Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-11 Thread Brent Harding
I wonder if Ivona is shutting down because for a company like Amazon, we 
aren't a big enough market? I heard awhile back that Amazon is who owns 
Ivona now. I'm sure most of the other voice venders like Nuance are in 
plenty of things that aren't blindness or disability specific though.


- Original Message - 
From: "Christina C." 

To: 
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products


Agreed. Everyone has their own personal preference. I personally don’t use 
Alex. I just don’t care for it. Some people love the Alex voice and that’s 
totally cool by me. The more the merrier. :) I love to have multiple choices 
for my mood. I also sometimes prefer a different voice or accent depending 
on what I am reading. :) I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we won’t 
completely lose out on the Ivona voices or that someone else will create 
some just as good or better. :)


Christina

On Oct 9, 2015, at 9:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:

Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no 
sales of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com


On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:

I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.


Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:

I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages 
that ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But 
I agree 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice 
like E-Speak read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I 
finished the book. But in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic 
speech engine, give me DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. 
Speaking of voices though, does anyone know if Winston plans to bring 
Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he did with Writer?


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com


On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:

Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never 
ever use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. 
that I know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for 
pleasure? Not in this lifetime.

Mary


Sent from my iPad

On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  
wrote:


Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just 
my oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but 
they still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add 
eSpeak and other voices to compensate.


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  
wrote:


Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on 
their newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they 
might be folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one 
has to wonder. Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona 
voices, but if I do consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL 
if I don't buy them by December 31?


Dear IVONA Customer,

Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA 
will no longer be providing support services for the following 
products for customers:


• IVONA Voices
• IVONA 2 Voices
• IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
• Expressivo
• Accessibility package

This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as 
well as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support 
team.


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 
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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
Groups "VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and 

What will this mean for the Voice Dream Products?

2015-10-11 Thread Brenda Mueller
I would think that the loss of these voice products would also affect the 
dyslexic.  That could be quite a number of people.  

Brenda Mueller 



Sent from my iPhone

-- 
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-11 Thread Shawn Krasniuk
Hi Brent. I don't think we'll be the only ones effected if Ivona gets shut 
down. I've heard sighted people use these voices too for book reading if they 
don't feel like reading themselves.

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

> On Oct 11, 2015, at 6:25 PM, Brent Harding  wrote:
> 
> I wonder if Ivona is shutting down because for a company like Amazon, we 
> aren't a big enough market? I heard awhile back that Amazon is who owns Ivona 
> now. I'm sure most of the other voice venders like Nuance are in plenty of 
> things that aren't blindness or disability specific though.
> 
> - Original Message - From: "Christina C." 
> To: 
> Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 2:58 PM
> Subject: Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products
> 
> 
> Agreed. Everyone has their own personal preference. I personally don’t use 
> Alex. I just don’t care for it. Some people love the Alex voice and that’s 
> totally cool by me. The more the merrier. :) I love to have multiple choices 
> for my mood. I also sometimes prefer a different voice or accent depending on 
> what I am reading. :) I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we won’t completely 
> lose out on the Ivona voices or that someone else will create some just as 
> good or better. :)
> 
> Christina
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 9:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
>> Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no sales 
>> of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
>>> Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
>>> though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
 On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
 
 I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
 ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I 
 agree 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like 
 E-Speak read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the 
 book. But in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give 
 me DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, 
 does anyone know if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like 
 he did with Writer?
 
 Shawn
 Sent From My White MacBook
 Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
 Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
 Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
 Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
 
> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever 
> use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I 
> know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for 
> pleasure? Not in this lifetime.
> Mary
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
>> varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they 
>> still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak 
>> and other voices to compensate.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on 
>>> their newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they 
>>> might be folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has 
>>> to wonder. Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, 
>>> but if I do consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I 
>>> don't buy them by December 31?
>>> 
>>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>>> 
>>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will 
>>> no longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>>> customers:
>>> 
>>> • IVONA Voices
>>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>>> • Expressivo
>>> • Accessibility package
>>> 
>>> This 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-10 Thread Christina C.
Agreed. Everyone has their own personal preference. I personally don’t use 
Alex. I just don’t care for it. Some people love the Alex voice and that’s 
totally cool by me. The more the merrier. :) I love to have multiple choices 
for my mood. I also sometimes prefer a different voice or accent depending on 
what I am reading. :) I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we won’t completely 
lose out on the Ivona voices or that someone else will create some just as good 
or better. :)

Christina
> On Oct 9, 2015, at 9:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
> Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no sales 
> of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
>> Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
>> though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
>>> ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I agree 
>>> 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like E-Speak 
>>> read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the book. But 
>>> in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give me 
>>> DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, does 
>>> anyone know if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he 
>>> did with Writer?
>>> 
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent From My White MacBook
>>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>>> 
 On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
 
 Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever 
 use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I 
 know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? 
 Not in this lifetime.
 Mary
 
 
 Sent from my iPad
 
> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
> 
> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
> varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they 
> still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak 
> and other voices to compensate.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
>> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
>> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
>> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
>> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
>> December 31?
>> 
>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>> 
>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will 
>> no longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>> customers:
>> 
>> • IVONA Voices
>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>> • Expressivo
>> • Accessibility package
>> 
>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well 
>> as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>> -- 
>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 
>> 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
>> Groups "VIPhone" 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-10 Thread Russ Kiehne
Likewise, I've always liked Kate when I bought my Booksense back in 2009.  I 
did notice that the Neospeech Kate used with voice dream is better than the 
Neospeech kate as used with the booksense.


-Original Message- 
From: englishride...@gmail.com

Sent: Friday, October 09, 2015 8:55 PM
To: viphone@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

I'll give Alex a shot when he comes to VDR, but I have a feeling that I'll 
be switching back to good ofuld Neospeech Kate soon en. Ever since I 
incountered her on the BookSense line of products, I've been hard pressed to 
find something I like more. I keep coming  back to Kate, time and time 
again., even through I've gotten other voices for VDR.



Thanks,
Ari


On Oct 9, 2015, at 8:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:

Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no 
sales of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com


On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:

I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.


Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:

I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages 
that ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But 
I agree 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice 
like E-Speak read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I 
finished the book. But in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic 
speech engine, give me DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. 
Speaking of voices though, does anyone know if Winston plans to bring 
Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he did with Writer?


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com


On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:

Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never 
ever use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. 
that I know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for 
pleasure? Not in this lifetime.

Mary


Sent from my iPad

On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  
wrote:


Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just 
my oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but 
they still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add 
eSpeak and other voices to compensate.


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  
wrote:


Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on 
their newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they 
might be folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one 
has to wonder. Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona 
voices, but if I do consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL 
if I don't buy them by December 31?


Dear IVONA Customer,

Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA 
will no longer be providing support services for the following 
products for customers:


• IVONA Voices
• IVONA 2 Voices
• IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
• Expressivo
• Accessibility package

This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as 
well as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support 
team.


Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 
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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
Groups "VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, 
send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-10 Thread Shawn Krasniuk
Hi Russ. Just out of curiosity, how better does Kate sound on Voice Dream 
compared to anywhere else. I asked this because I used to have her on my PC's 
before I switched to the Mac and I found her very monotone.

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

> On Oct 10, 2015, at 8:55 AM, Russ Kiehne  wrote:
> 
> Likewise, I've always liked Kate when I bought my Booksense back in 2009.  I 
> did notice that the Neospeech Kate used with voice dream is better than the 
> Neospeech kate as used with the booksense.
> 
> -Original Message- From: englishride...@gmail.com
> Sent: Friday, October 09, 2015 8:55 PM
> To: viphone@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products
> 
> I'll give Alex a shot when he comes to VDR, but I have a feeling that I'll be 
> switching back to good ofuld Neospeech Kate soon en. Ever since I incountered 
> her on the BookSense line of products, I've been hard pressed to find 
> something I like more. I keep coming  back to Kate, time and time again., 
> even through I've gotten other voices for VDR.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Ari
> 
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 8:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
>> Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no sales 
>> of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
>>> Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
>>> though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
 On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
 
 I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
 ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I 
 agree 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like 
 E-Speak read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the 
 book. But in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give 
 me DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, 
 does anyone know if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like 
 he did with Writer?
 
 Shawn
 Sent From My White MacBook
 Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
 Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
 Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
 Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
 
> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever 
> use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I 
> know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for 
> pleasure? Not in this lifetime.
> Mary
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
>> varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they 
>> still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak 
>> and other voices to compensate.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on 
>>> their newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they 
>>> might be folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has 
>>> to wonder. Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, 
>>> but if I do consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I 
>>> don't buy them by December 31?
>>> 
>>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>>> 
>>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will 
>>> no longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>>> customers:
>>> 
>>> • IVONA Voices
>>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>>> • Expressivo
>>> • Accessibility package
>>> 
>>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as 
>>> well as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support 
>>> team.
>>> 
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent From My White MacBook
>>> 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread Christopher Chaltain
IMHO, one's choice of a speech synthesizer comes down to personal 
preference. I use Eloquence, Samantha, Google TTS and eSpeak. I feel the 
most efficient and productive with eSpeak. I don't see why you have to 
deny me the speech synthesizer I want to use just because you prefer 
another. I seriously doubt development on Eloquence or eSpeak is taking 
resources away from whatever speech synthesizer you prefer.


On 10/09/2015 11:17 AM, Mary Otten wrote:

True about Esperanto. Then again, I don't know any Esperanto speakers. In fact, 
it is a made up language of sorts. So no one speaks at natively. Not high on 
the to do list, I shouldn't think. However, more language support is a great 
thing, and other speech companies are making strides in that direction. I did 
actually try e-speak Russian and found it totally unusable, absolutely 
horrible. And I have used Russian as a translator for a long long time. I 
suppose it works for native speakers, if they have no other access, and that is 
a good thing. But what I would like to see is more work and more languages buy 
more intelligible speech synthesizer's. Let's not rely on old old difficult to 
understand robotic technology when we have much better at our disposal and the 
computer power to use it.
Mary


Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 8, 2015, at 8:28 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:

Yes, but eSpeak's language support is better than any other speech system out 
there today. Not even Vocalizer has an Esperanto voice.

Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:

Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know it's a 
personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in this 
lifetime.
Mary


Sent from my iPad


On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:

Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other voices 
to compensate.

Sent from my iPhone


On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:

Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. Will 
Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do consider 
buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by December 31?

Dear IVONA Customer,

Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
longer be providing support services for the following products for customers:

• IVONA Voices
• IVONA 2 Voices
• IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
• Expressivo
• Accessibility package

This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread Shawn Krasniuk
I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I agree 
100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like E-Speak 
read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the book. But in 
all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give me DECTalk. At 
least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, does anyone know if 
Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he did with Writer?

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
> e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know it's 
> a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in this 
> lifetime.
> Mary
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
>> entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
>> Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other 
>> voices to compensate.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
>>> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
>>> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
>>> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
>>> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
>>> December 31?
>>> 
>>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>>> 
>>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
>>> longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>>> customers:
>>> 
>>> • IVONA Voices
>>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>>> • Expressivo
>>> • Accessibility package
>>> 
>>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
>>> software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
>>> 
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent From My White MacBook
>>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>>> --- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "VIPhone" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>> 
>> -- 
>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "VIPhone" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread englishrider91
I'll give Alex a shot when he comes to VDR, but I have a feeling that I'll be 
switching back to good ofuld Neospeech Kate soon en. Ever since I incountered 
her on the BookSense line of products, I've been hard pressed to find something 
I like more. I keep coming  back to Kate, time and time again., even through 
I've gotten other voices for VDR.


Thanks,
Ari

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 8:45 PM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing 
> Alex to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no sales 
> of other voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
>> Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
>> though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
>>> ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I agree 
>>> 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like E-Speak 
>>> read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the book. But 
>>> in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give me 
>>> DECTalk. At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, does 
>>> anyone know if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he 
>>> did with Writer?
>>> 
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent From My White MacBook
>>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>>> 
 On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
 
 Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever 
 use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I 
 know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? 
 Not in this lifetime.
 Mary
 
 
 Sent from my iPad
 
> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
> 
> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
> varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they 
> still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak 
> and other voices to compensate.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
>> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
>> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
>> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
>> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
>> December 31?
>> 
>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>> 
>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will 
>> no longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>> customers:
>> 
>> • IVONA Voices
>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>> • Expressivo
>> • Accessibility package
>> 
>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well 
>> as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>> -- 
>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 
>> 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
>> Groups "VIPhone" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send 
>> an email to 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread Shawn Krasniuk
Well, Apparently what Richard said, Winston is in the process of bringing Alex 
to VDR. And I don't think you have to worry about there being no sales of other 
voices. Many people don't like how Alex sounds.

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 10:39 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
> 
> I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream 
> Reader, like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader 
> though, he may not get sales from many other voices though, lol.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
>> ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I agree 
>> 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like E-Speak 
>> read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the book. But 
>> in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give me DECTalk. 
>> At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, does anyone 
>> know if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he did with 
>> Writer?
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever 
>>> use e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I 
>>> know it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? 
>>> Not in this lifetime.
>>> Mary
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
 On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
 
 Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
 oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly 
 varying entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they 
 still have Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak 
 and other voices to compensate.
 
 Sent from my iPhone
 
> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
> December 31?
> 
> Dear IVONA Customer,
> 
> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will 
> no longer be providing support services for the following products for 
> customers:
> 
> • IVONA Voices
> • IVONA 2 Voices
> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
> • Expressivo
> • Accessibility package
> 
> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well 
> as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 
> 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> --- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
 
 -- 
 The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread Devin Prater
I sure hope so. I think he's still working on new stuff for Voice Dream Reader, 
like 3d touch and all that. If Alex were for Voice Dream Reader though, he may 
not get sales from many other voices though, lol.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 1:18 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> I bet if TTS companies wanted to, they could make the same languages that 
> ESpeak has. Acapela is slowly getting there, just give it time. But I agree 
> 100% with Mary. If I had to listen to a robotic sounding voice like E-Speak 
> read a book to me, I'd probably fall asleep before I finished the book. But 
> in all honesty, if I had to choose a robotic speech engine, give me DECTalk. 
> At least it tries to sound human. Speaking of voices though, does anyone know 
> if Winston plans to bring Alex to Voice Dream Reader like he did with Writer?
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
>> 
>> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
>> e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know 
>> it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in 
>> this lifetime.
>> Mary
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
>>> entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
>>> Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other 
>>> voices to compensate.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
 On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
 
 Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
 newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
 folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
 Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
 consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
 December 31?
 
 Dear IVONA Customer,
 
 Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
 longer be providing support services for the following products for 
 customers:
 
 • IVONA Voices
 • IVONA 2 Voices
 • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
 • Expressivo
 • Accessibility package
 
 This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well 
 as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
 
 Shawn
 Sent From My White MacBook
 Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
 Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
 Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
 Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
 
 -- 
 The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
 --- 
 You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
 "VIPhone" group.
 To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
 email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
 To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
 Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
 For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>>> --- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "VIPhone" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>>> 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-09 Thread Mary Otten
True about Esperanto. Then again, I don't know any Esperanto speakers. In fact, 
it is a made up language of sorts. So no one speaks at natively. Not high on 
the to do list, I shouldn't think. However, more language support is a great 
thing, and other speech companies are making strides in that direction. I did 
actually try e-speak Russian and found it totally unusable, absolutely 
horrible. And I have used Russian as a translator for a long long time. I 
suppose it works for native speakers, if they have no other access, and that is 
a good thing. But what I would like to see is more work and more languages buy 
more intelligible speech synthesizer's. Let's not rely on old old difficult to 
understand robotic technology when we have much better at our disposal and the 
computer power to use it.
Mary


Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 8, 2015, at 8:28 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
> 
> Yes, but eSpeak's language support is better than any other speech system out 
> there today. Not even Vocalizer has an Esperanto voice.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
>> 
>> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
>> e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know 
>> it's a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in 
>> this lifetime.
>> Mary
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
>>> entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
>>> Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other 
>>> voices to compensate.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
 On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
 
 Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
 newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
 folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
 Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
 consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
 December 31?
 
 Dear IVONA Customer,
 
 Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
 longer be providing support services for the following products for 
 customers:
 
 • IVONA Voices
 • IVONA 2 Voices
 • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
 • Expressivo
 • Accessibility package
 
 This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well 
 as software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
 
 Shawn
 Sent From My White MacBook
 Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
 Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
 Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
 Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
 
 -- 
 The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
 --- 
 You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
 "VIPhone" group.
 To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
 email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
 To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
 Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
 For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>>> --- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "VIPhone" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>>> Visit this group at 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-08 Thread Devin Prater
Yes, but eSpeak's language support is better than any other speech system out 
there today. Not even Vocalizer has an Esperanto voice.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 8, 2015, at 10:21 PM, Mary Otten  wrote:
> 
> Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
> e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know it's 
> a personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in this 
> lifetime.
> Mary
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
>> 
>> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
>> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
>> entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
>> Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other 
>> voices to compensate.
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
>>> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
>>> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
>>> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
>>> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
>>> December 31?
>>> 
>>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>>> 
>>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
>>> longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>>> customers:
>>> 
>>> • IVONA Voices
>>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>>> • Expressivo
>>> • Accessibility package
>>> 
>>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
>>> software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
>>> 
>>> Shawn
>>> Sent From My White MacBook
>>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>>> --- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "VIPhone" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>> 
>> -- 
>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "VIPhone" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> --- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
> For more options, visit 

Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-08 Thread Mary Otten
Yes, voices have come along way. That is precisely why I will never ever use 
e-speak. Back in the 1980s, that sounded better than espeak. that I know it's a 
personal preference deal. Bute-speak for reading for pleasure? Not in this 
lifetime.
Mary


Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:58 PM, Devin Prater  wrote:
> 
> Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
> oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
> entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
> Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other voices 
> to compensate.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
>> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
>> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. 
>> Will Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do 
>> consider buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by 
>> December 31?
>> 
>> Dear IVONA Customer,
>> 
>> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
>> longer be providing support services for the following products for 
>> customers:
>> 
>> • IVONA Voices
>> • IVONA 2 Voices
>> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
>> • Expressivo
>> • Accessibility package
>> 
>> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
>> software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
>> 
>> Shawn
>> Sent From My White MacBook
>> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
>> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
>> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
>> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
>> 
>> -- 
>> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "VIPhone" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> --- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-08 Thread Devin Prater
Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other voices 
to compensate.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. Will 
> Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do consider 
> buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by December 31?
> 
> Dear IVONA Customer,
> 
> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
> longer be providing support services for the following products for customers:
> 
> • IVONA Voices
> • IVONA 2 Voices
> • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
> • Expressivo
> • Accessibility package
> 
> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
> software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> --- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


RE: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-08 Thread Neal Ewers
Hi I received this as well. My favorit voice is the Amy iVona voice. That is 
really too bad. I think she is one of the best ones out there.

Neal


-Original Message-
From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of 
Devin Prater
Sent: Thursday, October 8, 2015 9:58 PM
To: viphone@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

Well, I don't think the Ivona voices were all that good anyways. Just my 
oppinion, but speech synthesis has gone a ways, and has less wildly varying 
entonation. But sure, Voicedream may lose some voices, but they still have 
Acapella Sharan up their sleeve, and could easily add eSpeak and other voices 
to compensate.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 7, 2015, at 2:35 AM, Shawn Krasniuk  wrote:
> 
> Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
> newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
> folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. Will 
> Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do consider 
> buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by December 31?
> 
> Dear IVONA Customer,
> 
> Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
> longer be providing support services for the following products for customers:
> 
>   IVONA Voices
>   IVONA 2 Voices
>   IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center   Expressivo   
> Accessibility package
> 
> This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
> software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.
> 
> Shawn
> Sent From My White MacBook
> Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
> Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
> Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
> Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com
> 
> --
> The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "VIPhone" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

-- 
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.


What Will This Mean For The Voice Dream Products

2015-10-07 Thread Shawn Krasniuk
Hi all. I've tried Ivona's voices for Windows and therefore I'm on their 
newsletter. I just got an email from them. It sounds like they might be 
folding. I'll paste an excerpt of the email below but one has to wonder. Will 
Voice Dream be affected? I don't have any Ivona voices, but if I do consider 
buying them in the future, will I be SOL if I don't buy them by December 31?

Dear IVONA Customer,

Please be informed, that starting from 31st of December 2015 IVONA will no 
longer be providing support services for the following products for customers:

 • IVONA Voices
 • IVONA 2 Voices
 • IVONA Reader/IVONA MiniReader/IVONA Control Center
 • Expressivo
 • Accessibility package

This includes recovery of activation keys and installation files as well as 
software updates and customer support from the IVONA support team.

Shawn
Sent From My White MacBook
Facebook Username: Shawn Krasniuk
Twitter Handle: shawnk_aka_bbs
Skype username: bbstheblindrapper
Facetime: bbssh...@icloud.com

-- 
The following information is important for all members of the VIPhone 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 VIPhone list 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/viphone@googlegroups.com/.
--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"VIPhone" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.