Am i correct in saying that Daisy players can also play mp3 files? Does
this go for eassy reader too?
Are there any advantages / disadvantages of using the Daisy format over mp3?
Bob and all,
I completely agree with all the comments regarding the quality of most of
the synthesizers being used but I sincerely hope that everyone will take the
time to complete the questionnaire forms to ensure that your comments are
known to NLB and Dolphin - especially your negative comments.
It may be entirely obvious to those reading the books that there are faults
with the synthesizers but these issues need to be highlighted to those
creating the books to make changes in the future.
Please also bear in mind that this has always been billed as a pilot project
and not a final production process so there are inevitably going to be
things that need sorting out.
I would also like to point out that the process of creating a DAISY full text book is enormously time consuming and labour intensive. I suspect that this project is trying to find out if it is feasible to produce DAISY titles by cutting down on some of the time consuming aspects. It certainly sounds from the feedback that there are not many people who would be satisfied with the majority of the voices but are there any that you would tolerate if it was the only option you had. For example, if you were a student, would you rather do without the information for several months or get it in a synthesized form much more quickly? I certainly know what I would have chosen back in the dark days of my studies!
Anyway, I just thought that I'd drop in my thoughts on this one.
Cheers,
Jamie
----- Original Message ----- From: "Shirley and Bob Gould" <gould.elmley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 11:38 AM
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Daisy Book project
Hello all who are taking part in this project.
I share the views being expressed on this list regarding the quality of
the synthetic voices being used in the twenty books in the pilot. Surely
there must be much better voices available, Jaws would read any of these
books far better and give the user much more control of their ability to
make changes to speed, pitch etc.
I also feel that much more could be done with the initial electronic text
prior to adding the synthetic voice, for example, in one of the books
containing cooking recipes we continually hear tbsp, tsp, 5g, surely these
can be made to say table spoon, tea spoon and five grammes.
I also agree that the voice used in the book Holes is by far the best one
used in the trial although I have to add that this is only the best of a
very poor selection.
Generally speaking it is the same old story, not enough care taken with the production of the project. Again one is left with the feeling that it will be good enough. I would like to know what sighted readers would say if the print used in books was almost illegible.
Good listening and a Happy Christmas Bob Gould
----- Original Message ----- From: "Husna Begum" <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 3:32 PM
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Daisy Book project
Hi,
most of the voices are really rubbish and are just the old Microsoft text
voices but the one for holes is quite good. i don't know why the NLb
really
needed to do this pilet test, any one would know which is better the
voice
for harry potter or animal farm, or the one for holes. even my sighted
sister who doesn't much understand jaws for example immediately could
tell
which voice was better. by the way i was listening to holes on my victor
classic and it said the book was 66 hours long and i thought, gosh thats
the
lord of the rings trilogy put together, three days off my life but in
fact
it was only about for or five hours long. does any one know why it made
that
mistake in timing? i haven't seen it do that before. also does any one
know
how to get easy reader to tell you how long the book is? even the voice
for
holes has quirks such as saying im and ill instead of i'm and i'll which
can
get annoying, i was surprised dolphin hadn't fixed such an obvious
mistake.
also i've noticed that if you search for a word in easy reader you can
read
the different entries it finds although it says headings and then if you
press enter on the bit that interests you the synthetic voice jumps to
that
point which is really cool if you are a student.
Husna ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Clydesdale" <keith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 10:22 AM Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Daisy Book project
far.Dear Bob,
thanks for listing the keystrokes you use.
I in fact did exactly the same, but did not remove Jaws, and haven't sohow
So far so good. Could you now please tell me, now that Jaws is removed,you then read the text of the book that is on the screen. This is reallyfound
what I am interested in.
By the way, I don't think anyone so far has a good word to say about the
synthetic voices used for the books. I think they are pretty ghastly.
With very best wishes,
Keith
-----Original Message----- From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Shirley and Bob Gould Sent: 10 December 2004 16:19 To: jaws-uk Subject: [jaws-uk] Daisy Book project
Hi Keith and all who are taking part in the NLB Daisy Pilot.
I loaded the Dolphin #Easereader software with no problems yesterday. At
first I could not get anywhere with trying to read the books on CD butthat if Jaws is removed first then it works quite well.
Here are the steps which I am now using.
1. Ins+F4 to remove Jaws
2. Load Easereader by pressing Ctrl+shift+E.
3. Insert the CD for the chosen book in disk drive.
4. Press Ctrl+O to open the book.
5. A voice will then confirm that the key is being processed
6. Tab once and press OK.
7. The synthetic voice should then commence reading the chosen book.
By pressing the cursor right several times this can be skipped over.
I am so far not impressed with the synthetic voices either on the books
or
that used by Dolphin. This just confirms that I was right to have chosen
Jaws as my screen reader.
Regards Bob Gould There is a lot of preamble before the actual book starts.
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