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  • Can You Hear Me Now?

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    Okay, folks…

    You’ll be seeing something new on the blog posts these days… It looks a little something like this:

    In fact, there is probably an icon just exactly like this one sitting just below the title of this very blog post. Uncanny, eh?

    Well, you see, it’s like this… There is a plug in for WordPress which allows your blog posts to be converted to audio via a text to speech converter. Granted, it isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. For instance, it pronounces E K as Eck… and when I write one of my thoughtful pauses into a post… one which should sound and read something like a long hum… the converter stumbles over that with a hrrrmmmmm as you just heard.

    I suppose this all means I will have to start adjusting my spelling on some things… However, I have already noticed that it doesn’t necessarily pronounce some normal everyday words all that well. And, I am not about to start spelling things phonetically just for the sake of the converter.

    Still, like I said, although it isn’t perfect, it is a far cry better than the garbled phoneme spewing “Doctor Sbaitso” program that came with the original sound cards back in the day… read, prehistoric computer era.

    But, what makes it totally excellent and incredibly cool is the fact that it now allows Brainpan Leakage to be listened to as well as read. This means you can subscribe to B L via Odiogo… the service that does the conversion… and download the entries as MP3’s or as sound files on your iPod. If listening is your preference, of course… Me, I prefer reading, especially since I stick pictures and even an occasional music link in my posts.

    Either way, you’ll probably still want to subscribe to the notifications via the blog itself. That way, you’ll be able to click your way over here and read the entry whenever the text to speech converter stumbles a bit.

    Anyhow, you can do the audio subscribing thing below. Or, you can find the same link in the Networked Blogs section of the menu on the right side panel.

    Odiogo Subscribe

    Okay… I have some other words to write, so I’ll sign off. And never fear… Just because I am rambling now, it doesn’t mean the schedule has changed.  The next installment of… let’s see if this works… Maa waage… still deploys tomorrow.

    More to come…

    Murv

    … ADDENDUM: Well, I edited this after the sound file had been generated, so if you listen you will notice that a couple of sentences are skipped… Also, my Mahwage substitute didn’t fare any better… Oh well. Apparently machines can’t speak with a lisp. :wink:

    ADDENDUM 2: Apparently the service re-gens updated versions of the file… I did not know that. Way cool.

    • I perfer reading too. Infact the program skipped 2 senteces. Ah well it is kind of neat. 😎

      • Yeah, I’m with you there… But, there are some folks out there – even some that I actually know – who get their blog fixes, etc, via downloads to their iPods, so I thought I’d try to be accommodating.

        And, I can’t blame the program for the skipping – I edited the blog post after the service had already generated the MP3. I thought I was in under the wire, but I wasn’t… So, actually it was my bad. 😳 😥

    • I much prefer reading your blog. You see, I’ve talked to you in person and can literally hear you in my head while reading. It’s odd, but yes, you’re in my head! LOL! 😛

      • Good that I’m in someone’s head, because I’m mostly out of mine 😆

        Funny you should mention that… There’s been some jabbering around here of maybe doing the blog as a “podcast” as well… While this whole text-to-speech thing actually qualifies as a podcast, if I were to set things up properly, I might actually be able to do it in my own voice and all that silliness…

        But, right now, I have a book to write… 😉

    • You write your book, but a podcast in your own voice would be awesome!

    • Ok, Why is reading becoming a lost art? I’d rather read a book then listen to it on tape, but will admit, book on tape is perfect for driving cross country.

    • Oh, I hear you… I mean, after all, books are my living, and my living isn’t exactly flush with $$ these days… But, as I said in the post I did this for those folks who simply don’t have the time to add another blog read to their schedules – but, can listen to their iPod at the Gym or whatever… I actually have a few folks who asked me about it, as in the whole podcast thing… I’ve been wanting to do a podcast for a while, but just don’t have the equipment on hand, nor the time (especially the time)… I’m working on that, but this plug in showed up in a search I was doing, quite serendipitously – and I installed it… Seems like it might get the job done in the interim…

      However, like you, I prefer to read it with my own eyes. 😆

      Besides… there are all kinds of cool pictures in some of the upcoming blog entries… 😉

      Murv

    • OOO a “podcast” would be so cool. Download it to my iPod….then you would be in my head too. LOL 😆 I read books, loads of them and every now and then a podcast would be fun. Lisen to it while I am cooking. 😉

      • Well, we’re kinda sorta working on it at this end… Until then, though, if you follow the Odiogo link, you can actually download the text-to-speech versions of the BL entries to iTunes, and then right to your iPod… Or, maybe even directly to your iPod… I dunno… Don’t have one… All I have is a 5 year old MP3 player that holds about 18 songs…

        I need a new MP3 player…. 😥

    • A podcast would suit you I think.

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