08-27-2013, 05:41 PM | #1 | |
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How important is text-to-speech capability to you?
Something an e-book can do that a paper book cannot is turn the text into the spoken word. Of course I'm talking about the text-to-speech or read-out-loud feature. When Amazon introduced this kind of functionality with the Kindle 2 in 2009, much of the attention focused on a heated copyright controversy. As a consequence, Amazon modified their systems so that rightsholders could decide for themselves on a title by title basis whether they want text-to-speech enabled or not.
Publishers who elect to disable text-to-speech could prevent the visually impaired from reading the books, in particular if the title is not available in the alternative audiobook form. Bufo Calvin of the I Love My Kindle blog penned an impassioned open letter in this regard: Quote:
Related: Amazon, Kobo and Sony request e-readers be exempt from accessibility laws Last edited by Alexander Turcic; 08-27-2013 at 06:15 PM. |
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08-27-2013, 05:46 PM | #2 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Completely unimportant, as long as my eyesight doesn't deteriorate to a point where I become incapable of reading.
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08-27-2013, 05:56 PM | #3 |
Omnivorous
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Until the quality of text to speech increases, pretty much worthless.
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08-27-2013, 06:12 PM | #4 |
Grand Sorcerer
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It won't be good enough for at least 250 years. Ever heard the computer of the Enterprise in the original series? Now that I think if it... if that's where we're heading, TTS may actually get worse than it is now.
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08-27-2013, 07:26 PM | #5 |
Wizard
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08-27-2013, 07:46 PM | #6 |
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With due respect to the previous posters, Text to Speech is very valuable to me.
I bought my first ereader, the Astak Pocket Pro because it had TTS. Unfortunately the quality was terrible. Though I bought a Sony to have more updated specs, I am pleased that the Onyx that I won in the last contest does have TTS. And I have used it. It is comparable to the TTS that I have as a standalone software I bought back in the Win XP days (didn't work on Vista, but does work again on Win 7). Also Onyx is planning to upgrade their TTS with a new voice which should be an improvement over their current one (which is acceptable) My original thought was that I could listen to the ebook with TTS and not have to convert it to an audio MP3. That takes time and space and if I didn't want to listen to the book again I wouldn't have the excess baggage. My eyesight is deteriorating such that I have difficulty reading even on an eink, so I prefer audio. Also, I use my audio books to lull myself to sleep (in lieu of the music that some people use) Keeping a book playing in my ear has kept me sane sometimes AJ |
08-27-2013, 08:00 PM | #7 |
Omnivorous
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It's good that you've found TTS to be useful.
For me, it's just aggravating. Mispronounced words. Poor punctuation flow. Just painful. If my eyesight got so poor that I could no longer read, I'd be looking into Books for the Blind (a lifesaver for my Mom when she lost her sight), LibraVox and Audible. |
08-27-2013, 08:11 PM | #8 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
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08-27-2013, 08:14 PM | #9 |
Wizard
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08-27-2013, 08:19 PM | #10 |
monkey on the fringe
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It's not a deal breaker.
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08-27-2013, 10:29 PM | #11 | |
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Quote:
I prefer AudioBookStand.com where I can buy my books in MP3 format. And I do buy for all the ones I know I will listen to many times. I use the electronic voices for those that aren't available in audio or that I'll just listen to once to see if I like it. I tried LibraVox, but there again, they aren't the book I want to read/listen to. (My eyesight is not bad per se, just lots of floaters that keep me from focusing ) |
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08-28-2013, 02:02 AM | #12 |
Bujavid tekikin
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TTS is convenient for me when my hands are busy with dishes or laundry or something else, and I want to keep reading because I just hit the good part of a book. Granted, I would probably head for properly read stuff on LibriVox or Audible et al. if it was meant to be for serious listening.
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08-28-2013, 02:09 AM | #13 | |
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Quote:
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08-28-2013, 02:22 AM | #14 |
Inharmonious
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08-28-2013, 02:25 AM | #15 |
Evangelist
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Personally, I wouldn't see much use for Text to Speech, but if it's only a matter of a flag being set or not, I think it's ridiculous not to set it.
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