Dear Esther, Thank you so much for your recommendation and detailed thoughts on Voice Dream Reader. I downloaded the app, purchased some voices and enjoy the high quality of speech that the app offers.
I will contact the developer because I am interested in using the app's dictionary feature, something that I have had no success with thus far. I would have written to you sooner, but I wanted to give Voice Dream Reader a lot of listening before commenting on it. It was indeed well worth the money, and you can't beat the price for each additional voice you purchase. Thanks again for the recommendation and kindest regards, Mike On 9,Apr,2013, at 9:12 PM, Esther <mori...@mac.com> wrote: > Hello Mike, > > Have you looked into using the Voice Dream Reader app? This app does not > have the same level of navigation options that the Read2Go app has, so you'll > probably still want to do most of your Bookshare reading with Read2Go. > However, Voice Dream Reader has some features that I believe you would want: > first, it allows you to read Bookshare books with German voices, while > Read2Go only supports reading in English with the Heather voice. Voice Dream > Reader comes with the Heather voice, but people who want to read in other > languages can purchase any of the Infovox/iVox voices that are available on > the Mac, plus the Acapela Group's Mandarin Chinese and Japanese voices, for > $1.99 each via in-app purchase. You can also buy the Paul, Kate, or Julie > U.S. English NeoSpeech voices, or the Bridget British English NeoSpeech voice > for $2.99 each. Secondly, if you have Daisy books, or other documents or > DRM-free eBooks, that are not from Bookshare, it's much easier to get them > into the app via alternatives such as Dropbox, in addition to iTunes file > sharing. Voice Dream supports direct downloads of Bookshare books into the > app, but it also lets you transfer documents and non-DRM eBooks into the app > through many other methods, including the option to "Open in" the Voice Dream > Reader app from web links, etc. Third, this app can be used to read many > types of document and eBook formats, and will remember the position, voice > settings for language and speaking rate, and bookmarks set for each of the > files. So you can use this to read TXT, RTF, Word or Pages documents, PDF, > ePub books (without DRM), etc. You can find out how far into a book you are, > and navigate to a location by per cent, as well as by using bookmarks. Also, > you can organize your files within your own folders within the app, and you > can have Voice Dream Reader's TTS continue to read the files while your > device is locked. Double clicking the home button from the lock screen gives > you access to the player controls to play/pause, or to access the next or > previous track. > > I really like Voice Dream Reader for reading various sorts of text files in > multiple languages with the Acapela Group and NeoSpeech voices. The > developer is very responsive, and is continuously adding features in response > to user requests and feedback. For example, a pronunciation editor is in the > works. There are even more features for low-vision and print-disabled users > in terms of available font sizes, highlighting, color themes. Because this > is text-to-speech, it doesn't have the same level of navigation options that > you can get with Read2Go and with iBooks. And this is also true currently > for attached Braille devices. But if you want to listen to a wide range of > text formats in multiple languages with high-quality voices, even with the > screen locked, and have your place and voice settings remembered, Voice Dream > Reader is a great option. It's integrated with Instapaper, which is another > app that I use. > > The list price for the Voice Dream Reader app is $9.99, but there's a free, > lite version of the app that you can download to test the app. Also, the > developer, Winston Chen, logs into the AppleVis site, so you have the option > of posting questions either in their forums or in the comments for the app > entry. Here's the App Store URL: > • Voice Dream Reader - Text to Speech ($9.99) by Winston Chen > https://itunes.apple.com/app/voice-dream-reader-text-to/id496177674 > • Voice Dream Reader Lite - Text to Speech (free) by Voice Dream LLC > https://itunes.apple.com/app/voice-dream-reader-lite-text/id563971853?mt=8 > > Take a look at the app entry and the podcast at the AppleVis.com site: > • The App description entry URL is: > http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/education/voice-dream-reader-text-speech > • The AppleVis podcast entry is: > http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/walk-through-voice-dream-text-speech > > HTH. Cheers, > > Esther > > On 9 Apr 2013, at 00:45, Mike Busboom wrote: > >> Hello Donna, >> >> Although I use Braille sometimes, I frequently use speech by itself. That >> is why I am looking for a way to read continuously, using the iPhone voice, >> without having to constantly manually advance through a book's pages. >> >> Take care, and thanks for your input, >> >> Mike >> >> On 9,Apr,2013, at 12:18 AM, Donna Goodin wrote: >> >>> Hi Mike, >>> >>> You can also switch it to Read By Page under settings. If you have a >>> braille display this works well, because you can just use the page forward >>> command. >>> Best, >>> Donna Apr 8, 2013, at 12:20 PM, Mike Busboom wrote: >>> >>>> Hello. >>>> >>>> I read a lot of material using the Read2Go App from Bookshare on my iPhone >>>> 4S. Although I like the app a lot, I find myself annoyed by something >>>> that may be a bug, or just a problem with my technique. >>>> >>>> I prefer listening to Bookshare content using the VoiceOver voice, not the >>>> TTS that comes with the Read2Go app. There are two reasons for this. >>>> Firstly, I just like the VO voice better. Secondly, I frequently need to >>>> stop speech in order to determine how a word in the text is spelled or to >>>> look it up in the dictionary. >>>> >>>> While I am able to read a page from start to finish, I have never been >>>> able to make Read2Go automatically advance to the next page in a text and >>>> continue reading. What I do now is manually advance to the next page and >>>> then do a two-finger swipe down to listen to the content. Having to >>>> manually go to the next page gets pretty tedious pretty quickly. Is there >>>> any way to get Read2Go to read more than one page at a time when the >>>> Read2Go TTS is turned off? >>>> >>>> Thanks for any and all feedback. >>>> >>>> Mike >>>> >>>> > > -- > 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 post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- 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 post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. 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