Nolan, I have RealSpeech here and it works fine with the test
button. Jennifer and the others chatter just fine.
Nolan:
I don't have any idea what is going on with Real Speech. I don't have it; perhaps someone else here at APH does.
As for your perception about MP3 encoding being slower, well, it is. So, you are accurately perceptive. We had to encode with a better quality setting for these TTS engines; they just didn't sound good enough the old way.
Rob Meredith
>>> Nolan.Crabb@xxxxxxxxxx 04/03/06 10:47AM >>> Having used the transfer software beta throughout the weekend, I'm weighing in with what I hope the APH staff will take as merely reflections or commentary on my part rather than carping, whining criticism. I don't actually have anything but phrase for APH and its efforts regarding the Book Port. That said, here are my thoughts:
First, regarding the audio send feature: This is a magnificent idea, but I never really could get it to work. I have the Real Speech Jennifer voice on my PC, for example. It indeed shows up in the list, but never did I get it to work with the test speech button. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. But I'm certain it's an issue with my PC, not the transfer software, so again, just commenting, not being inappropriately or reflexively critical. The audio send feature found some L and H voices I didn't know I had--both were kind of creepy sounding. Of course, the Microsoft Sam voice worked, but who wants to listen to that?
Second, it seems that the MP3 conversions take longer to do. I've no concrete proof of this. Alas, I never timed a conversion before I downloaded the beta, so I don't really know for a fact whether it's taking longer. If that's all in my head, no problem. I'm referring here to what I call the fourth segment of the transfer process--there's the decoding segment, the compression segment, the marking phrases segment, then the converting to MP3 segment, all of which occurs before the final segment--sending. It is during this so-called fourth segment of the process where I seem to notice a bit of a slow-down from previous versions. Again, that's nothing more than flaky unreliable perception on my part. I'm mostly sending converted NLS audio into the Book Port. They start off as 24-KBPS mono MP3 files which average in size about 140 meg or so--not even absolutely certain on that. The up side is that the MP3 files that ultimately appear on the Book Port seem a bit smaller or more compact. That, too, probably is a figment of my imagination, but they do seem more compact. I should explain here that I'm using speech compression at about 2.4, which is going to compact the final file naturally. But even so, it does seem like that final file is smaller than it might have been before the download of the beta. Again, probably not so. Don't you just love unsupported perceptions?
The quality of the final file transferred to the Book Port is as excellent as ever, of course. The software works as advertised, and it continues to uphold a grand APH tradition of excellence. I would love to solve the mystery of why Real Speech Jen and her sister from across the pond, Jane, won't speak. You'd think a guy who raised four daughters would be used to having women do the whole silent treatment thing, <smile> but adolescent moodiness I can deal with; digital conspiratorial rudeness--that's something else again!
Best Wishes,
Nolan
P.S.: If you're in the Columbia, Missouri area next Monday and want to see a presentation on Book Port and some alternative uses I've found, drop by the Power-Up conference hosted by the Missouri Assistive Technology Program. I won't be discussing any of the beta features, but I'll be demonstrating things that most folks on the list already know--getting Web-braille files, downloading and transferring podcasts using Juice and the transfer software, and some alternative uses--transferring text-based contacts and text-based calendar information just in case I need a backup way of looking at those things, and more. For information on the conference, visit
http://www.at.mo.gov/Powerup2006/powerup.shtm ********************************
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