly. We have an "Erin" and an "Aaron" in the extended family, and I can tell the difference between the two words, even though I can't explain or enunciate how, and many other people mix them up regularly, so I've often wondered if I'm "hearing" a difference based on subtle conversational cues. But if I am, I'm not aware of them.

[JoHunt]

Just as an update, I received the pdf today from 1dollarscan and I'm delighted with the results. The original size of the pdf was 330 mb but I managed to reduce it to 7mb after running it through Finereader and Calibre. I just have a bit of clean up work to do in Sigil and then it will be ready to send to my friend, who is still gnawing his teeth at the thought of scanning 740 pages

Thanks again for everyone's help with this.

[SteveCampsOut]

Not to throw a wrench in at this late a date, but have you even considered contacting the author first before breaching his or her copyright in the manner in which you just have?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by SteveCampsOut

Not to throw a wrench in at this late a date, but have you even considered contacting the author first before breaching his or her copyright in the manner in which you just have?

There is no reason to assume from the content of this thread that any copyright was violated.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by SteveCampsOut

Not to throw a wrench in at this late a date, but have you even considered contacting the author first before breaching his or her copyright in the manner in which you just have?

Cut-and-scan shops are legal versions of format-shifting in many areas of the world, and are not considered copyright violations.

Would you like to clarify your concern?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by SteveCampsOut

Not to throw a wrench in at this late a date, but have you even considered contacting the author first before breaching his or her copyright in the manner in which you just have?

Have you considered researching both copyright law and the specific details of the situation being discussed, before you accuse someone of violating a law that can have a $150,000 penalty?

You may casually assume that any unauthorized copy is a "violation of copyright," but case law does not support this claim--or photocopy machines and scanners would require a license to buy, and be illegal to provide for public use. Sony v Universal established that making a copy of copyrighted materials for personal use--taping a TV show--is not a violation of copyright.

What breach of copyright do you assume is going on here? What legal penalties do you think are likely to be assigned if this went to court?

And, of course, the crucial question: Are you an IP lawyer, or just some guy on the internet who's bought the media corporations' ad campaigns to convince the public that all copying without permission is illegal?