In the interest of June is Audiobook Month, here's one for all you Kindle owners: your Kindle can read to you.
I'm not actually talking audiobooks. You can upload an audiobook to your Kindle, yes, but what I mean is your Kindle can read your ebooks to you. The ebooks you've purchased or otherwise procured, which are in text format. Or e-ink format, if we're being specific.
Most Kindles have a killer feature called Text-to-Speech. It is still dubbed an "experimental application" but the option is there and it works.
It takes a little getting used to. I'm hoping no one will leave a comment about how it doesn't sound anything like that handsome British actor, with his fab accents and inflections and swoony ways. And honestly, you shouldn't expect it to sound like that handsome British actor; you should simply be amazed and struck by the wonder that is your skinny little Kindle's computer voice reading to you when you'd otherwise find yourself unable to read an awesome book!
There are two voice options to choose from: male or female. I choose the voice that best coordinates with the book I'm reading. Some books do not support Text-to-Speech, but I haven't yet come across any in my Kindle library.
Oh, I love Text-to-Speech. I can now devour pages and pages of the books I'd normally have to put down to wash the dishes, fold laundry, clean the windows. And hey, with ear buds and a little creative ingenuity, one could even listen while vacuuming. Let me know how that works out, will you? I do a lot of vacuuming.
I've found that most Kindle owners are unaware of this amazing little feature and that hurts my heart a little. I hope this is news to you. I hope you'll be able to ignore how computerized the voice sounds and just enjoy listening to the stories. I hope this will encourage you to buy a Kindle if you've been on the fence!
Be proud of your little Kindle! Aww, they grow up so fast.
(More Text-to-Speech info found here.)
I have a blogger friend that does this. I really must try it.
ReplyDeleteYes, you definitely must! It is so convenient when your hands are busy with other tasks. I love this feature!
DeleteI really like this feature! I used it before I got an Audible subscription. Now I'm just kind of spoiled by the swoony British accents (:
ReplyDeleteWell, you really can't beat the swoony British! But in a fix, Text-to-Speech is a fun option. I'm glad you've used it and liked it!
DeleteI've known about this feature for a while, but never tried it. Hm, now I'm intrigued by this. Maybe the next one will feature a swoony British man?
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping they'll figure out how to incorporate 'British swoon' into the program soon! That would be fabulous.
DeleteOMG! I didn't know about this feature is it available on all kindles? I have a kindle touch and would <3 to try it out. Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteDeAnna Schultz
DeAnna, the Kindle Touch does have Text-to-Speech! My husband has a Touch and I have a Kindle Keyboard--both have the option. Try it out!
DeleteThat's pretty awesome! Especially since you can rotate between reading and listening to the book when you have to do real life work, like the dishes or folding laundry, where you just can't hold your book!
ReplyDeleteI only have Kobo -- and it's not one of the higher-end ones, so it doesn't have that feature. :(
The rotating bit is my favorite! I love that I can progress through books while I'm cleaning up.
DeleteI love kindle text-to-speech. I listened to an audio book where the main character had a sarcastic flare, and boy did the reader over do it. It made my ears cringe and detracted from the mental 'reading' of the book. No issues with that using the fairly monotone but not excessively robotic Kindle.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you really can't pick up an audio book and start reading when you want to speed things up and hyper speed audio is destracting.
I honestly don't mind the Kindle voices! I also like that I can hit pause and pick up the Kindle to re-read a part I didn't catch.
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