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I never understand stuff like this. The idea seems to be to run Gutenberg texts through a text to speech system so you can listen while washing dishes. Doesn'

I never understand stuff like this. The idea seems to be to run Gutenberg texts through a text to speech system so you can listen while washing dishes. Doesn't anyone read any more?

Majestic121 4y ago
Why would it be one or the other ? There can be people consuming books through reading, audiobooks, or both. It does not matter much, except for the preference of the consumer : The thing that actually matters is the content of the book, not the channel through which it is consumed. And even if you think audiobooks are strictly inferior to reading for everyone, I'm sure you'll still agree that an audiobook is strictly superior to no audiobook, which would be the alternative in the case of people listening to audiobooks while driving/doing dishes/etc...
_Algernon_ 4y ago
This kind of reading elitism is cringe. Books can be consumed with eyes or ears. Neither is inherently better or worse. Let others have their preferences without having to endure your elitism.
- mmcdermott 4y ago
  I do both, but I would argue that text has one major advantage over advantage over audio recordings: it's cheaper, which means that there are many works that don't make the jump from text to audio. Pragmatically, if you restrict what you consume to what you can get in audio, you limit what you can access. Worse still, it isn't even an equal distribution. Popular fiction tend to dominate most audiobook stores, which makes sense due to its broad appeal. It does seem like this is slowly shifting and good TTS might even make it irrelevant in the future, but for most people consuming via audio only means leaving a lot of material unavailable.
corobo 4y ago
One person has set up a thing = none of the 7 billion people read anymore. I never understood arguments like that tbf, haha
becquerel 4y ago
People experienced literature orally far, far before they ever read it. Listening to stories has been the predominant experience across human history and culture.
watwut 4y ago
Not while washing dishes, no. The amount of people who want to read while washing dishes was always miniscule.
- rgoulter 4y ago
  This is the fantastic thing about audio. You can listen to stuff at the same time as doing some other activity. (e.g. light exercise, or some straightforward task).
nmarinov 4y ago
I am the target audience for something like this. I like reading and do read a lot and prefer reading to listening cause for me it's much faster and with better comprehension. But after 10-12 hours of screen time, an audiobook saves my eyes and is actually easier while working out or walking on a treadmill. I'm frequently doing something similar with TTS on iOS and macOS so this would be an all around improvement.
- leobg 4y ago
  I can highly recommend the app “voice dream reader”. It’s the first thing I install on a new iPhone. It’s also what I use to read every interesting article that I find on HN. I even scan books simply to be able to read it in the app. Being able to switch between listening and visual reading is amazing. You can also take highlights and export them. Also, no subscription, and works offline with all data stored on your device.
  - vasergen 4y ago
    any recommendation for android?
    - leobg 4y ago
      Unfortunately no.
francis-io 4y ago
As someone who is neurodivergent, reading is exhausting. I like audiobooks played at 2x speed.
AlwaysRock 4y ago
What an odd comment. Can you read while you do the dishes? I cant. Unless I'm listening to an audiobook. I love to read. I do it in lots of formats. A significant portion of my reading comes from listening to audiobooks while doing mindless chores or driving.
- dotancohen 4y ago
  Or driving. I spend over an hour driving every day. That's a lot of "reading" time I otherwise wouldn't get without audiobooks.
whatrocks 4y ago
OP here. I read ALL the time. But I also do dishes. I find it hard to do dishes and read a physical book at the same time. Unless someone else was holding it up for me, slowly flipping the pages. That does sound nice.
adolph 4y ago
> Doesn't anyone read any more? Socrates faulted writing for weakening the necessity and power of memory, and for allowing the pretense of understanding, rather than true understanding. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439 https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439

I never understand stuff like this. The idea seems to be to run Gutenberg texts through a text to speech system so you can listen while washing dishes. Doesn't anyone read any more?

Majestic121 4y ago

Why would it be one or the other ? There can be people consuming books through reading, audiobooks, or both. It does not matter much, except for the preference of the consumer : The thing that actually matters is the content of the book, not the channel through which it is consumed. And even if you think audiobooks are strictly inferior to reading for everyone, I'm sure you'll still agree that an audiobook is strictly superior to no audiobook, which would be the alternative in the case of people listening to audiobooks while driving/doing dishes/etc...

_Algernon_ 4y ago

This kind of reading elitism is cringe. Books can be consumed with eyes or ears. Neither is inherently better or worse. Let others have their preferences without having to endure your elitism.

mmcdermott 4y ago
I do both, but I would argue that text has one major advantage over advantage over audio recordings: it's cheaper, which means that there are many works that don't make the jump from text to audio. Pragmatically, if you restrict what you consume to what you can get in audio, you limit what you can access. Worse still, it isn't even an equal distribution. Popular fiction tend to dominate most audiobook stores, which makes sense due to its broad appeal. It does seem like this is slowly shifting and good TTS might even make it irrelevant in the future, but for most people consuming via audio only means leaving a lot of material unavailable.

corobo 4y ago

One person has set up a thing = none of the 7 billion people read anymore. I never understood arguments like that tbf, haha

becquerel 4y ago

People experienced literature orally far, far before they ever read it. Listening to stories has been the predominant experience across human history and culture.

watwut 4y ago

Not while washing dishes, no. The amount of people who want to read while washing dishes was always miniscule.

rgoulter 4y ago
This is the fantastic thing about audio. You can listen to stuff at the same time as doing some other activity. (e.g. light exercise, or some straightforward task).

nmarinov 4y ago

I am the target audience for something like this. I like reading and do read a lot and prefer reading to listening cause for me it's much faster and with better comprehension. But after 10-12 hours of screen time, an audiobook saves my eyes and is actually easier while working out or walking on a treadmill. I'm frequently doing something similar with TTS on iOS and macOS so this would be an all around improvement.

leobg 4y ago
I can highly recommend the app “voice dream reader”. It’s the first thing I install on a new iPhone. It’s also what I use to read every interesting article that I find on HN. I even scan books simply to be able to read it in the app. Being able to switch between listening and visual reading is amazing. You can also take highlights and export them. Also, no subscription, and works offline with all data stored on your device.
- vasergen 4y ago
  any recommendation for android?
  - leobg 4y ago
    Unfortunately no.

francis-io 4y ago

As someone who is neurodivergent, reading is exhausting. I like audiobooks played at 2x speed.

AlwaysRock 4y ago

What an odd comment. Can you read while you do the dishes? I cant. Unless I'm listening to an audiobook. I love to read. I do it in lots of formats. A significant portion of my reading comes from listening to audiobooks while doing mindless chores or driving.

dotancohen 4y ago
Or driving. I spend over an hour driving every day. That's a lot of "reading" time I otherwise wouldn't get without audiobooks.

whatrocks 4y ago

OP here. I read ALL the time. But I also do dishes. I find it hard to do dishes and read a physical book at the same time. Unless someone else was holding it up for me, slowly flipping the pages. That does sound nice.

adolph 4y ago

> Doesn't anyone read any more? Socrates faulted writing for weakening the necessity and power of memory, and for allowing the pretense of understanding, rather than true understanding. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439 https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3439