re-sending this: are you interested in natural sounding TTS voices for Linux by Readspeaker? demo link included

Fri Apr 16 12:11:50 UTC 2021

Frm Diide raagain:

Let me add that Chime is aware of that from my answer to one of
his posts on another mailing list.
https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-speakup/msg62753.html

But maybe you will be more convincing now.

Le 16/04/2021 à 14:05, Linux for blind general discussion a écrit :
> Hi,
> 
>  From Didier Spaier, Slint maintainer.
> 
> This reminds me this message I wrote more than two years ago:
> https://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/speechd-discuss/2018-11/msg00044.html
> 
> Then I did get in touch with ReadSpeaker for an inquiry.
> 
> To make a long story short: They were OK to let me write a module for 
> speech-dispatcher but it ended up after many email exchanges that they 
> were not ready at that time to sell voices to individuals anyway. End of 
> game for me.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Cheers,
> Didier
> 
> 
> Le 16/04/2021 à 10:42, Linux for blind general discussion a écrit :
>> Hi,
>> Its SL again. As you can probably tell, I just tried sending this and 
>> the formatting got messed up somehow.
>> I wrote the message in a word processor, then pasted it into my email 
>> client, checked it multiple times before I posted it and it all read 
>> normally for me.
>> But then, somehow, when it sent, it completely messed up the 
>> formatting, taking out spaces, mashing words together, and inserting 
>> random line breaks.
>> I did not create the layout like that, it somehow happened when it sent.
>> So I am trying again to re-sent it. I tried to add in all the spaces 
>> that got taken out, even went over it with a braille display 
>> afterwords to double check,  I'm hoping this will read better for you 
>> guys.
>> For those of you who couldn't make sense out of that jumble that was 
>> sent before, hopefully the format will not be obstructed this time. 
>> Here is the message again:
>> Hi everyone,
>> This is SL.
>> Some of you may remember that last month, Chime and I were trying to 
>> find a way to legally port Ivona voices to Linux.
>> We have been in communications with Readspeaker, a company which 
>> creates its own quality TTS voices and is also an official distributor 
>> of Ivona.
>> Unfortunately, due to restrictions and incompatibility, we are unable 
>> to bring Ivona to Linux at this time.
>> However, Readspeaker is willing to consider the possibility of working 
>> with us to bring their own high fidelity Readspeaker brand voices to 
>> Linux as a TTS option to use with Linux screenreaders if there is 
>> enough interest in the community and if the venture would be 
>> commercially viable.
>> Right now, we are only sending this to the Blinux list, so please do 
>> not forward it, as this is not an official survey.
>> If there is confirmed interest within the Blinux list as a baseline 
>> sample group, then we would send an official survey which would be 
>> reviewed by Readspeaker beforehand, and widely dispersed amongst 
>> multiple blind Linux/tech groups to gage interest, pricing, language 
>> preferences, screenreader preferences etc.
>> Right now, we simply want to know if anyone else on this list would 
>> want to have Readspeaker voices to use as a TTS option for Linux 
>> screenreaders before engaging in any further outreach efforts.
>> We first need to know that we are not the only ones who think it would 
>> be worth it to have Readspeaker's high fidelity voices on Linux.
>> If there is enough interest in this potential project, it would likely 
>> be a model similar to Voxin, where the consumer pays a 
>> yet-to-be-determined fee to have their choice of Readspeaker voice for 
>> their Linux screenreader.
>> We can refine those particular details later.
>> For now, we just want to know if anyone on this Blinux list would be 
>> interested in having Readspeaker voices on Linux for a more natural 
>> sounding TTS experience.
>> If so, then we would know whether to confirm interest with Readspeaker 
>> and work on an official survey which would help us determine price 
>> range and which languages to focus on etc.
>> So, in this email we are including a direct link where you can listen 
>> to demos of Readspeaker voices and we ask that you let us know if you 
>> would be interested in having Readspeaker TTS on Linux.
>> Please abide by Readspeaker's terms and conditions which prohibit the 
>> recording of said demos.
>> In this email there is a direct link to Readspeaker's official demo 
>> page on their website which features a variety of voices to sample. 
>> Just select which voice you want to hear in the combo box, then press 
>> "listen".
>> This link is preferable as you can access multiple voices which can be 
>> included in a Linux compatible SDK.
>>   However, you will need to use Firefox in Graphical to access it. If 
>> you have the ability to use graphical Firefox, please do as this will 
>> give you the largest variety of choices.
>> We understand that some users may be accustomed to only using Console 
>> browsers, and some multi media websites that work just fine with 
>> Graphical Firefox will not render on Lynx.
>> If you are exclusively a Console user and cannot use Graphical Firefox 
>> to access the link below in this email, Readspeaker sent us two mp3 
>> files, one with a sample of a US English voice, and the other with a 
>> sample of a UK English voice for Console users to listen to if they 
>> cannot switch to Graphical and use Firefox to access Readspeaker's 
>> official demo page on their website.
>> It is our understanding that mp3 files cannot be posted to this 
>> mailinglist. (If this is incorrect, I can send a second email with the 
>> mp3 files if mp3 files are allowed on the Blinux list). Otherwise, if 
>> anyone on this list is exclusively a Console user and cannot access 
>> the link to Readspeaker's demo page included in this message, please 
>> feel free to email me, SL, at my email address which I will post at 
>> the bottom of this message and I can send the two mp3 files to you.
>> However, the mp3 files are only one sample of a US English voice, and 
>> one sample of aUK English voice. They are created for Console users 
>> who cannot access Readspeaker's official demo page which has the full 
>> variety of voices. Even if you are a graphical user, you may still 
>> want to listen to the two mp3 files because even though they are only 
>> a sample of two select voices as compared to the variety on the demo 
>> web page, they read a very long sample of text and it can help you get 
>> a feel for the flow. So anyone who wants to listen to the mp3 files, 
>> just email me.
>> If you have the ability to use Graphical Firefox on your setup, please 
>> use Graphical to click on the direct link to Readspeaker's demo page 
>> included below in this email, which offers the full variety of voices, 
>> multiple options for US English, multiple options for UK English, as 
>> well as other languages. If you would like to hear longer text read in 
>> two select voices, email me for the mp3 files.
>> Graphical users please click this link to Readspeaker's official demo 
>> web page, select any voice from the combo box list and press "listen":
>>
>> https://www.readspeaker.com/text-to-speech-demo
>>
>> Console users, if you cannot access Readspeaker's official demo page 
>> and would like to listen to two mp3 samples, also to graphical users 
>> who would just like to listen to the mp3 files which read a rather 
>> long piece of text where you can really get acquainted with the flow, 
>> feel free to contact SL at:
>>
>> software.liberators at slmail.me
>>
>> Thanks for your time and we look forward to your feedback,
>> SL and Chime
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blinux-list mailing list
>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>
> 
> 
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