[bookport] Re: Question on Skipping through audio material
- From: "Peter Torpey" <ptorpey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 09:47:45 -0500
Rob,
I suspected that this might be the case and the BP was looking for phrase
markers in these audio files rather than fixed time increments. I wonder if
there could be an option in the transfer software to treat these audio files
as being navigable either a) by time increment or b) by detecting phrases.
In these podcasts which I listen to, for example, I think the phrase
detection does not work very well since the recording quality is sometimes
either poor and/or there is music or background sounds which make the signal
to noise ratio too low to detect meaningful phrase breaks in the speech. In
either case, with such podcasts I am often moved by very large increments
and it's tough to place myself at the point I want to be. I would much
prefer being moved by quantized time increments. For good quality audio
material, on the other hand, I could see where the phrase detection scheme
would be great.
-- Pete
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:56:22 -0500
From: "ROB MEREDITH" <rmeredith@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [bookport] Re: Question on Skipping through audio material
Pete:
You only get navigation by fixed time intervals if you have Send Audio
Files as Music checked in the Options dialog. Otherwise, the program
tries to detect phrases for navigation.
>>> ptorpey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 03/31/06 08:42AM >>>
I have been downloading some audio podcasts to my BP and have some
questions
about using the movement commands to skip through these files.
1. Generally I set the BP Transfer program to compress these files
(about 1.5 times), and compress pauses. These are all MP3 files.
2. While the material is reading on the BP, I use the 1 and 3 keys
to
move back and forward by small increments, 4 and 6 keys to move back
and
forth by larger increments, and 7 and 9 keys to move by still larger
increments.
3. My understanding from the manual was that using the 1 and 3
keys
would move backward and forward by about 2 seconds in the audio file.
This
seems not to be the case - Generally this is moving by much more
(maybe
about 10 seconds?).
4. Sometimes the 4 and 6 keys or 7 and 9 keys do not move forward
at
all but just produce a beep from the BP.
5. One other small issue - When reading a text file, pressing the 1
or
3 keys and holding it down will bring one to the beginning or end of
the
material, respectively. This produces a beep on the BP to let the user
know
that the pointer have been properly moved in the document one is
reading.
This beep is not heard when repositioning the pointer on these podcasts
-
i.e., after holding down the 1 or 3 keys to move to the beginning or
end of
the podcast, there is no confirming sound from the BP indicating that
the
action was performed successfully. I think it would be a good idea to
include this beep in order to be consistent with the action in text
files.
Anyway, I guess I'm not quite understanding how the movement commands
work
for these MP3 podcasts.
In a future hardware implementation (I assume this isn't possible with
the
current hardware implementation), it would be nice if the forward and
back
movement commands worked like the fast forward and rewind on a CD or
other
types of MP3 players. Thus, it would be nice if one could hold down a
button and hear the material rewinding or fast forwarding rather than
skipping by quantized amounts. This would make it a lot easier to
locate
and reposition on desired parts of the audio material. Well, that's
my
suggestion for the day!
Thanks.
-- Pete
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