Nice review at the Verge. But where’s the mention of improved text to speech?
Just picked up a new Kindle Fire HDX or the latest Google Nexus 7?
Want to listen to text to speech from free library books on your 50-mile commute? Even if you own an Android machine and the usual OverDrive app can’t do “read-aloud” unless audiobooks count?
Also, what if you haven’t even bought an e-reading gizmo for library use, but want to? Which model to go with?
In those cases and others, this LibraryCity Guide is for you. Most tips here will work even with low-cost, no-name tablets. But I’ll pay special attention to the new Kindle Fires. They’re among the top choices if you’re more into reading than you are into tech and can stomach Amazon’s oft-proprietary ways.
The post has several parts:
1. An outrageously simplified e-buying guide for book-oriented library patrons, although you should Google around for other perspectives. If you’re cash-strapped, The Digital Reader is a good source of information and opinions on econo tablets and e-readers, including those available second-hand for a pittance on eBay or Craigslist. Here, I’ll focus on the major brands of tablets—best for novices who want good tech support and don’t mind spending a little more.
2. “Tips on getting the most out of library e-books from OverDrive, the main source of public library e-books.”
3. “Psst! Other secrets for Android users: How to use text to speech on ePub library books from OverDrive.”
4. “The 3M Library app—usable on the Fire and other Android-related machines.”
LibraryCity’s outrageously simplified e-buying guide for book-oriented library patrons
Text to speech is missing, as we know, from even the latest Paperwhite E Ink e-readers. Shame on Amazon, given the minor cost of adding “read-aloud.” Doesn’t anyone there care about the Paperwhite’s AWOL aural benefits for commuters, joggers, other exercise fans and people with disabilities, including elderly library patrons with bad eyes?
But the Fire HDX, available now as a $229 seven-inch model in the basic configuration and soon as an 8.9-incher priced at $379 and up, is finally doing read-aloud in style. Since this is a mini guide, I’ll prioritize and focus on the HDXes because they’re new and hot and likely to be a hit among the book-oriented.
The HDX line’s positives
English-language users can choose from several built-in voices, including the alluring UK-accented “Amy” voice from the Amazon-owned Ivona (audio samples here).
You’re no longer stuck with the somewhat juvenile-sounding “Salli” voice. NonEnglish users also will like the expanded selection of voices. What’s more, Amazon has been improving its voiceover features for blind users.
Now throw in a faster processing chip and a somewhat speedier and better-designed Silk Web browser and other amenities—including a screen even sharper than the earlier Kindle Fire HDs—and the seven-inch model I bought looks like a good bet for many library users.
That’s especially true of people already wired into Amazon’s e-bookstore, which sells not just books in text but also Audible talking books with human voices (tips here for HDX owners using Audible).
Furthermore, while the HDX prices may scare many library patrons, they may drop; and less advanced Kindle Fires now go for as little as $139 new. What’s more, your library just might lend out e-readers of one brand or another, as is the case with the new Bextar County BiblioTech library in the San Antonio area.
I also think that the HDXes screen, tinted a very light vanilla when displaying text in many programs, is a bit more comfortable to read from than those of the Nexus machines.
Yes, of course, you can adjust the background colors of reading apps. But I myself am starting to appreciate the HDX’s tint even though I wish Amazon could let me adjust its exact shade.
Why no mention of Nooks? I’m worried about their future and B&N’s in general. I’m also down on Kobo right now. Its Aura HD is interesting but lacks the selection of books that Amazon has. So is Kobo hoping to rope in more titles? Just the opposite. Amid a porn scare, the company yanked scads and scads of books from small presses (disclosure: my nonpornographic D.C. newspaper novel got yanked despite a rave review by a Yale lit grad at the Washington City Paper). Perhaps you should purchase a Kobo. But think carefully about it. Who wants to buy into an eco system with such Comstockian tendencies, or at least such fear of those with them?
The big pluses of the HDX rivals like the Nexus 7
Other HDX rivals such as the just-updated Google Nexus 7 are still worth checking out, particularly since most work with library apps and others from the Google Play store, including the app from 3M Library Systems. The rivals don’t lock you in as tightly to one company’s content—given the ease of installing apps from many sources.
While Fires can run Android apps from rivals, including B&N, typical owners find it easier to stick with Amazon. Then they needn’t download apps from third-party stores and jump through other hoops.
Beyond the aforementioned devices, the world of iPads, iPhones, iPods and other Apple mobile gadgets beckons.
An iPad or other Apple device running the Voice Dream program—for which my favorite voice is the UK-accented “Peter”—offers more text-to-speech-related capabilities than the Fire HDXes do. For example, you can use a slider to pick the exact speed of the speech, not just choose from preset options. Moreover, Apple gives you far, far more apps to select from. Clearly Fire tablets are hardly the only game in town. Lots of choices out there.
Just the same, I’m still not happy with the status quo for library e-books or e-books in general, and not just because of all the technical and commercial restrictions plaguing the world of e-libraries and e-books. America needs two national digital library systems, one public and one academic, with a common catalog and software that’s much easier for library users than the current variety. Aided by a national digital library endowment, this approach could multiple the number of library books and smarten us up in ways that LibraryCity has explained in detail. Even the best e-hardware can’t make up for all the missing titles.
E Ink readers
The big pros: low prices on the whole, long battery life and screens that many people find more comfortable to gaze at, hour after hour. You can buy a used Kindle Keyboard model for around $60. Maybe less.
Cons: Most E Ink screens are six inches or less and you can’t take notes or move around as quickly from place to place as you can with a tablet. Besides, for me, at least, E Ink machines as a rule don’t offer enough contrast between text and background.
The tech’s going to get better. But for now, tablets will make more sense for most buyers, and not just because of or in spite of the fact they can do far more than just display books. On both the Nexus and the HDX machines, videos from sources such as Netflix can be dazzlingly realistic. Yes, the HDX machines work great with the Netflix app and presumably will also do justice to video from suppliers of library content.
And now the tips on getting the most out of library e-books from OverDrive, the main source of public library e-books…
OverDrive, the King Kong of the library e-book world, has made good progress even now, both in technology and the selection of books that libraries can choose.
Questions abound about e-book prices and the onerous terms that libraries often face from publishers. But much and perhaps most of this mess is beyond OverDrive’s control. Enjoy what you can from your local public library’s limited digital selection. Truly it’s a waste to own an HDX and not download the OverDrive app from the Kindle store—and the same applies to “pure” Android machines that can download the app from the Google Play.
So here are some OverDrive tips and other thoughts for HDX fans and other users of Android or more-or-less-Android devices—followed by some pointers for readers with library systems subscribing to the 3M library service, another major one:
–Tip #1: Search here to find libraries near you using OverDrive. Also, see MobileRead’s helpful list of libraries offering OverDrive and other services.
Even if your own library system doesn’t subscribe to such a service, it might have agreements with other systems in near-by cities or counties. In addition, for a fee, some library systems allow out-of-town people to sign up for library cards. Seattle’s charges $85 a year and offers Fire-specific tips. Size of the Seattle e-collection a few years back was several thousand books, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s several times that by now.
Bexar County hopes to offer subscriptions to paying out of towners, and it already offers 10,000 books, to which it wants to keep adding the same number each—no substitute for national digital library system, but still a help to those without decent e-choices elsewhere.
Tip #2: You can get the OverDrive Media Console for the HDX or other devices by following the links from this page. The Kindle store identifies the Fire app as for the first generation. But it should work on other Fires, including the HDX series. I, at least, had no trouble with the app for first gen Fires, assuming Amazon didn’t do an update behind my back. OverDrive’s FAQ for the app is here. Also see this other OverDrive page for owners of HDXes and other Androidish machines.
–Tip #3: If your library system uses OverDrive, you’ve got several ways of reading an e-book if the publisher allows.
The simplest in most cases is to pick a book from your library catalog, go to the download page and choose the Kindle option, which sends you to the Amazon site.
You can also download ePub file of many books from the OverDrive server and deal with the not-so-easy Adobe DRM. You may need to specify a new password, if you’re an existing user, since hackers cracked the Adobe system.
A third way it is to use OverDrive’s cloud-based service, which has been steady improving but isn’t quite as easy to use as it could be.
The cloud service (screenshots) is a useful fall-back if Adobe DRM ruins your life with, say, its limit on how many devices or applications you can use to read your books. Last I knew, the limit was five.
You can use OverDrive’s cloud service without Media Console—it works with popular Web browsers on both mobiles and desktops. So you can download a book at your job on a desktop, then read it at home on your HDX or other portable or stationary device.
Tip #4: It’s easy to turn on text to speech, assuming the publisher’s DRM isn’t in the way, while you’re in a book. Tap the center of the screen. Them hit the Aa/view menu and go to More Settings, Including Text to Speech. Make sure TTS is on. Then tap the left-pointing arrow at the bottom of the screen to return to your e-book. Hit the center of the screen. You’ll see see the actual TTS menu pop up at the bottom of the screen. For reading basics, go here within the Fire’s Web-based manual on reading, and for a guide to enhancements, including a brief mention of add-on human narration and machine generated text to speech, go here.
Tip #5: You can’t hear the Amy voice and other nondefault ones within the Fire HDX’s built-in e-book app unless you first set up your Kindle for it. Swipe downward from the top of the screen. Tap Settings, then Device, then Text to Speech, then Download Additional Voices. If you want Amy, tap on the third choice from the top, English (United Kingdom), Amy. Tap the icon at the upper left to return to the previous Text to Speech menu, then go to Default Voice and specify Amy. You’ll also have to make your way back to change the Default Language—to UK English. If you’re using other regional voices different from the one your Fire came with, you’ll have do do similar adjustments within Language. Keep using the left-point arrow at the bottom of the screen to return to the book you were reading.
Tip #6: Not all library books are voice-enabled for the Kindle HDXs, and not all of the read-aloud ones work with all voices, including Amy’s. In fact, none of the particular library books I tested worked with the Amy voice, just with a less refined male voice.
An Amazon support rep tells me that the company will be releasing a software upgrade in a month or so without these limitations, which he blamed on licensing arrangements. True? I haven’t verified this.
Tip #7: OverDrive itself offers downloadable nonDRMed public domain books for local public libraries, without any charge or library card needed. if you’re sufficiently technical and want to hear them in the Amy voice or another, you can install a third-party app to read these books. They’re also available, of course, from sites such as Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, Manybooks.net and the Internet Archive.
What’s the best third-party app? I myself like Moon+ Pro Reader, available to Fire owners from independent stores such as AndroidPIT. What’s more, FBReader is another good choice—you can download FBReader from its site. Then if you’re sufficiently technical, you can add on a related text to speech module.
Tip #8: Before you install a third-party app not sold by Amazon—Moon or FBReader, for example—go to your device’s security setting and allow installation of third-party installations. Swipe downward from the top of the screen. Hit Settings, then Applications. Allow installation of those from unknown sources.
Careful. Not all stores are necessarily safe from infected software, and some gurus would say simply to avoid them. Besides AndroidPIT, another possibility is SlideMe.org. No guarantees about, either, and you run the risk of some applications getting confused by Amazon’s eagerness at times to direct you to its own store. But to me, the risks are worth it.
Tip #9: If you’re like me and wish that the HDX machines offered all text bolding of e-books for better visibility for those wanting it, then speak up to Amazon’s tech support or email Jeff Bezos personally (or whoever prioritizes his correspondence).
The screenshot shows where Amazon could easily add a Bold button that worked with all fonts. But it above or to the left of “More Settings.” An A button on the same screen could send people to a menu with other advanced features, such as variable line spacing. Look, Jeff—I know you want your software kept simple for newcomers. But in time they’ll be experienced and will want more flexible software than the current Kindle variety.
Tip #10: The HDX’s Quiet Time Mode, reachable from a pull-down menu in Amazon’s newer version of the HDX software, is helpful if you want to focus on a book rather than let email alerts and others distract you.
Fans of E Ink machines have correctly pointed out that these reader-only gizmos can help you focus on the book you’re reading. But with the Quiet Mode reaching the HDX—an equivalent was already on a Kobo tablet, if I recall correctly—this argument isn’t quite as strong as before.
Tip #11: Amazon’s new Mayday feature lets you call up a tech support staffer and even see her or him via video, but keep your expectations realistic.
The reps I reached didn’t have actual Fire HDXs in front of them and had to pass me on to other people, contactable by phone but not the magic button. On the positive side, Mayday lets Amazon tech reps walk you through screens related to the issues you call about. Yes, the screens on your own HDX.
An aside: Might this the future of library reference or library tech support or mixes of the two? And how much of this will happen at the local level and how much at the national one? Imagine a reference librarian moving a cursor on a user’s screen, or drawing a line. Local librarians could become trusted guides to patrons, not only through Mayday features but also personal blogs—with reader advisories—in some cases. Talk about a way for libraries to differentiate themselves from Google and not just help researches with searches but also teach them to do a better job of it.
On-screen appearances would also be good for answering social-services-style queries from patrons who couldn’t make it into the library in person. No substitute for face to face in these situations, of course. But the more of a personal touch, the better!
Amazon potentially could serve as a contractor to help provide the technological infrastructure, but I’d feel better with at least several companies involved to avoid overreliance on one. Let the selection process be both transparent and impartial!
Psst! Other secrets for Android users: How to use text to speech on ePub library books from OverDrive
If you own a Kindle Fire HDX, you can hear text to speech on many if not most library books. But what if you’re using a “pure” Android machine? People smart and patient enough are still in luck.
1. Make sure text to speech enabled from the settings of your Android operating system. And if you want a voice sounding better than the built in ones, consider adding the Ivona speech engine and a voice of your choice, such as Amy. For now, at least, they’re free at the Google Play store. I‘ve also enjoyed the Acapela speech engine, with the “Peter” voice, and the store offers both.
2 . Wipe the OverDrive application—not the same thing as the service, of course—off your Android machine if it’s already there. Or follow Laptop Magazine’s tops for changing default apps in Android. The idea is to get files downloaded from your public library to open up in a file manager rather than OverDrive. I myself did a simple wipe out, although I may later restore OverDrive. I’m just a bit annoyed that the OverDrive app, despite many improvements, still lacks text to speech (different from the ability to play audio books, which the app does have).
3. Install the Astro file manager or an equivalent from the Google Play store. The idea is to get files downloaded from the library to open up in Astro rather than OverDrive. If you want to keep the OverDrive app,
4. Next install the Mantano application. It offers both text to speech capabilities and Adobe DRM. Alas, the process can be a bit convoluted. Read the official word from a Mantano support rep, who, however, didn’t have the whole story.
5. Try to stick to the Chrome browser for the actual file downloads. My Boat browser didn’t appear to work.
6.From Chromes download directory, move the file to one called BOOKS or whatever your choice is. Somehow a file downloaded directly from your library won’t work, at least probably not. You need to copy or move it or otherwise involve a “save”-style process. Oh, the mysteries of bytes or least of Mantano and the rest!
7. Fire up Mantano app and tap on the Explore icon at the bottom of the screen. Then go to the directory with a copy of the file downloaded from the library—the file name will end with epub. Click on it, and the file will appear within Mantano.
Note: It’s also possible that the Nook’s built in text to speech will work with OverDrive books—I haven’t tested it. But last I knew the speech quality was inferior. You’re better off with Mantano and a decent voice like Amy’s.
The 3M Library app—usable on the Fire and other Android-related machines
Perhaps because of Amazon’s ties with OverDrive, its store doesn’t offer the 3M Library app for the Fire, but you can find it elsewhere.
But first, as in the case of FBReader and other applications not at the Amazon or Google store, be sure your system is set up to nonauthorized apps.
Now—on to the 3M app!
1. Read a 3M page—including a look-up link to see if your public library offers 3M books. HDX and other Fire owners can read 3M’s device-specific information here. Also try Amazon’s forum section on the Fire and 3M. Videos on the 3M app are here.
2. From within your Fire or other Android device, just click here to get the software. NonFire users of Android can also download the 3M Cloud app from the Google Play store if their devices let them use the store.
3. Look within Fire’s Silk Browser’s download menu and click on the just-downloaded file. Do the equivalent on other machines.
4. As a last resort, consider reaching an Amazon rep about the installation of the 3M app. While this isn’t exactly high on Jeff Bezo’s list of corporate priorities, the rep just might take pity and help you, as has happened in at least one instance mentioned in an Amazon Fire forum.
Unclear about something above or think I should tweak anything (very possible since as of October 15, this post is very definitely a “first edition”)? Reach me via the comment box, and I’ll do my best to respond within the limits of a busy schedule, even if you won’t see me, Mayday style, in a video box on the screen. If I’m not able to get to the question, perhaps other visitors can oblige.
Meanwhile, yes, I know this post is around 3,700 words long, and even if I left off the buying advice, it still would go on forever. Sick of all the complexities here? I am! Let’s think about the need for those two intertwined national digital library systems where librarians, rather than vendors with clashing technical standards, will be in control. I’d like librarians and users to be able care more about books, art, ideas and entertainment in general—and less about the Tower of eBabel, DRM survival tips, text-to-speech advice and other ugly distractions. The headline above the post (“Get the most out of library e-books”) refers to technical matters, not actual content ones. To address the latter concerns, we need teachers and librarians able to focus on substance.
Similar Posts:
Kindle Fire-usable version of OverDrive now in Amazon app store—and a new iOS version offers all-text bold, multiple columns, other capabilities
Amazon buys Ivona text to speech: Good or bad for disabled e-library users and other TTS fans?
New version of Voice Dream—first-rate program for reading e-books aloud
E-book usability news: Adjustable line spacing now on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9” and perhaps other Fire HDs—although I still can’t narrow the spaces sufficiently
Wanted from OverDrive and rivals: Smarter software for library e-books
Similar Posts:
Kindle Fire-usable version of OverDrive now in Amazon app store—and a new iOS version offers all-text bold, multiple columns, other capabilities
Amazon buys Ivona text to speech: Good or bad for disabled e-library users and other TTS fans?
New version of Voice Dream—first-rate program for reading e-books aloud
E-book usability news: Adjustable line spacing now on the Kindle Fire HD 8.9” and perhaps other Fire HDs—although I still can’t narrow the spaces sufficiently
Wanted from OverDrive and rivals: Smarter software for library e-books
Send to Kindle
Write a quick comment