I am experimenting with a new feature on this newsletter: you can now listen to the articles on your computer, on your iPod, or on most any other MP3 music player.
When you look at the newsletter's home page at http://blog.eogn.com, you will note that a new icon appears near the top of each article: Listen Now. Clicking on that icon allows you to listen to a computer-generated voice that reads the article to you. You can listen to it directly through your computer's speakers or have it sent to iTunes for later listening on an iPod or iPhone. Another option is to have the article sent to most any other MP3 player that is capable of accepting audio from the Internet. Finally, you can download articles as MP3 files and save them on your local hard drive and listen to them later at your convenience.
The new addition has two intended audiences:
- Vision-impaired newsletter readers.
- Anyone who would prefer to listen to newsletter articles while commuting or jogging or at other convenient times. You no longer have to be seated in front of your computer to read the articles.
Try it right now: click on LISTEN NOW at the top of any article.
This is an experiment to see if there is sufficient interest for the new option. If it isn't used much, I will delete it in a week or two.
I must admit that I find it amusing when the computer-generated voice reads those long URLs!
I hope you keep this, I have a vision-inpairment
Posted by: Don Capes | April 02, 2009 at 05:53 PM
Would your speaker say the web link as well as spell it out? Hearing all those letters spoken so quickly does not give you time to write them down. I guess I could always go back to the written version.
Posted by: Lois Ann | April 03, 2009 at 07:57 AM
I hope this is a feature that will finally spread to other areas of the internet.
Posted by: Dee Shelton | April 03, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Dick, Thanks for alerting us to this little gem. The Saskatchewan Genealogical Society has just launched their blog http://saskgenealogy.blogspot.com and have added this feature; it is working well. We chuckle a little as the voice attempts to pronounce Regina, Saskatchewan, but otherwise the voice is very good. Thanks again.
Posted by: Linda Dunsmore-Porter, SGS | April 03, 2009 at 01:16 PM
This is wonderful!
Posted by: Joy Rich | April 03, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Please keep this feature. The diction is wonderful, very easy to understand... it's a big help to me.
Posted by: Sandra C. Tye | April 04, 2009 at 03:41 PM
This feature is great. Please retain it.
Posted by: Garry F Bell | April 06, 2009 at 02:42 AM
This is a keeper.
Posted by: Karen Cutter | April 14, 2009 at 08:32 AM