LibriVox

[Bruce]

Is anybody else using a teleprompter type software to scroll the text for reading? I've just started using this and it's pretty nice.

I will say that the package I'm using just now (Easy Reader) has a couple of flaws that I could do without. First, it takes over the screen entirely, so you can't use the mouse to get from the prompter to the recording software easily. Second, the font is set to a minimum of 22, which is great if you are using a "real" teleprompter, but for just sitting in front of the screen, it makes it hard to scan with such big type. Being able to highlight tricky words is a help, as is being able to jump to an indexed spot (like chapter starts)

If anybody has suggestion for other packages or tricks for scrolling the text in some other way, please give a shout.

Bruce

[Bruce]

Well, I inspired myself to dig around for a better reader. I think I may have found one. The ICE Book Reader (using the free version at the moment to see how it goes) looks pretty good. It's more configurable, but you do have to play with the fonts and things to get it to behave in a sane manner.

I'm using 12 or 14 point Garamond (bold), black letters, on a light grey background. Scrolling speed is set to variable at about 5-8 chars/sec. You can push the text faster with the arrow keys if you start getting ahead.

The scroll is pretty smooth, and the text is easy to read. I think there is more to play with, and it might be possible to smooth it out more with some adjustments. Anyway, give it a try and let everybody here know if it works for you.

Are you guys reading off paper, PDAs or what?

Bruce

[Kristen]

I hadn't considered teleprompt software. Good idea.

My Psmith and Frankenstein chapters I read from PDFs--easier paging than plain text straight from Gutenberg. For Call of the Wild, I decided to read away from my computer, so I printed out the pages.

Print was helpful because I could make it up--noting pronunciations of that darned patois and making marks on where to pause or add a special inflection.
_________________
Kristen
http://www.mediatinker.com
My recordings & claimed chapters

[kayray]

I printed out my Psmith chapters from a .txt file, and am reading Road to Oz straight from an actual (gasp) book. I like to be able to mark with pencil or stickynote where I left off at the last recording session. I considered reading off my pda (no page-turn noises) but neither text was formatted well enough.

The teleprompter software is an interesting idea! Is it easy to manage your recording software while using the teleprompter? You don't get mouse-click noises or anything?

kara
_________________
Kara
http://kayray.org/
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"Mary wished to say something very sensible into her USB MacMice MicFlex, but knew not how." -- Jane Austen (& Kara)

[Bruce]

I have been using a Plantronics DSP-500 USB headset mic for recording, and it has really nice noise rejection and directionality, so I don't seem to pick up mouse clicks or anything like that. When I get my old recording setup working again (have a bad hum coming from something), then the noise may be more of a problem for freestanding mics. Even so, you don't tend to touch the keys much if you set the speed right on the reader.

Dealing with the recording software isn't too bad, you have to shift window focus, but those noises can be edited out if you wait a bit before you switch over. You can see both windows if you set the reader size to be narrow (try switching text modes to get it to fit the window correctly - some are awful, but one seems to work fine).

As for doing markup, I'm still investigating how to best do that in ICE Book Reader. Markups are a nice thing to have, no doubt about that, especially with the odd names and funny words in these books. So far, no luck with making colored text where I really want it.

The reader "remembers" where you last left off, and you can add bookmarks to get to specific spots. All to the good, but I could imagine more and better features. Still, not bad for a $20 software package! The trial version is free, so it's worth looking at.

[rramseyer]

I'm using a program called Read Assistant 3.0 as my teleprompter.

This is a pretty nice freeware program. The scroll wheel on the mouse controls the speed of the scrolling text, and you can change the size of the font. To start and stop the scroll just click.

With my wireless mouse it's like a remote control for text.

With audacity, you can dislodge the recording buttons as an always on top menu which is pretty useful. Thus, you can just pause recording, and it will stop the scroll at the same time.

Anyway, as far as free software goes, you can't beat it.

[Podchef]

I find that if I download the txt file, open it in Word or some other editor and make some notes--or at least highlight the difficult words and practice them, it helps me catch them coming up as I scan the screen. I then make the file a PDF because Adobe Reader is very easy to scroll with. I also magnify the text so only 1/2 page appears on the screen at a time so I can stand at an arms length from the computer.
I also use a laptop to read from because the only truly quiet room in the house is an upstairs loo.

[bigstachebearau]

I've found that teleprompter software works really well for me. I found a freeware version called "MirrorScript" ... http://www.freetelepromptersoftware.com/

It's fairly basic but has an option not to go full screen, customizable reading window colours, text size and spacing. There are single letter keyboard controls to change speed, direction, pause etc.

My only criticisms are that the scroll speed steps may not be fine enough in granularity and there seems to be no way to adjust the length of the line of text being scrolled.

I've found it may help to reformat the text files to remove line breaks where there is no punctuation or insert extra blank lines. That seems to make the display more consistent.

Be warned this is the only freeware one I've tried so there may be better.

[annise]

An interesting idea - I will have to try it out

Anne