I will try to give a neutral answer.
If someone does not want to pay for Voice Dream Reader, then Speech Central or Dolphin EasyReader would be free options. So I don’t misquote anything about Speech Central, here is the description from the app store. You can compare it with other apps as you like. Description Feature set that exceeds the competition, no subscription for the premium tier with the free tier that can be customised to be limited by the quantity or by the quality, that is the reason why you'll love Speech Central. Here are just some of our outstanding features: ◦ The best text-to-speech experience - our proprietary engine significantly enhances the output of Apple's voices and AI voices by infusing their readings with emotion and variation. ◦ The best PDF support in text to speech apps - your reading flow will not be interrupted by footers, headers, footnotes, in text citations and long web links as they are detected by the advanced artificial intelligence in most cases. No other app has all those features. Even the scanned PDF documents are imported with titles recognised. ◦ The best web support in text to speech apps - for the first time you can listen everything as both articles and headlines (including RSS feeds) are supported. Articles can be added from the headlines page for fully uninterrupted flow or from Safari. And you can send articles from the desktop browser with the Pocket extension. ◦ The widest support for documents/office and e-book formats. ◦ Knowledge and text annotation tools built-in. ◦ Import the text from the physical books with the camera. ◦ The widest choice of options to customize the voice, appearance and various other parameters. ◦ Sync playlist items across Apple devices including with the macOS app and the current position in the text. ◦ Apple Watch app that can play the content independently of the main app. ◦ Export the text with annotations to .docx format ◦ Functions of audio buttons can be customized for high productivity and accessibility. The widest selection of tools to control the speed and browse the text that is read aloud. ◦ The app can be used with dozens of languages that have text-to-speech support on the device with automatic language detection from the content. ◦ Export the text to the audio file. ◦ The best in class accessibility. It is completely free when used with VoiceOver and tested to be accessible by legally blind users. ◦ Your data stays truly private, we collect only analytics data with no identifiable reference to the user or imported content even when the syncing is enabled. ◦ Track the Mindfulness time in the Health app The app is installed on over 250,000 devices and with consistent ratings above 4 stars Speech Central it is one of the leading global text-to-speech brands. It was nominated for the best iOS accessible app in 2020 and 2017 on AppleVis, the leading authority in the field of accessibility on Apple devices. By moving your reading activities to commuting, walking, running, doing the housework or another activity you can save an hour each day. You'll also save eyes for better things while having your battery and data plan last significantly longer. Keeping the screen off grants that you won't get into the internet addiction and waste your time on unwanted things, and thus it can also help people with ADHD. The app can be used as an assistive technology and helper for people with visual impairments (eyesight problems) and disabilities like dyslexia. Supported document types are: PDF (including scanned documents), Microsoft Word (.docx), Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx), OpenOffice/LibreOffice (.odt, .odp), .html, .mhtml, .webarchive, .txt, .rtf. E-books in the .epub format are supported. Get the app now and enjoy the most convenient text to audio! Notes: - The free version has a daily limitation in the number of articles that you can add to it which is removed by purchasing the Pro add-on. - Some features are available only on the latest version of the operating system. - The license is valid only for the iOS/watchOS. Other operating systems have separate licenses. - DRM protected books (e.g. Kindle books) are locked to their respective vendor apps and cannot be imported into the app. more What’s New Version History Jan 31, 2024 Version 14.2.3 The full text edit option is back, paragraph editing is still preferred and more safe option The only thing I will add that I’m sure will make the Speech Central developer angry is that check which apps have won the best apps on Applevis.com Richard, USA “Grandma always told us, “Be careful when you pray for patience. God stores it on the other side of Hell and you will have to go through Hell to get it.” -- Cedrick Bridgeforth My web site: <https://www.turner42.com/> https://www.turner42.com/ Microsoft Windows 11 Core Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.2715), JAWS version 2024.2310.70.400 From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Duane Steele Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2024 1:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: The next generation of Speech Central has been launched 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 <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > 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 <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > 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 <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > 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. 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