On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 10:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 3/24/2024 8:25 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Sat, 23 Mar 2024 12:14:54 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
>> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On 3/23/2024 8:45 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>> On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:43:30 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
>>>> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 3/22/2024 5:14 PM, WolfFan wrote:
>>>>> And to put it where Amazon can’t touch it; they have
>>>>>> been known to reclaim ebooks. see
>>>>>> https://www.pcworld.com/article/519855/amazon_kindle_1984_lawsuit.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don’t trust them.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Ya, that whole incident was just stupid. And of all the titles to
>>>>> reclaim THAT had to be first?!
>>>>
>>>> Much as I agree that reasonably-limited copyrights are helpful, what,
>>>> exactly, is a vendor supposed to do when it finds that it has broken
>>>> the law by selling something it has no right to sell? Go to jail? Pay
>>>> ginormous fines [1] for copyright violation?
>>>>
>>>> I don't know if this is the case I remember, but, in the one I
>>>> remember, the /real/ problem was that the book was an over-the-summer
>>>> reading assignment requiring a book report -- and the notes the kid
>>>> was planning to use for that report vanished as well.
>>>>
>>>> [1] At the rate of one fine per book sold, they will mount up
>>>> endlessly.
>>>
>>> Yes, part of what raised the volume on the screaming was that users'
>>> notes and annotations had also been erased.
>>
>> As it should have -- /that/ was actual damage sustained by the
>> customer. Just having to buy a legal copy if you wanted to finish the
>> book was merely inconvenient.
>>
>> Speaking of Kindle annoyances -- my new Kindles (both old ones stopped
>> working on their own with no encouragement [such as being dropped]
>> from me)
>
>If one were paranoid or had ever dealt with a tech company before (but I
>repeat myself) one might suspect deliberate remote bricking....

The Kindles that died were purchased in Feb 2014. One (a refurbished
replacement for one whose screen I managed to crack) died in Dec 2023,
the other in Feb 2024. The batteries still charged (well, the amber
charging light eventually turned green), but they just didn't respond,
even to attempted rebooting. Ten years of use isn't all that bad,
although what part(s) failed is a mystery.

I returned both of them. The first was a hoot: I was supposed to print
a Special Lable in color, but didn't have a color printer. So I
printed it on my trusty B&W dot matrix Panasonic (older than the
Kindles, BTW) and used a red marker to add color to the parts that
were supposed to be red (something to do with the type of battery
inside). The second required no such lable. I got $25 back (as a
credit) on each replacement.

Technically, that was a $5 coupon and 20% off the price of the
replacement. The $20 was taken off when I ordered the replacement
after setting up the return; the email acknowledging acceptance of the
return was written as if the $20 would be taken off only after
acceptance. So they appear to have conflicting theories. They did say
that, if I didn't return it or it wasn't accepted they would recoup
the $20 (and maybe the $5 as well).

The other weird thing I have noticed (aside from a new user interface,
which is not, IMHO, an improvement on the old one) is that, with the
"ads" set to "targetted" what I am being targetted /with/ is a
rotating set of "bedtime stories for parents and children" with
cutesy-poo cover illustrations and cutesy-poo titles. It's a good
thing I'm not diabetic; if I were, that much sugar (only a wee bit
each time, but it accumulates over time) would be fatal.

I am reading Dumas on one and Deaver on the other. Neither are
cutesy-poo, so Amazon's ad targetting appears to be off. Way off.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 12:08:44 -0400, WolfFan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
wrote:

>On Mar 24, 2024, Dimensional Traveler wrote
>(in article <utpgno$ec3b$1@dont-email.me>):
>
>> On 3/24/2024 1:07 AM, Mad Hamish wrote:
>> > On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:43:30 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
>> > <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > > On 3/22/2024 5:14 PM, WolfFan wrote:
>> > > And to put it where Amazon can’t touch it; they have
>> > > > been known to reclaim ebooks. see
>> > > > https://www.pcworld.com/article/519855/amazon_kindle_1984_lawsuit.html
>> > > >
>> > > > I don’t trust them.
>> > > Ya, that whole incident was just stupid. And of all the titles to
>> > > reclaim THAT had to be first?!
>> >
>> > What were they meant to do when they found that the publisher didn't
>> > have the rights to the book?
>>
>> Stop selling it, same as if it were physical printed copies.
>
>Exactly. Yanking it from custyomers’ devices was, and is, totally
>unacceptable. The fact that they sold something that they shouldn’t have is
>a THEM problem, not a CUSTOMER problem.

We are wandering here into the legal wasteland of just what it means
to "own" -- well, anything digital (book, music, video).

For example, can such things be /inherited/? Or do they cease to be
legally useable by anyone when the purchaser moves on? I don't know it
this has come up yet, but it will, oh yes, it will.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

In article <of430jhol42mbrqltav0n25mi14qltm3uc@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>
>The other weird thing I have noticed (aside from a new user interface,
>which is not, IMHO, an improvement on the old one) is that, with the
>"ads" set to "targetted" what I am being targetted /with/ is a
>rotating set of "bedtime stories for parents and children" with
>cutesy-poo cover illustrations and cutesy-poo titles. It's a good
>thing I'm not diabetic; if I were, that much sugar (only a wee bit
>each time, but it accumulates over time) would be fatal.
>
>I am reading Dumas on one and Deaver on the other. Neither are
>cutesy-poo, so Amazon's ad targetting appears to be off. Way off.

I'm getting those too.

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.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On 3/25/2024 12:11 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <of430jhol42mbrqltav0n25mi14qltm3uc@4ax.com>,
> Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> The other weird thing I have noticed (aside from a new user interface,
>> which is not, IMHO, an improvement on the old one) is that, with the
>> "ads" set to "targetted" what I am being targetted /with/ is a
>> rotating set of "bedtime stories for parents and children" with
>> cutesy-poo cover illustrations and cutesy-poo titles. It's a good
>> thing I'm not diabetic; if I were, that much sugar (only a wee bit
>> each time, but it accumulates over time) would be fatal.
>>
>> I am reading Dumas on one and Deaver on the other. Neither are
>> cutesy-poo, so Amazon's ad targetting appears to be off. Way off.
>
> I'm getting those too.
>
> 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.

pt

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.

In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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

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.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Fri, 29 Mar 2024 17:57:38 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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.

Actually, I found the mechanical Kindle (the Refurbished one) easier
to use overall. For one thing, the keyboard is set up alphabetically,
which makes sense since touch typing is not involved.

It also worked better with footnotes. A few novels have had footnotes
and some even implement them rather than just show the numbers and put
the text wherever it falls. With the mechanical Kindle, you can select
the number, go to the note, and then return. With the touch-screen
Kindle, I had to increase the font size/line spacing so that I could
reliable touch the footnote number (as opposed to anything else in its
vicinity), but I will say that things went more smoothly after I did.
Still, having to turn my book into a Large Print edition just to
follow the footnotes is a definite disadvantage, IMHO.

OTOH, the touch Kindles apparently list all the groups I form whether
they contain books on that Kindle or not.

The newest Kindles have a new USB socket and a shorter cable (solved
with an extension cable and the fact that both use the same USB
socket), and a new user interface with insists on showing (by default)
/all/ collections and /all/ Books on a scrolling display (instead of a
bunch of screens). The closest I can come to what I want (the
Paperwhite interface, which did not show books that were in
collections outside of the collections, at least when configured
properly), is to show only unread books. I have to remember to add
each new book to a collection when it is received, since it won't be
visible after it is read. But only if I view it in the Library, which
is /not/ the default view. The default view is the Store. Of course,
since I spend 99% of my time on the Kindle reading the books, I don't
have to deal with these annoyances very often.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On Sun, 24 Mar 2024 19:07:30 +1100, Mad Hamish
<newsunspammelaws@iinet.unspamme.net.au> wrote:

>>Ya, that whole incident was just stupid. And of all the titles to
>>reclaim THAT had to be first?!
>
>What were they meant to do when they found that the publisher didn't
>have the rights to the book?

Pay the legitimate rights holder.

NOT their own customers who in good faith had purchased the book -
since they themselves made the original sale and part of the
reasonable expectations of a customer is that the vendor had the right
to sell the item they purchased in good faith. (Of course when
discussing a book there's also the expectation that the book is
readable - ie that all the pages are there...)

To me (a recently retired store owner who sold goods to the jewelry
trade) of course my customers' had a right to believe I had the right
to sell them the goods I was selling them. Their agreement to purchase
was with me not the original manufacturer. Their main duty was to pay
the price - and owning their purchases and receiving them in usable
condition was part of the purchase. I as vendor didn't have the right
to reclaim the goods to repay my obligations to the manufacturer.

On Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:29:40 -0700, Paul S Person
<psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

>We are wandering here into the legal wasteland of just what it means
>to "own" -- well, anything digital (book, music, video).
>
>=46or example, can such things be /inherited/? Or do they cease to be
>legally useable by anyone when the purchaser moves on? I don't know it
>this has come up yet, but it will, oh yes, it will.

Why not? I have numerous times both given and received books from
other members of my family.

It's one of the reasons I refuse to deal with Apple because of all the
crap they've given me concerning my late wife's iPad - they actually
demanded proof of purchase (which I gave to her in a sealed envelope
as part of the present) despite the fact her name phone # and e-mail
address was engraved on the back of the iPad. I later found the e-copy
of my order for it but since they require me to take it to their Apple
Store IN PERSON (which is downtown in the middle of a office mall
where it's $12/hr for parking and thus not something I'm willing to do
repeatedly) for service (I want it either transferred to my account or
re-initialized) with no assurance they'll actually do it.

I'd happily return it to where it was purchased - but that was Staples
not Apple themselves. (When I went to Apple I took the iPad, copy of
will and death certificate to prove my ownership)

On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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.

> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
snip

>> 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
>> There are a few settings you can tweak.

Today I read of the advancement of this topic. The web reference address
tells all.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/31/openai-deems-its-voice-cloning-tool-too-risky-for-general-release

Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>> In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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?

Pt

In article <uui9u8$3hb35$1@dont-email.me>,
Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>> In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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?
>
>Pt
>
>

Looks fine!

Supposedly Thunderbird for Ipad is in the works..
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 01:04:08 -0000 (UTC), Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

>Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>> In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On 4/3/2024 11:42 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 01:04:08 -0000 (UTC), Cryptoengineer
> <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>> On 29/03/24 18:19, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>>> In article <uu5ho2$3ru6$2@dont-email.me>, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> 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