I don't understand this Stanza feature

[Barcey]

I wonder how many years it will be until they can get a text to speech that is truly usable for e-books. I think with some text markup they should be able to add in the intended emotion.

I recently discovered a feature on my GPS that I didn't know existed. I've never got into text messaging because I've spent too much time at the end of a pager to want to be that accessible. Someone sent me a text message while I was in my car though and it popped up with a message that asked if I wanted to listen too it. A sexy female Aussie voice read the text message to me and did a good job of it. It makes sense that they already have the TTS built in.

The best audio book production that I've heard is the Philip Pullman "His Dark Materials" series. They have separate actors reading each of the parts and it's like listening to a play or an old radio production. Most books can't justify that kind of expense though. I don't think they'll every be able to reproduce that experience from TTS but it got me wondering what they'd be able to do in 20 years.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Barcey

I recently discovered a feature on my GPS that I didn't know existed. I've never got into text messaging because I've spent too much time at the end of a pager to want to be that accessible. Someone sent me a text message while I was in my car though and it popped up with a message that asked if I wanted to listen too it. A sexy female Aussie voice read the text message to me and did a good job of it. It makes sense that they already have the TTS built in.

I'm going to guess you drive a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury car with the Sync system.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Barcey

The best audio book production that I've heard is the Philip Pullman "His Dark Materials" series. They have separate actors reading each of the parts and it's like listening to a play or an old radio production.

There are a number of so-called "full cast" audiobooks. A superb one, if you're into SF, is the audiobook of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game".

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I'm going to guess you drive a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury car with the Sync system.

Lots of portable GPS systems work as "hand-free" mobile phone connections via BlueTooth, daffy. I have a Garmin one which does. They are very popular in Europe where, in most countries of the EU, it's illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I'm going to guess you drive a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury car with the Sync system.

Nope Harry is correct I have a Garmin GPS with bluetooth. It plays Audible and my car stereo has the MP3 jack so I can listen to it through the car speakers. Having it integrated works well because the turn by turn directions will pause the audio playback. If I get a phone call it will pause the e-book as well and start automatically when the call ends.

The difference between men and boys is the size and cost of the toys.