[macvoiceover] Re: Voice of DAISY
- From: David Poehlman <david.poehlman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:25:16 -0400
I'm reading the daisy book that came with the app with vo.
On Jun 23, 2010, at 1:20 PM, Bryan Smart wrote:
So, it doesn't support Daisy 2 or 3 standards, but
"Voice of DAISY cannot play a DAISY audio book that does not completely conform
to DAISY 2.02 standard."
That sounds confusing.
I think that the bottom line is that it only plays audio books. It doesn't
support TTS, so can't play anything other than audio.
The nonprogrammer types on the list might not be aware, but, unlike desktop
software on OS X or Windows, iPhone OS doesn't provide any way for an
application to speak through the system's global speech synthesizer. It is
possible for an app to do this (Apple software does) but you must use private
APIs, which Apple doesn't allow in apps that are published on the app store. It
also isn't possible for an accessible app to speak through VoiceOver's voice,
like is possible for OS X or Windows apps to do with their screen readers. So,
if you're making an app, and you want your app to speak, you must license a
text-to-speech engine to be specifically used by your app. Since you must pass
that licensing cost along to your users, that is why those talking apps tend to
cost more than most apps
I don't know the exact reason for this. My only guess is that Apple has a
special license with Nuance that gives them distribution rights to Vocalizer at
an extremely low per-unit cost, with the qualification that they only use it
with Apple software. Nuance, for example, will happily sell an developer a
license to use Vocalizer, which is already installed on all of the newer Apple
mobile devices.
Someone told me that the TTS situation had changed in iOS 4. Supposedly, apps
can now speak directly with the system voice. However, I've been unable to find
any official confirmation of this, or technical docs on how to accomplish it.
Until then, though, these book readers will either be missing any Daisy text
support, or else will have to jack up their prices to pay for a speech synth
license. Is too bad. There is a lot more Daisy material out there in text form
than audio.
Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:macvoiceover-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Poehlman
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 6:43 AM
To: macvoiceover@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [macvoiceover] Re: Voice of DAISY
well, what it supports seems clear from the page:
Voice of DAISY
About Voice of DAISY
Voice of DAISY (VOD) is a DAISY audio book player that supports multimedia
DAISY. DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) is an international
standard for the people who have difficulty in reading ordinary printed
materials including those with visual impairment or dyslexia to "read" books.
By using Voice of DAISY, you can play and listen to DAISY format audio books.
Type of Supported DAISY Audio Books
By Voice of DAISY, you can play DAISY audio books of "Full audio with NCC only"
and "Full audio and full text" that are defined by DAISY 2.02.
Restrictions
Voice of DAISY has the following restrictions:
Voice of DAISY does not support DAISY 2.0 and DAISY 3 standards.
Voice of DAISY does not support the following DAISY audio books and you cannot
play those by Voice of DAISY: "Full audio with Title element only," "Full audio
with NCC partial text," "Full text and some audio," and "Full text and no
audio."
Voice of DAISY cannot play audio files recorded by ADPCM2 (codec) that is
unique to DAISY.
Voice of DAISY cannot play a DAISY audio book that does not completely conform
to DAISY 2.02 standard.
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