[bksvol-discuss] Re: OT listening to DAISY books

  • From: Debby Franson <the.bee@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:56:30 -0500

Hi everyone!

Since I thought initially that only Jill would be interested in my response to her question, I e-mailed her privately, then, when Scott expressed interest in the answers, I e-mailed him privately. Since others were posting, I thought I would too.

If you would care to read my answer to Jill that was a duplicate to Scott written yesterday, here it is.

Debby

=====

Hi Scott!

I was out of town this weekend, so I just saw and replied to Jills message directly to her, and then saw your message showing your interest in the subject, so here is what I wrote to Jill just now.

Debby

=====

Hi Jill!

I don't have any kind of braille device, so these are the ways I read Bookshare books.

If I'm at the computer anyway, I read the daisy file with Victor Reader Soft.

I also have Victor Reader Soft on my netbook, so I can read that way if I'm just in the backyard or have taken the netbook with me somewhere else to possibly do some proofreading in Word if I don't read strictly for pleasure.

I also have a Book Port, which uses the same voice I enjoy when I'm doing most things at my PC, which is the TripleTalk voice. Since the Bookshare daisy files are zipped and have a new format, the Book Port doesn't like them, so I download the brf files that read very well.

I also have a Book Sense Standard, which uses the NeoSpeak voices of either Kate or Paul, which sound pretty good. I download daisy files usually, but have tried brf files, which both work well in the Book Sense.

If I let OpenBook make mp3 files, it uses the Eloquence voices, which are not my favorite. I have used the OpenBook RealSpeak voice of Deborah to make mp3 files that way, because my sound card has a checkbox for "What you hear", and then I have a sound program called Cool Edit that records whatever I hear. That's sort of a roundabout way of getting an MP3, so that's not for everyone.

My last suggestion is TextAloud, which can read from a file or whatever is in the clipboard and you can make MP3's. Monica Willyard said in a message you may have seen by now that the latest version 3, which is still in beta, I believe is faster at making mp3's than version 2, which I have. I only bought TextAloud late last month, so I have not done more than play with it so far. I have not made any big MP3 files yet, so I don't know how long it would take to get MP3's of a book.

I think it was Monica who said that she doesn't like the voices that come with the Victor Reader Stream either, so she likes the TextAloud voice better.

You can buy TextAloud from a site called

nextup.com

and there are samples of all the voices available from three different companies so you will know which voice or voice package to buy. It's a personal thing, and my favorite voice is Acapela Heather. Other people like voices that aren't quite so sweet, so your ears will have to be the judge on which voice is best for you. When I bought Heather, Ryan also came with her, but I don't like his intonation as well as Heather's.

I hope you find a solution that works well for you.

Debby

At 03:42 PM 8/13/2010, Jill O'Connell wrote
I would be very interested to know how those of you who do not read braille, listen to your Bookshare books, particularly in a portable form so you don't have to remain tethered to your computer. I believe the general opinion that doing this with the Victor Stream voices is very unsatisfactory. I understand that converting to MP3 from Kurzweil is a possibility, but is anyone doing so in other ways. As this is somewhat OT, you can contact me off list at jillocon@xxxxxxxxxxxx Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.

At 04:38 PM 8/13/2010, Scott Rains wrote
Jill,

OT or On Topic this question catches my attention. I'd be very interested to hear what you learn.

I am producing a series of introductory articles for new volunteers that deal with things other than what is in the manual. I just received an article that I asked a volunteer to write. It is on AT as Bookshare members use it. The intended audience is non-AT using Bookshare volunteers. The goals is to give them an insight into the experience of members and their volunteer colleagues who use AT.

We have another article undergoing edits on the history of books written from a perspective that highlights physical and sensory accessibility issues.
Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jill O'Connell [jillocon@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 1:42 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OT listening to DAISY books

I would be very interested to know how those of you who do not read braille,
listen to your Bookshare books, particularly in a portable form so you don't
have to remain tethered to your computer. I believe the general opinion that
doing this with the Victor Stream voices is very unsatisfactory.  I
understand that converting to MP3 from Kurzweil is a possibility, but is
anyone doing so in other ways. As this is somewhat OT, you can contact me
off list at jillocon@xxxxxxxxxxxx Thank you so much for taking the time to
reply.

 To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.

 To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.


        --
mailto:<the.bee@xxxxxxxxxxx>
--
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.--Ecclesiastes 6:9 NLT

To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line.  To get a list of 
available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.

Other related posts: