Showing posts with label human voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human voice. Show all posts

Learning Ally Audio App Updated


Today, Learning Ally (formally RFB&D) released a substantial upgrade to their iOS app. Learning Ally Audio is available for $19.99 on the iTunes app store. The app allows Learning Ally members to download audio books directly to their iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. If you are unfamiliar with Learning Ally click here. To be eligible you must have a qualifying disability. To learn about becoming a member click here. Downloading an audio book is simple and involves transferring the audio file to the app via iTunes. Once you've downloaded a book you can listen to it on the go with your iOS device. The app allows users to navigate the audio book by section or page number, bookmark important sections and speed up the speaking rate. The new update includes new features that make listening easier. One of the new features is the ability to jump to any page in the book. Another handy new feature allows playback to continue even when the screen is locked. Yet another new feature remembers where in the book you left off and starts playing from that point the next time you open the app. The Learning Ally Audio app is a must have for reading Learning Ally audio books on the go.

Learning Ally also announced in a press release that this fall they will support text as well as human narration. Learning Ally’s President and CEO, Andrew Friedman said,
"Looking ahead, the Learning Ally Audio app will include text to speech functionality, enabling learners to enjoy the best of both worlds: human narration as well as text content of their books and reading materials." 
Click read more below to see screen shots of the updated app.






New iBooks Read-Aloud Feature



Apple recently released an update to their iBooks app. The new version has a new feature called read aloud. At the moment the feature is only compatible with select children's books. In a compatible book there is a speaker in the top right corner. When the speaker button is pressed a menu appears with an option to read the book aloud. The read aloud feature highlights the words being read aloud so you can follow along. The voice that is used to read the text is a human voice, which is much better than a computerized voice. In all, the new feature in iBooks is great but is currently only for picture books.