Re: The next generation of Speech Central has been launched

[Duane Steele]

Hello Listers, After reading the latest AppleVis entry about speech central, I'm puzzled. Having been a Voice Dream user since its initial launch, and following its changes and updates to the present, I'm really not convinced about Speech Central. It's so easy to load Voice Dream content, and PDF documents read well. My question is: What would make me even want to try any other program? I don't ask this question to invoke controversy, but to learn why some would prefer any other program over Voice Dream. If, at some point, another program is more efficient than Voice Dream, I'll certainly jump on that proverbial "band wagon". For now, I'm just wondering... and exploring. Thanks. +Peace & Blessings, Pastor Duane L. Steele Phone (276) 730-5194 On Jan 31, 2024, at 4:36 PM, Mary Otten <motte...@gmail.com> wrote: I have downloaded the update, but I have not yet downloaded any more books. I downloaded several recently, and after a lot of missing around and reporting to the developers, they all loaded. I still don’t know why, but now I have all these books and a couple of them I need to get read by the weekend for stuff. But I’m definitely going to try it. If it works, awesome. I am not at all excited about having to go through a big process to get books share books into an app. Thumbs down. Unless Voice Dream just turns into an absolute piece of junk, I’ll deal with it rather than have to deal with a convoluted process for just accessing books. In my opinion, that was not a good decision the developer of this app speech Central made.  Sent from my iPhone On Jan 31, 2024, at 1:21 PM, Richard Turner <richardr_tur...@comcast.net> wrote: I just downloaded it to try and immediately found out that to install books from bookshare you have to download the DAISY file and import it because the developer decided that customers could download the ten books per month that way rather than him having to take the time to program for their interface ...  BTW, did you try the update to VDR today to see if it fixed your download issue?  Sent from my iPad On Jan 31, 2024, at 12:47 PM, Mary Otten <motte...@gmail.com> wrote:  I just saw this on Apple viz.. Has anyone actually used this app? I had it on android and frankly couldn’t figure out how to use it or what it would be good for. But I’m not God’s gift to android that’s for sure. So I want to know if there are voice dream users out there using iPhones who have use this app. I’m not interested in hearing from the developer. I already saw his propaganda. I want real world users commenting. Thanks. The next generation of Speech Central has been launched AppleVis | Empowering blind and low-vision users of Apple products ...  /  Labsii Forum iOS and iPadOS As the app was in the beta testing for more than two months some people may already know what the new version is about. But during the beta period features were not publicly announced, that has happened for the first time just few days ago on the App Store. This isn't just another update. It isn't even another big update. And it is hard to provide the comparison, but if you take any of the competing apps and their cumulative updates in the last 5 years the shear size doesn't even come close to this. The full list improvements would require more than 1000 lines of text to tell. If we talk about new features, that would be still in hundreds of lines. Even major features are well above dozen of bullet lines. So I would like to focus on just one thing that reveals all the magic behind the effort - the new Emulate book narration mode. This feature brings quite a bit of the soul to robotic voices. Check this benchmark using the Apple's Ava Premium voice on the same text in Speech Central and Voice Dream: https://youtu.be/lCbr8HqXUCc Also you can check the same for Microsoft Ema voice in Speech Central and NaturalReader: https://youtu.be/HRiDafir-NY Regarding the other features I'll just use the same list as I have used in the App Store: - Design overhaul that maximises the space for the text on iPhone and adds sidebar functionality to the iPad - Multiwindow/multidocument support on the iPad - Instant mode for quick and simple reading - Music Intermezzo - inject Apple Music into your listening - Improved accessibility - Improved sync - more comprehensive, robust and performant - Numerous new settings options - Siri voice command to start playing now works even behind the lock screen As the app is free when used with VoiceOver, the best thing is to try it yourself: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/speech-central-ai-voice-reader/id1127349155 Original Article: https://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados/next-generation-speech-central-has-been-launched Sent from my iPhone -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. 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