Sieghard, I completely share your opinion and I would write almost the same. There are three points that I would like to add:
1. Speech Central is not a copycat of Voice Dream and some blind people prefer the concepts behind it. Even when it was paid and less fully featured and people owned Voice Dream license some decided that Speech Central worked better for them. And it is individual so I can't say to anyone if they are in this group or not, I can only suggest everyone to try as it is free. 2. It doesn't need to be all or nothing. Speech Central has multiple functions that Voice Dream doesn't have. One of the most used among blind people is to export audio files. So some people use both apps and use Speech Central for things like this. 3. the latest update of Speech Central is a game changer however. Now Voice Dream is literally one generation behind. I did provide the video that lasts 1 minute and which audio recording of both apps reading the same text clearly documents that, but some people opted not to open it and to talk negative to Speech Central. Huge majority of people that talk negatively on Speech Central openly admit that they have never invested few minutes to try the app themselves, which is quite telling. On Thursday, February 1, 2024 at 9:05:15 AM UTC+1 Sieghard Weitzel wrote: > It is my understanding that Speech Central is free whereas Voice Dream > reader is only free to long-time users, but that that also may not be > written in stone. > > If you suddenly had to pay say $60 or $80 a year for Voice Dream Reader > and Speech central were available as a free alternative, what would be your > choice? > > I guess still some who have no problems with affording $60 or $80 a year > would still continue with Voice Dream Reader since it is what they are used > to. It is the same thing with Jaws and NVDA, the latter is free and from > all I hear, it is by now a very good and advanced screenreader which in > some cases does a better job than Jaws. But still many people pay their > annual subscrition or SMA every 2 years for Jaws (I am one of them since > after almost 35 years Jaws is in my blood so to speak). > > And here is one other example, audio books. There are free sources for > audio books especially for the blind, yet I choose to pay my annual > subscription for 24 books from Audible and I buy dozens more each year, > just about all of these extra books I buy from the daily deal where they > cost mostly between $2.99 and $4.99 or I buy them when they have a sale > with a few hundred titles for a $4.99 or $5.99 price. But still, I spend > probably $400 or $500 on audio books each year, but I simply like the > convenience and easy of use the audible app gives me and how quick and easy > it is to buy a book. > > > > *From:* vip...@googlegroups.com <vip...@googlegroups.com> *On Behalf Of > *Duane > Steele > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 31, 2024 1:59 PM > *To:* vip...@googlegroups.com > > *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 <mott...@gmail.com> 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 <richard...@comcast.net> > 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 <mott...@gmail.com> 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. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > cara...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/vip...@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+u...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/E900F2A5-CB37-490B-B7AC-E77CA5306543%40gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/E900F2A5-CB37-490B-B7AC-E77CA5306543%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > cara...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/vip...@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+u...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/D111428C-8097-4EBC-BE13-B458B0447CCB%40comcast.net > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/D111428C-8097-4EBC-BE13-B458B0447CCB%40comcast.net?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > cara...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/vip...@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+u...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/7B174E4E-6467-4BF6-BFEC-763DDE7632FA%40gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/7B174E4E-6467-4BF6-BFEC-763DDE7632FA%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > cara...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/vip...@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+u...@googlegroups.com. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/31CABD73-C21D-4358-A5E7-ACB996FBEDFF%40gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/31CABD73-C21D-4358-A5E7-ACB996FBEDFF%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/viphone/25cfe0f8-622a-4cbc-8068-a5ebc6a257a5n%40googlegroups.com.
