"ROBERT SAYRE" wrote to "JASEN BETTS" (08 Dec 02  18:48:00)
 --- on the topic of "Talking books"

 GM> Most talking books run for several hours, which is often an
 GM> inconverniently long time to listen at one session. How could a
 GM> blind person unload the medium, then later pick up at the place he
 GM> left off?

 JB> firmware in the player courrently remembers the pause position (when you
 JB> pause it) i guess some players may be able to remember the pause position
 JB> for multiple discs.

 JB> Also each chapter could be a spearate track

 RS> The books my wife listens to (on CD) read a
 RS> number out at the start of each track. I have
 RS> not tried it, but I assume you just call up
 RS> that track to resume at that part of the book.
 RS> (She's listening to a book on cassette right
 RS> now; otherwise, I'd try and see if it works.)

What about text to speech software? I remember the SB16 had something
called SoundoLE (?) or something like that which read text on the fly.
It also let you choose from a number of different characters of both
genders and allowed tweaking their voices and inflection to your tastes.
One would then simply feed it the text of a book and it reads it for
you. Seemed to me ideal for visually impared to read email and stuff.

 Mike
 ****

... That was a fascinating period of time for electronics
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30