Listen to RSS News on Your iPod

An anonymous reader writes "Adam Tow and Alex King have announced the availability of Read it to Me 1.0, which creates a playlist of MP3 files in iTunes from your unread RSS news headlines in NetNewsWire that you can sync to your iPod. The software utilizes Apple's Text-to-Speech capability and requires Mac OS X 10.2.6 or higher and the full version of NetNewsWire." But if you use Victoria's voice to read http://apple.slashdot.org/apple.rss to you, I'll look at you funny.

Comments

I'm currently writing an OSX app ...

[torpor]

... to sync MP3 files from a URL, to either a) iPod, directly, or b) to a plugged-in Clie MS card.

This way I can point my app to http://www.ampfea.org/new_music.html (when that is also working) and get new music auto-magically hotsync'ed for me every week to my MP3 players of choice. Maybe I'll set things up nightly, if I can find some good new_music resources around.

Another app I want to write soon as I find the Clie SDK for WLAN is a WLAN-Hotsync for Clie that does the same thing - automatically gathers new MP3's for me to listen to.

At night, let the Clie use the WLAN for all its downloading needs, and wake up in the morning with a fresh music feed for the walk to work. :)

What's needed is for Independent Media to get together and formulate a standard URL/XMLDoc message format for announcing new tracks, and then they should promote software which makes it dead easy to use these message formats to update portable media players...

They'd better do it quick, or Apple will put it all in iTunes, and there won't be any need. But a new_music announcement scheme really needs to be Open, Standard, and Available to All.

iVictoria

[bassmastergeneral]

I love Victoria. She takes me back to the days when everything used to talk. In Hong Kong, in 84 (or so) the had an Isuzu Impulse that would talk to you when you got in, I don't think it ever materialized over here. Does anyone know what cars still talk (besides kit). Seems like the AI industry would be pushin their technologies all over car makers today. Have you car read to you (in the voice you choose) slashdot RSS feeds as you drive to work. I think apple should look into developing its own car, or perhaps a Volkswagen Jetta, Apple edition, running OS X 11.1, LynX. It seems to me that if you drive a volkswagen, you probably have a mac; or if you have a mac you want a volks wagen... much like I think of Coca-cola to Chevy, or Pepsi to Ford...

Re:iVictoria

[DustyCase]

There were some 80's Chrysler products that would use a verbal warning system for super important things like "your door is ajar" Man, I don't know what we did before that. I mean, hey, *ajar*, ya' know. That could really mess your day up.

Re:iVictoria

[mbbac]

My 1985 200SX would tell me that my door was ajar, fuel level was low, key is in the ignition, and various other phrases. I liked it. I wish they still made talking cars.

I use voice synthesis every chance I can get on my Mac. iChat announces who logs in or out. The Mac reads error messages to me if I haven't acknowledged them within a minute.

Re:iVictoria

[rograndom]

When I was a child my parents had a car that did that. "The door.. is....... ajar *dong* The door.. is....... ajar *dong* The door.. is....... ajar *dong*" Very annoying. I think my dad had the garage down the street disable it after a month.

Is this the cheap man's Audible?

[jeeves99]

If someone *really* needs the news read to them via their iPod, then purchased subscriptions to such things as the NYTimes would be better. This application, as nifty as it might be, is not a suitable replacement for subscription news services. I've turned the speakable items options off b/c the sound of Agnes/Victoria/Zarvox/etc infuriate me.

Now, when the iPod goes WiFi and *if* this app can download and process RSS streams on the fly, then maybe.

For those curious, both the NYTimes and the Wallstreet Journal are $70 each for an annual subscription at Audible.

Also, the new iPods have a new feature called Notes that contain text. You can create a script to transfer RSS-feed text into the iPod so you can read the news on the iPod screen.

Pfffft...

[Gropo]

Call me when they've updated to 1.x which defaults to the "Bad News" voice for all feeds that headline: *Microsoft* / *SCO* / *Motorola Semiconductor Division* / *Quark XPress*...

FYI on the iPod notes

[jeeves99]

from a May19th /. piece ... Here.

Voice Synthesis not even required

[bill_mcgonigle]

Really, there are relatively so few possible warnings, compared to the cost of a ROM chip, that a couple hundred pre-recorded high-quality voices could be a really nice touch. That way, my wife wouldn't have to tell me, "your truck is beeping again - make it stop," she could say, "the truck says the alternator's not working," (get it fixed).

Re:Voice Synthesis not even required

[mbbac]

Yeah, that is what my Nissan did. It had a dozen or so pre-recorded phrases that it would speak to me.

However, on my Mac, voice synthesis is very important because says anything and everything. I just wish Apple would work on higher quality voices.

Re:Voice Synthesis not even required

[bill_mcgonigle]

I just wish Apple would work on higher quality voices.

Here, here. I first downloaded MacinTalk Pro Victoria, English, High Quality onto a Quadra in my College Yearbook's Office, so that was probably 1993. No improvement since then. Once a decade isn't too much to ask.

Actually, they've been busy with patents in this area, so we should expect something in Panther or maybe the next one.

Re:Voice Synthesis not even required

[andrewski]

It might be aesthetically nicer to hear your TTS in a more human voice, but the advantage of the current crop of voices (especially Bruce and Fred) is that one can speed them up to the fastest setting and understand them with a little practice. Try 'reading' slashdot that way sometime!

Re:Voice Synthesis not even required

[Anonymous Coward]

Here, here.

Where, where? Dumbass.

Fitter. Happier. More Productive....

[thatguywhoiam]

I can't use this feature. It's too disturbing, on account of that Radiohead track where they use Fred to read that creepy poem.

Re:Fitter. Happier. More Productive....

[VoyagerRadio]

Oh, yes--I used to enjoy that track. From the CD, "OK Computer".

just the headlines? sound bite culture

[Anonymous Coward]

headlines are misleading and often completely wrong (more often wrong on /.). great. now mac users will be even less informed.

Re:just the headlines? sound bite culture

[pudge]

It is not just the headlines, it is also the descriptions. The Slashdot .rss files have the first n characters of the article (not the whole article; c'est la vie).

ha ha

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried something like this on my Zaurus: getting festival ("flite") to read RSS headlines. I already had a homebrew script that put them up on a "handheld friendly" web page that I accessed from Opera, so I wrote a small Ruby script on the Z to read out the headlines in that html file.

IT .. DROVE .. ME .. INSANE.

I can't listen to those robot voices for more than a few minutes... and the Mac voices aren't that great either.

I agree with the previous poster, Apple needs to put some new text-to-speech tools in the next OS, then maybe it will be less irritating.

¡Syllables Per Minute!

[Walabio]

I would rather make the voices faster than more natural. Allow me to clarify:

In order to get more done in less time, my MacIntosh reads articles while I use my eyes and hands for other tasks such as creating emails. Once a week on Saturday, between noon and midnight, I make the time to read books. Since my mac reads faster than I do, I find it more efficient to let it read books from Project Gutenberg, than to eye-read the books (I lie in a dark room with my eyes closed listening to my mac read the books.

I _"*KNOW*"_ I could get more work done and books read if my mac could just read faster than its maximum possible setting in System Preferences. I wish I could set it to read at 1 kilosyllable/minute.

Yes, one thousand syllables per minute. This is not a joke. I could accomplish so much more. Let me just use the example of book-reading:

The average book has about sixty thousand syllables. ÂText-To-Speech could finish an hour! ÂTTS takes hours to finish a book now! ÂWhat an improvement!

Re:¡Syllables Per Minute!

[bassmastergeneral]

That is a great idea! Thanks! I have about three books I am reading from gutenberg now, and it seems as though i am never going to make it through them... I find that it is hard to find your place if you have to get up and get a cup of coffee. When you set it to read, can you pause it and come back? Doesn't it loose focus of what it is reading, say if you change the window in the foreground? I can't wait to get to work and try it! Again, thanks for the idea.

Re:¡Syllables Per Minute!

[Walabio]

That is a great idea!

ÂThanks!

Thanks!

You are welcome.

I have about three books I am reading from gutenberg now, and it seems as though i am never going to make it through them... I find that it is hard to find your place if you have to get up and get a cup of coffee.

I understand.

When you set it to read, can you pause it and come back?

You must understand that what I wrote was a wish-list. This is what Text-To-Speech can do now:

You must understand that TTS originally, in the late 1980s, could only read 32KB plain-text documents (32KB documents were not much of a limitation because MacIntoshes of the era only had 1MB of ram). Since documents were so small, speed and the ability to resume were not very important.

Now, TTS can handle documents in the gigabytes, but unfortunately however, it is still slow and after pausing, restarts at the beginning. TTS still reads faster than people can; so it is good for Project Gutenberg. One simply must know where one stops it so that one can manually restart it from there by selecting all of the unread text and having it read it. This way, you can read your books faster than you can with your eyes.

Although TTS reads faster than people can read, it does not read as fast as people can listen. If TTS could read at one thousand syllables per minute and resume where paused it would be so much better -- this is my wish-list. TTS could read an entire book from Project Gutenberg in less than an hour instead of over four hours, as it does now.

Doesn't it loose focus of what it is reading, say if you change the window in the foreground?

You can play with the windows all you want. TTS keeps reading. The one thing you cannot do is auto-resume after pausing. I suggest listening for a new chapter before stopping. You will have to find this in the text, select all unread text, and have your mac read selected text.

I can't wait to get to work and try it! Again, thanks for the idea.

ÂEnjoy!

ÂAlthough it reads faster than you can read, would it not be better, if it could read many times faster? ;)

Re:¡Syllables Per Minute!

[andrewski]

I actually can read quite a bit faster with my eyes than with TTS. I absorb whole sentences at a glance usually, but TTS is nice if I want to do something else while 'reading'.

Plaintalk voices are crap

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple needs to go and license this technology like right now for OS X:

http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/

These are the most amazing voice reproductions I've ever heard. I'd use the Text to speech option if the voices sounded this good. Victoria and Bruce are so 1995 now.,,

OS X very good with TTS

[beetle496]

With iTunes and a little work, any text oriented document can be converted to an MP3.
Apple Script in OS X: Text to Audio File

Re:�Syllables Per Minute!

[Walabio]

I can read faster than Text-To-Speech for short periods. For whole books, TTS is faster. Can you out-read TTS for whole books? I wish my eyes would let me do that. Maybe I could when I was a teenager ?

Still, I wish that TTS could read @1KSyllable/Minute so that I could read more books in less time. the books at Project Gutenberg call to me. I wish to read them all in my lifetime.