Re: "Mutineer's Moon (Dahak Series)" by David Weber

On 4/3/2024 11:42 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 01:04:08 -0000 (UTC), Cryptoengineer
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> Titus G <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>>> In article <[email protected]>, Titus G  <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> On 26/03/24 08:59, Cryptoengineer wrote:
>>>>>> On 3/25/2024 12:11 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>>>> snip
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I've lost one jailbroken 2011 Kindle Keyboard to some sort of
>>>>>>> hardware issue, but the other is still going strong.  It is amusing
>>>>>>> how slow search gets when you have 1240 books loaded.  Definitely
>>>>>>> don't want to "trade up" to one without the read-out-loud feature and
>>>>>>> a headphone jack.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   I use the kindle app on ipad and an android phone, and haven't
>>>>>> noticed any ads beyond 'you might like this book'.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ...but I don't get the text-to-voice, and I'd love to have it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> My first Kindle was bought in 2011 but my books are all stored in
>>>>> Calibre so I never would have had more than a hundred on it so never
>>>>> noticed speed of response to anything but the touch screen on later
>>>>> models is far superior for ease of use. I use the Amazon provided Kindle
>>>>> for PC and do not register the Kindle so do not receive any ads.
>>>>> I suspect you would be very disappointed with the quality of text to
>>>>> voice on this 2011 Kindle as the computer just produces words in a
>>>>> computer voice with no change in emotion, speed or volumne.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I have all my ebooks in Calibre as well, the 1240 also on the
>>>> Kindle are just the ones I haven't read yet.
>>>>
>>>> I posted an example of the text-to-voice here a few weeks ago, let me
>>>> dig it up agian:
>>>>
>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0nxRIQz0kc
>>>
>>> Thanks, but I thought that that was terrible and I couldn't understand
>>> much without reading at the same time.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> There are a few settings you can tweak.  As I recall I picked a female
>>>> voice and either sped it up a little or slowed it down a little the
>>>> default was off one way or the other.
>>>>
>>>> It takes a little getting used to, but I find it quite comprehensible.
>>>>
>>>> There are occasional comic aspects.  For instance, Lindsay Buroker has
>>>> a writing tic where her characters say "Hmm." as a thinking pause.
>>>> The Kindle pronounces this as "hectameters".  Since the first place
>>>> I encountered it was a semi-steampunk setting where "hectameters" was
>>>> a plausible mild swear, it took me a while to figure out what was going
>>>> on.
>>>>
>>>> I get the feeling from reading Amazon reviews that lots of people expect
>>>> audiobooks to be something close to radio dramas.  I don't get that at
>>>> all.  A narrator should not try to act the book.
>>>
>>> My complaint is with the Kindle as narrator. I have never listened to an
>>> audio book. I am sure my eyes, not knowing what to do, would close
>>> inducing sleep.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> One I use on my Android phone (Moon+ reader) has a text to voice feature.
>> It has a little inflection, rising at the end of questions, an momentary
>> pauses
>> at the end of sentences. However, it makes errors, particularly with names
>> and
>> acronyms. At one point, it enchanterd a text referring to a woman's 'DD'
>> assets, which it pronounced 'Doctor of Divinity'.
>>
>> BTW, I'm posting this using 'NewsTal', the only iPad capable newsreader on
>> the Apple Store. It has some truly brain dead design decisions, but sort of
>>
>> works. Does it look ok?
> 
> Looks fine.
> 
> I'm not sure about "enchanterd", however. Perhaps "encountered"?
> 
> And, as an academic or honorary degree, "DD" can be "Doctor of
> Divinity". But "DDiv" can be as well.
> 
> But it's all about context, and teaching a machine about that
> particular context might be very ... interesting.

'enchantered' was a typo for 'encountered' - sorry.

I found the error on 'DD' amusing more than anything.

pt