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Kindle for iOS Adds Ability to Listen to Audible Books
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I fail to understand how you can consider an ebook (which is text) and an audiobook (which is a narration) the same content. Audible audiobooks are narrated by professionals which tend to expect to be paid for their work.
Try Apple's VoiceOver - will read any iBook and cheaper than Amazon
Audiobooks are already expensive at $15 (very few at this price) to the typical $25 (most are $20-25) and you have to buy a $10-15 ebook as well. Forget that pricing model![/QUOTE]
Try Apple's VoiceOver - it is free, was built in any iPad or iPhone for years now and was specifically designed by Apple for people with low vision.
It can read aloud ANY BOOK in iBooks in almost ANY language. All you need to do is adjust "talking speed", activate a shortcut in settings (triple home button press to on/off) and use a couple of swipe gestures to control it.
It's a fantastic feature - ANY BOOK, not just audio book. SAME LOW iBooks price. ANY LANGUAGE. ANY IOS device. Very decent clarity with 95% correct spelling in English. Pretty good in other languages too.
Imagine someone with legal blindness who (who lives in Ukraine), was not able to read for 30 years and now can listen to almost any book in the store... in any language, without someone else's help just using old 1st generation iPad.
Only Apple cared enough to spend that much effort to built in and constantly improve something in iOS that will not bring any immediate profit (blind people are usually poor and can't afford iPads).
Forget about Kindle with their $30+ per audio/book combo. VoiceOver will read any iBook for free
Audiobooks are already expensive at $15 (very few at this price) to the typical $25 (most are $20-25) and you have to buy a $10-15 ebook as well. Forget that pricing model![/QUOTE]
Try Apple's VoiceOver - it is free, was built in any iPad or iPhone for years now and was specifically designed by Apple for people with low vision.
It can read aloud ANY BOOK in iBooks in almost ANY language. All you need to do is adjust "talking speed", activate a shortcut in settings (triple home button press to on/off) and use a couple of swipe gestures to control it.
It's a fantastic feature - ANY BOOK, not just audio book. SAME LOW iBooks price. ANY LANGUAGE. ANY IOS device. Very decent clarity with 95% correct spelling in English. Pretty good in other languages too.
Imagine someone with legal blindness who (who lives in Ukraine), was not able to read for 30 years and now can listen to almost any book in the store... in any language, without someone else's help just using old 1st generation iPad.
Only Apple cared enough to spend that much effort to built in and constantly improve something in iOS that will not bring any immediate profit (blind people are usually poor and can't afford iPads).
Forget about Kindle with their $30+ per audio/book combo. VoiceOver will read any iBook for free
Kindle can do this too already. Heck even Windows XP can, technically speaking.
Audiobooks are a completely different experience from listening to a computer voice, especially when you are listening in 8-10 hour stretches. Sure you can understand what is being read, but listening to a story is more than just the words on the page. The speed, tone, and emphasis varies even between sentences when being read out loud. For instance, compare how you would read the following two sentences out loud, as if to hold someone's interest:
"The notion that innovation proceeds through the recombination of existing ideas to form something new is not unique to the Web, or even the last century."
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."
Unfortunately, VoiceOver can't yet see much of a difference between the two. I mean sure if you have little to no options it may be better than nothing, but it is hardly a replacement. Even if it doesn't cost you anything.
Edit: By the way, you can easily make a text->mp3 track and add it to iTunes with any Mac (no downloading or complicated stuff required). It's as easy as right-clicking some text and clicking a button. link
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Totally agree. There's a huge difference between a real human touch and a computer generated voice, just like between a real person reading you a fairy tale in childhood vs. an audiobook in a dark room, or a real loving, caring relationship vs. a surrogate, etc... You can't replace the real thing. But this is not what I meant. I advocate Voice Over because it's versatile, stable and intuitive part of iOS that gets better and better ever since I discovered it in my 3GS 4 years ago. It never crushed or stopped working after an update. I don't think I can listen to anything artificial for "8-10 hrs a day", that would be a torture, but during 2-3 hrs flights or when my eyes are strained it works just perfect. The siri-like voice is decent, has intonations, speaks quite well and does it not just in English but also in my native eastern european dialect. Actually, it speaks better grammatically that some of the folks from that heroic part of the world. I seriously doubt about Windows or Kindle's ability to do the same as elegantly and effortlessly as Apple does. We heard those claims since Windows XT, it's always "technically the same" but never actually usable in reality. The reality is that no Kindle will spend gazillions to develop a software for some visually impaired foreigner living in Serbia or Romania, you'll need Apple-level perfectionism and quality for that. So, folks, if you like your iBooks and don't want to spend a ton on audiobooks that might not even be available, try VoiceOver - you might like how it handles your library collection.
Exactly. When my wife gets a new audiobook, the narrator is sometimes as important to her as the author. If she gets a new book read by someone she's heard before, she's thrilled at the idea of that narrator because they really bring the book to life.
She was in a book club when they read "The Help". And this was long before the movie came out. While everyone else in her book club read the book, the listened to it, and the narrator did a fantastic job with the southern accents. It really made her appreciate it more. Obviously one of the great things about reading is that you can imagine it for yourself and a narration is one person's interpretation. However as the listener you still imagine the scene that is read. A voiceover, while a great tool for those who need it, is not how listeners of audiobooks would choose to enjoy a book.
When I showed her the cooky video on Amazon of Whispersync with the woman going back and forth from reading to listening, she was overjoyed. Her next couple books will probably be on Kindle for iOS with audio add-on to see how she likes it.
Not available in Canada
As usual with Amazon, they neglect to mention that it doesn't work outside of the US. At least it doesn't work in Canada. No mention or sign of the Audible sync feature in the version 4.3 app available in the Canadian app store.
As usual with Amazon, they neglect to mention that it doesn't work outside of the US. At least it doesn't work in Canada. No mention or sign of the Audible sync feature in the version 4.3 app available in the Canadian app store.
I'm in Europe and I have Audible Audio Companions in the Kindle App for iOS. Note though that my Amazon account is on Amazon.com, not an European branch.
So Apple never should have implemented iTunes Radio, iBooks or Maps because the Kindle App can now play Audiobooks if you've bought both versions of the book? What?
It still amazes me that people voluntarily visit this site just so they can hate on the company they apparently love to keep track of.
Josh should I just love everything about apple?
Look maps is terrible. iBooks wasn't necessary. Kindle books work and still works better across all platforms