[bookport] Re: Synthersizer was:RE: Re: gripes and wishes from a new subscriber

  • From: "David Allen" <wd8ldy@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:52:34 +1300

Hi Scott and list:

Agreed on Doubletalk. If it doesn't work for you, perhaps you need a computer. It is a reading device that can do more demanding tasks.

In the meantime, the book port already allows you to use any Sapi5 compliant voice your computer has for reading non-audio files.

The archives of this list will reveal that it is a regular item discussed here quite often. Similarly, the disadvantages of USB1 and the issue of power consumption particularly during data transfers.

Odd that some claim Compact Flash to be "going oug". My experience only indicates it is increasingly wider available and cheaper. This is mentioned in the book port manual which is current.

Cheers,
Dave
----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Erichsen" <pianoman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 1:40 PM
Subject: [bookport] Synthersizer was:RE: Re: gripes and wishes from a new subscriber


Doubletalk really isn't that bad.
The reason it's used is the fact that it is responsive and doesn't require
any operating system to run whereas keynote gold and elequence or any of
those other synths do.
DecTalk would be a nice option as well but again it needs an OS as I
understand it.
I think doubletalk is fine for the book port and all the other devices it's
used in such as the IDMate and a few others.
Cheers,
Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bookport-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Alex Parks
Sent: Wednesday, 27 December 2006 11:19 AM
To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookport] Re: gripes and wishes from a new subscriber

I agree with everything you said, especially file sorting, SD cards and
playlists. I would also like to see a better speech synthesizer. I know that
the quality of a synth is mostly personal opinion, but the one on the BP
right now is quite bad. I would like to see Eloquence or KeyNote Gold, if
not RealSpeak or the speech of Natural TTS.

Have a great day and a happy New Year,
Alex

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Zenchenko" <wb9rsq@xxxxxxxxxx
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date sent: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 16:46:03 -0600
Subject: [bookport] gripes and wishes from a new subscriber

I have decided to put my favorite gripes and wishes out on the
list before
trying to find out if they have been posted before.
In this way anyone at APH who sees my comments will know that
they are not
influenced by people already on this list.
I have supported several folks running bookports and finally
decided I
wanted one of my own so my understanding of the product is based
on more
than first impressions.
So here we go.

    hardware issues
1.  USB power:
I can see no reason not to allow USB power to operate the
bookport when it
is connected to a computer.
In addition this would allow external battery packs or power
supplies to run
the bookport without having to add a power jack.
2.  If USB power is possible then why not charge batteries with
it:
This one gets slightly more tricky since if you had normal
batteries in the
BP you would have an issue with automatically charging via USB.
A switch either software or hardware could be added to make this
possible.
I have a ham radio portable that has a menu choice that sets
battery type
and switches off the charging current when normal battery pack is
selected.
I realize that this suggestion does open up a support nightmare.
3.  Add an SD slot or CF to SD converter card:
CF is on it's way out.  SD is moving up and many products and
companies no
longer find CF viable.
I have many CF cards but the prices have probably gone as low as
they will
and in some cases are starting to rise on mid to high sized
cards.
SD is clearly moving up and with the release of the HC specc (up
to 32GB)
will take more and more market share since the target is video
and digital
cameras.

That's it from the hardware side of things.

    Software functions and issues.
1.  File sort order:
This one is a real PITA!
Let's say you have file names such as
3145_01.mp3
3145_02.mp3
3145_03.mp3
3149_01.mp3
3149_02.mp3
3149_03.mp3
Now you copy all of these to the BP.
They should play in sequence but in fact the last file
3149_03.mp3 will be
first in the BP list.
If you load several files at different times the sequence will be
almost in
order from each load session but the order issue remains within
each group
and overall causes files to play in scrambled order if you use
automatic
file advance.
This is a major gripe since if you have a book in chapters, one
per file,
and the files are not sorted by name correctly you can't read the
book from
start to finish without user intervention.
2.  Playlists:
This one would in part solve item 1 but would just be nice.
The ability to have a simple text file that would step the BP
through files
in the order the user wants would be great.
Also playlists in the .m3u format are almost universal.  It would
also allow
applications such as Winamp to generate lists to go along with
the files you
send to the BP.
3.  file titles from ID tags:
ID v2.0 tags for .mp3 and .mp4 along with many other file types
including
..wav are industry standard and almost universal.
I think the BP should be able to read the file name or any one of
the major
ID tag items such as artist, title, album, through a user menu
selection.
A combination of these would be even better.
Example Artist, "book title", title "Chapter number and title"
would be much
more useful than just an alphabet soup of a file name such as
THC_b1c01.
4.  ability to read text type PDF:
That one doesn't need much elaboration.  A PDF with text rather
than picture
based pages should be readable without jumping through
translation hoops.
5.  Better sample rates for memos:
Nice to see 22,050 mono 16 bit.  Huge improvement in quality and
with the
size of CF cards these days should not be to much trouble for
many users.
I run several 4gb cards and have at least two 2gb and one 1gb for
stand-by.

That's it for now.  Clearly I still like the BP and think it was
the best
option out there or I would not have purchased one.
The items listed above would in my opinion just make it that much
better.  I
am sure there are users on this list who will find fault with my
list but
probably there are just as many who have noticed these themselves
and may
have even written to the list.
I will be happy to discuss any of these with list members or APH
developers,
but no flames!
With more than 20 years on the net and in news groups and on
listservs I
know how simple comments can be blown sky high.
So feel free to write me privately or via the list but let's keep
it
professional and constructive.
Thanks in advance and 73
Chris Zenchenko
Skype wb9rsq








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