Read A Loud @ Hey computer, read me a bedtime story

 

A few ways to make your trusty gadgets read aloud

Easy access a lot of audiobooks are available on YouTube for free iStockvm

Everyone likes to read, and should, but there are times when it’s wonderful to have someone else read aloud to you. And here are a few ways to make that happen, using your trusty gadgets.

There are audiobooks available, such as from a service like Audible. But audiobooks are by no means cheap, costing more than hardcover versions, sometimes, and always more expensive than the digital Kindle version. Audible and other services typically tie you into a subscription service so that it’s difficult to just listen to a one-off book. The books are beautifully read, so much so that you soon forget that there’s just one person doing the reading because the reader (often someone very well known) is able to almost act out all the parts for all characters in the book.

Very recently, Google also started stocking audiobooks on its PlayStore, but the selection is limited and again, quite expensive.

Look on YouTube

Interestingly, you’ll find a lot of the classics and other well-known audiobooks right here on YouTube! These are read out by volunteers as part of the Libre Vox project, which puts a lot of works in the public domain. So if you want to acquaint yourself or revisit some classics, first hunt on YouTube. You will probably find many of the audiobooks you have to pay for on the PlayStore available here, though not read by the same people and perhaps not as beautifully in every case.

Use read-aloud apps

Several devices have the facility to read out the screen and keep going screen after screen. Android O can put a button on the bottom row, which can then lead to the screen being read out, but it’s very flat and includes a lot of extra junk or misreading other bits of stuff on a page. iOS devices also have a screen reading function as part of the Accessibility features. Once enabled, you just swipe down with three fingers and the reading aloud activates in Siri’s voice. But again, it’s a little expressionless and only good for short spells as it often takes the fun out of a book. In fact, the voice doesn’t even stop between paras and makes a right mess of any hyphenated words, which is all very distracting and annoying.

There are read-aloud apps, such as @VoiceAloud on Android, which will read books when you open them in a format it recognises. Although the text-to-speech engines available to do this are quite a few and cost only a small amount on the PlayStore and although the app can use the existing voice you hear when you talk to Google, it still sounds a little too electronic and flat.

Ask Alexa

A relatively new option, for the rest have existed for years, is the neat trick of asking Amazon’s Alexa to read your book to you — if you own an Echo device, of course. There’s literally no setting up to do if you’re an Amazon Kindle user — either as an app or the device — because all you have to do is say “Alexa, read my book!” And she will pick up exactly where you left off and read aloud on the speaker. This is especially nice because when you’ve had enough, you just have to say “Alexa, Stop” and there’s an end to it.

But here’s a further trick. If you don’t like the way Alexa’s Indianised accent sounds and find her too slow and plodding, go into the Alexa app and change the language setting temporarily. Use United Kingdom or United States. These voices seem to do a better job. But later, switch back to the Indian English setting because using other voices interferes or disables some services available only in India. Such as some horoscope skills, for example.

Using Alexa to read is obviously a stay-at-home solution, very nice for when you want to give your eyes a rest or multi-task such as clean your room or cupboard while being entertained at the same time. The other methods work for when you are out and on the go.

Source | Business Line | 15^th February 2018

Regards

Prof. Pralhad Jadhav 

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified) 

Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository  

Khaitan & Co 

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/  

Website | https://sites.google.com/site/pralhadjadhavlib/home        

Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978