I confess that I don't know what text2speech system is in use currently. FWIW, I have spent some time making Festival sound better, the Nitech voices are a large improvement over the default ones. I'm happy to provide some info and/or assistance if desired assuming Festival is being used.
Thanks, -dosman On Nov 25, 2014, at 11:49 AM, Ken Fallon wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Forwarding this with permission of the sender. > > I have replied and will forward that as well. > > > - -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: Constructive criticism > Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 07:00:25 -0500 > From: ********************** > To: ad...@hackerpublicradio.org > > Hello, > > I have been listening to HPR for about 6 months now. When I first > started listening my immediate reaction was "This intro music is WAY too > long, especially when some of the shows are only a few minutes long." > Since then advertisements and an annoying synthesized voice have been > added to the front as well, in some cases lasting almost 2 minutes > before getting to the content. > > I'm not opposed to the synthesized voice idea (I think it's actually a > great idea to make the show more handicap accessible), but this voice > comes from the technology of the 1980s, and since this is a show for > techies there MUST be something available out there that was generated > in the past 20 years and sounds a little better! Half the time I can't > understand what the voice is trying to say! > > I also know that advertisements are needed to generate revenue for the > show, but is it really necessary on shows that are only 2 or 3 minutes > long? > > If I were king of the world, I would either shorten the intro music, or > come up with a new intro all together that lasts about 10 seconds or > less. That's really all that is needed for the listeners to recognize > the show. I would also find another voice synthesizer out there, or > have the host create a short sound clip of the show title and content to > be submitted with the actual content. This would be MUCH less annoying > to the listeners. Advertising would be restricted to shows that have > content greater than 5 minutes. > > I often collect a few weeks of HPR before listening, and it is extremely > frustrating to try to fast forward through the intro while I am driving > down the road. I would be much more inclined to listen to the entire > intro if it were shortened. Sometimes I will just skip the entire > episode if it only has 2 or 3 minutes of content. I'm sometimes tempted > to stop downloading the show entirely because the frustration usually > isn't worth the pay off. > > I hope this is helpful. If I continue listening in the future I may > contribute some episodes myself, but I'm right on the edge of dropping > the feed entirely. > > ********************** > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1 > > iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJUdLM1AAoJECO2jUN3MRFpiKgP/RoV6vQwcACMegi0grE/jr1k > WffNvkhS9FO8so/b9KdMQf4+mlCBrSWK4CISGxZ5Z/ZukhIq2UWBsWV8YviJ5aac > 7H8WQAWftetRETNVVTky0940p9PZv49tFTF4zZQYc04dxhF3E1k4GwVgB5zcCukT > R88RPIUcPIoxbVaRSZb9UZgYkGJwHGgrBkEwapOv76ASaPJXvxe9/ppbbV6lYszY > Csx94e5HOmB2zd7MT7mQ1fBBLewDZHjmpGTVVek7tz68vFtBUq67NskNIuPOKEN8 > WUwReY1n6s+MtJ9kFFxdGSKvM89oB/nJhgYyIcoOIBSDIdq1kLm9b3EmaqkEUyeH > 76M+Vmws/AgP+KmBma8pAmeghrEkvPaDwXD1VAT7UODOmiY4npTsEGTgx9Ag6Du2 > rrgr+6oboCOrAEp6ghA9AwR3+0poqRifddDAmlKVbhL62v5tIT/h/XNJMYY8N/Zl > HH+ZTCI0RvR4u5h1vAoG+RsKAuqWd9Rz1fJY6xvNU5mKJ0IdV2G2s+pDOJTl1Kqi > bf0gdq4Zq56voXbJDx5t0jA4pEkdJHN+C/kCgxdludsHJ0DIjzc/rpCLkkDZ/LQY > qa9TOqX8RhIldhh3G2/Uxgz5ANrCG/h4r/VHh/uHsz777qLGRxAtUnUOrdgqIKeq > NmZxz2Wzfn7+tcl0efrx > =zRzx > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > Hpr mailing list > Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org > http://hackerpublicradio.org/mailman/listinfo/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org _______________________________________________ Hpr mailing list Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org http://hackerpublicradio.org/mailman/listinfo/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org
