VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Bruce]

I ran into this article announcing that a major educational content provider is going to use the electronic iSpeech to read their text material instead of living readers:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/31/audiobooks-ispeech-librivox-amazon

(I love the bit about how it costs $15,000 to have a 250 page book narrated professionally! $2,500 is more like it, but, sigh, that's still more than the $1,000 e-version)

And then here's a link to how their audio sounds -- under Web and Mobile Sites there's a "Listen" button:

http://www.ispeech.org/publishers

Would I want my child to be taught by a voice like that? Mmmm...I don't think so.... unless I would want my child to end up sounding like an emotionless automaton... which I wouldn't.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Jason Huggins]

I don't think people really like the iSpeech solution. Last week I revoiced a web video for a company that originally tried to use iSpeech. Then they realized that it sounded terrible and they wanted a real voice. No doubt technology will get better, but they are a long way away from having computer speech replace a good VO.

Hopefully that client will realize that no one wants to listen to Siri teach them ANYTHING.

[Frank F]

I Robot will teach your kids eveereethink need to know. As an i Robot I am perfect for grate graaammmr and pacing. I read out loud aneethink which is written on page xaktly how it is written. I am purr-fekt. (Said in monotone non emotional voice).

What happens when the input is not correct - you guessed right.

Your client will be back and I suggest you ask for a raise.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[heyguido]

Call it an additional fee for indignation.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Mike Harrison]

[Lee Gordon]

I remember back when doubleknit polyester was touted as the fabric of the future that was going to replace cotton and wool, and Corfam was going to become the new material of choice for shoes. Neither made it out of the 70s because people just have preference for natural over artificial.

Whenever science develops a new technology, some people get jazzed about the possible futuristic applications but they often discover that just because something can be done, it doesn't mean people will want it done that way.

I predict there will be a big push for computer generated voices in all sorts of things that currently rely upon human voices, those products will quickly become labelled as inferior, and the market will demand a return to humans.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[melissa eX]

That client of yours just booked me for a session this week, so I don't think they're rolling it out immediately - and I seriously doubt they'll use it for anything other than lists or glossaries.

[Scolaidhe]

I have a Kindle, and twice I listened to a couple of books with the generated voice. The first time I was driving home from work, and had the Kindle connected to the car stereo. The second time it was a very short book, and I was listening with earphones while cleaning the house.

Both times my listening experience was the same. "Wow, this is a lot of work," I thought. It required a lot of attention and mental processing to "frame" what I was hearing. The "voice" had, at best, a limited sense of punctuation; one sentence would run into another. Plus it just felt weird. I'd rather listen to a real person.