Hi, Voices are a matter of ergonomic preference, but it sounds to me
like you are, in this case, just a little bit overly sensative as you
said. A computer voice is a productivity tool, not a public speaker
or some one you stay up all night discussing philosophy with. They
haven't made a perfect one yet. Sertainly the place you're coming
from had some glaring imperfections. If you could live with
stuttering and crackling every time you switched windows, voice pitch
screaming up and down during continuous reading, and speech crashing
out completely leaving your screen reader active but mute, you should
be able to train yourself to get used to the ocasional croke or
ambiguous pause on a dash where none should be. If you have
proficiency with braille, then it's a much more effective proof
reading and editting tool than any speech, and I've used most of the
software and 5 or 6 of the classic hardware speech engines extensively.
Best,
erik burggraaf
Certified Technician
Assistive Computing LTD Support and training
Sales department: 888-828-2445
Support and Training: 888-255-5194
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website coming soon
On 15-Nov-08, at 3:13 PM, Tasha Raella Chemel wrote:
I listened to the samples of those, and though they sound human,
they still seemed like they had the problems with cracking and weird
intonations. but maybe i'm just really sensitive and picky :)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dane Trethowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 5:29 PM
Subject: Re: thinking about switching
Ok, if I may comment on the voices issue? I use the Infovox voices
and they're the best sounding software speech voices I've ever
heard but they come at a cost. sorry, don't have a web address
but I'm sure your friend Google will turn something up.
On 16/11/2008, at 2:44 AM, Tasha Raella Chemel wrote:
Hi list, I'm thinking about possibly getting a mac, but I had a
few questions.
1. One of the biggest problems i have with my dell laptop is that
when I have too many windows open (maybe sixty or so) the system
will start beeping constantly, and the only way to stop the
beeping is to restart. i have a two gig processor with one gig of
ram. I know I probably should not have this many windows open,
but as I'm sure you all know, it's easy to let the windows pile
up and forget to close them. My question: If i got a mac with
high specs (maybe two or fourg gigs of memory) would it be better
about having that many windows open?
2. Hard drive crashes: my dell laptop usually crashes about twice
a year, and I need to get a new hard drive. granted, i'm a very
heavy user and I'm sure the system gets banged around more than
what's good for it. my question is, if I get a mac, are hard
drive crashes less frequent? any thoughts about whether the pro
is more durable than the macbook? (the new macbooks also have the
aluminum casing)
3. Voices. I've heard a sample of the Alex voice, and am not
impressed. It has the same weird emphases and prenunciations as a
lot of the more 'human-sounding" tts's i've heard. are there
other voices that either come on the mac or that i can buy
separately that are comparable to eloquence in that they might
sound robotic, but they are responsive and don't have any weird
clicks/emphases? It's going to be very hard for me to give up
eloquence. even viavoice, which i know you can get for the mac,
doesn't compare at all.
Thanks, Tasha
******************************
Dane Trethowan
From Melton Victoria Australia
mailto:Dane Trethowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Phone (Australia)
callto:03 9005 8589
Phone (United Kingdom)
callto:020 3287 4641
Fax/TTY +61 3 9743 7954
mobile/sms: +614 418 773 532
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
skype: callto:grtdane12
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