Hi Mark i am just listening to a mystery thriller by Katy winter spoken by jill Penfold and find the noration very satisfactory. this one is a free book. I just wanted to hear the way the reader sounded and i was pleased by the result.
> On 13 Jan 2023, at 3:45 pm, M. Taylor <mk...@ucla.edu> wrote: > > Hello All, > > Here is the second article I am posting on this subject. > > As you will see, the author of the article was not impressed with the AI. > > I, however, respectfully disagree. > > Just to recap, there are a couple of free AI narrated titles in Apple Books > but many of them are for purchase. > > I purchased a title called "Wildwood" by Elinor Florence and absolutely love > the narration in so far as it demonstrates a glimpse into what is to come > with regard to AI becoming a reality. > > I hope you will download a free AI narrated title from Apple Books and give > it a try. > > Mark > > Apple's Digital Narration Lets an AI Voice Read You a Book, MacWorld > Macworld - Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 8:51 AM > Apple's digital narration lets an AI voice read you a book > > If you're a lover of Apple Books, there's a new feature that might interest > or horrify you: Apple has announced the launch of a new digital narration > project to create audiobooks using AI. Since the audiobook market is > exploding in popularity but only a fraction of books are actually converted > to audio, Apple's new technology offers a way to remove the "cost and > complexity" associated with creating human voice recordings. > > The first publicly available results of the project are already on the Apple > Book Store. If you open the Books app and search for "AI narration" you'll > find several dozen fiction and romance titles labeled as "Narrated by Apple > Books." Tap that label and you'll be informed whether the book will be read > to you by "Madison," the digital soprano used for these genres, or > "Jackson," the baritone equivalent. Both are said to be based on a real > human narrator, but the audio has been generated using AI. > > On Apple's website, you can also listen to samples from "Helena" and > "Mitchell," who are the digital voices for the non-fiction and > self-development genres, but these haven't yet been used for any publicly > available audiobooks. > > Apple assures us that the voices are the result of "advanced speech > synthesis technology with important work by teams of linguists, quality > control specialists, and audio engineers," but it's clear that Madison and > Jackson's most appealing quality is their efficiency. Recording a human > narration takes a matter of weeks, potentially costs thousands of dollars, > and requires the presence of an experienced voice artist or celebrity (or, > increasingly, the author), which is why so many books remain text-only. The > AI approach vastly increases the cost-effectiveness of the process. > But is it actually effective? I listened to the first few pages of Shelter > From The Storm by Kristen Ethridge, and was struck by how inhuman it > sounded. "Madison" doesn't quite sound like a person, and can't convincingly > adapt her speech patterns to the content of the text. There also isn't the > intangible human emotional quality that helps the listener to stay engaged. > I continually drifted off, filtering the sound out as background noise. > > The technology is no doubt improving and may be able to replace human voice > actors within a few years, but it's not there yet. It's clear that > automating the narration process will save a lot of money in the long tail > of quickly produced, low-readership books, but it's also obvious why Apple > is being cautious about rolling this out for more high-profile titles, and > about highlighting the move in general. As far as we're aware, there has not > been a standard-issue press release for the project, and Apple seems to be > directing its publicity at authors and publishers more than media sites or > the general public. > > And those authors might not be so keen on the idea. As the Guardian notes, > it's a strategy that has to contend with criticism from plenty of > stakeholders other than readers. An audiobook producer and a literary agent > contacted by the paper each spoke of the value provided by high-quality > narration and expressed a degree of skepticism about the project, but more > serious reservations may come from political or legal entities. With this > new service, Apple appears to be moving into the creation rather than simply > the selling of audiobooks, which will open up a new front for accusations of > anticompetitive behavior. > > Original Article at: > https://www.macworld.com/article/1447641/apple-books-ai-narration-audiobooks > .html > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: > mk...@ucla.edu and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/000401d92709%24edba2a90%24c92e7fb0%24%40ucla.edu. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: mk...@ucla.edu and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/E485BF69-B827-4A61-8A89-AF20112B491B%40gmail.com.
