- gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

Listening to EBooks in Text Format !!!
by rvijay07 20 May '05

20 May '05

Here is a personal response that I got for this topic. I am sharing the entire message here for general info./discussion as it has good points/experience. However, not revealing the volunteer info. Thanks in advance for understanding. Vijay Yes, it works pretty well. Intonation is odd at times, especially for names, but that's inherent in using a machine to do the reading: it's a really hard problem to duplicate all the rules of thumb a human use in deciding pronunciation. I've fed it plaintext gutenberg files and it works fine. A word of advice: edit out the PG licence and other stuff from the beginning of the file, or it'll take forever reading every punctuation mark and url out: "haitch tee tee pee colon slash slash doubleyew doubleyew doubleyew period pee gee ell aye eff period owe are gee slash" etc. The default reading spead is a litttle slow for my taste, but the timing can be tweaked in various ways, if I read the manual correctly. Another option might be to output to an audio file and run software to reduce the duration of the silences between words. There's speech compression software that does this, apparently, though I don't know a source for it. _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

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Re: [gutvol-d] Digital Library of India
by rvijay07 20 May '05

20 May '05

Dear Dr. Raj Reddy: Thank you very much for your efforts towards the Digital Library of India. Kindly clarify/advice on the copyright status of the DLI project/books for Volunteers of the Gutenberg Project www.gutenberg.org (This E-Mail is also being forwarded to the PG volunteers list at http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d which you are invited to join) Thank You in advance for your time, understanding and consideration. Sincerely Yours, Vijay --- On Fri 05/20, < Gutenberg9443(a)aol.com > wrote: From: [mailto: Gutenberg9443(a)aol.com] To: hyphen(a)hyphenologist.co.uk, rvijay07(a)myway.com, gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 17:35:05 EDT Subject: Re: [gutvol-d] Digital Library of India >> I looked, and a lot of these are in English. My question would be about copyright. How can we find out whether it's clear? Anne _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

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Re: [gutvol-d] newsletter editors
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/16/2005 3:03:53 PM Mountain Daylight Time, gbnewby(a)pglaf.org writes: Qualifications include: - excellent attention to detail - proficient in written English - able to interact well via email (periodic phone calls as needed) - available during the deadline "crunch" times - proficient in "plain text" formating - interest in literary works - able to accept input & suggestions from many constituents My estimate is this would start at 6-10 hours per week. The time commitment could shrink (due to better efficiency and some automation) or grow (due to greater involvement in PG activities, and further outreach). It's feasible for there to be a team doing this, or a "main" editor plus some backup editors. This also I could do as part of my job but can't afford to do as volunteer. If we can get a volunteer that's better. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] re: you guys crack me up
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/16/2005 12:42:08 AM Mountain Daylight Time, Bowerbird(a)aol.com writes: it is more difficult to be invisible than to be found, so _try_ to relegate my free speech to your "protest zone". I would recognize your writing style as easily as I do Mark Twain's, and a lot less happily. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] Dear Jon and Bowerbird
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/15/2005 3:39:45 PM Mountain Daylight Time, gbnewby(a)pglaf.org writes: If we take this direction, next step is to basic form moderation guidelines and find at least two volunteer moderators (not me), who will provide rapid turnaroud time. Greg, I'll do this as part of my job, if you like, but I don't have time to do it as volunteer work. Just tell me what to do. Obviously I have a pretty good idea whom to do it to. I'd want to set up a different screen name to do it under, though, having gotten into a few flame wars myself under my own screen name. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] re: eye strain
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/14/2005 2:24:05 PM Mountain Daylight Time, Bowerbird(a)aol.com writes: don't worry about it. it's one of those old-people things... ;+) Does it ever cross your mind that some of us ARE old people? Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] Re: HandHeld & E-Books
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/14/2005 6:33:11 AM Mountain Daylight Time, mattsen(a)arvig.net writes: Haven't tried it myself (frankly, I've not had much luck with running Windows apps under Wine). Go to eBookWise.com. There is a long list of FAQs there. It should answer all the questions everybody was asking. I don't know anything about Wine but it probably wouldn't work. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] Re: HandHeld & E-Books
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/14/2005 4:33:25 AM Mountain Daylight Time, mattsen(a)arvig.net writes: The transferability of any of the e-Books depends upon their licensing, of course ... I don't profess to be up on the legalities of resale in any venue It also depends on whether the ebook is encrypted. I don't think you got an actual Rocket; I think you got one of the 1500s. Rocket originally could do encrypted books, but . . . forget the sad story. Anyway anything you can read on Rocket now is unencrypted. I suppose you COULD put it on EBay, but it would be silly, because the purchaser could go get his the same place, and at the same price, that you got yours, so you wouldn't make any moneh. You can get encrypted books for the 1500. You cannot sell or give away an encrypted book unless you sold or gaveaway the reader at the same time, unless you know some really smart hacker. But it's cheaper and far less timeconsuming to just buy the book. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] HandHeld & E-Books
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/13/2005 9:31:16 PM Mountain Daylight Time, mattsen(a)arvig.net writes: (I added a $20 256MB SmartCard and I can't imagine wanting/needing more storage, really.) I can't either, but people who do can add more SmartCards and switch cards when they want to. Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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Re: [gutvol-d] Severe Resistance to EBooks.
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 20 May '05

20 May '05

In a message dated 5/18/2005 5:58:35 AM Mountain Daylight Time, rvijay07(a)myway.com writes: >stay away from ebooks as they are not good for eyes. So as a NEWBIE, I just >wanted to know more in this regard from those with more experience. I bought a Rocket ebook reader about seven years ago. I bought it because we were trying to set up an epublishing company, and I had to have the Rocket to check how everything looked. As it happened, that particular company fell through. But I fell in love with the Rocket about 3 seconds after I took it out of the book. For years one of my major fears has been that it would expire before I do. Last winter EBookWise, a branch of FictionWise, came out with the FictionWise 1500. It is totally compatable with Rocket and with several other formats, including plain text and Word. So now I have two ebook readers and feel safer. I NEVER read treebooks in bed anymore. With a dedicated ebook reader you can read with the room light off. You can turn around however you want to and you can turn pages by pushing a button; you can set the machine so that you can push the button with your right hand or with your left hand. I'm to the point now that I'd really rather read an old ebook than a new treebook, unless the treebook is one that I particularly want to read or it has a lot of illustrations, as both Rocket and 1500 are bad with illustrations. But with the 1500 you can buy even bestsellers and read them. If you pay a little more money you can join the FictionWise library and check out books. You can't keep them overdue because they quit working when they're due. I love ebooks. I REALLY REALLY REALLY love ebooks. Once upon a time we were out travelling and my husband suddenly decided he absolutely had to stop and write a poem. Now, my husband is one of those really strange guys who are REAL poets, so his stopping to write a poem didn't mean fifteen minutes. It meant about four hours--and I HADN'T TAKEN A BOOK WITH ME! I spent all that time wandering around the truckstop and reading a small road atlas which was the only thing I could buy at the truckstop to read. Now I do not leave the house without 50 books in my purse (Rocket) or 250 books in my purse (1500)--and I have a very small purse. I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY love ebooks. As for eyes, mine are bad because I'm 61 and have spent a large portion of my life outdoors in the South or in the Rocky Mountains without sunglasses (cataracts) and because I have bad genes (corneal dystrophy). But the only way ebooks could hurt your eyes would be if you forget to blink. In that case, use some eyedrops and then return to the book. Oh yes--I now have that epublishing company. I had thought I could do four books a month and am averaging two, but that's okay. IT'S MINE! Anne Do you like to breathe? Then save the trees! Begin a personal relationship with an ebook TODAY!

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