OpenAI just announced that it recently conducted a small-scale preview of a new tool called Voice Engine. This is a voice cloning technology that can mimic any speaker by analyzing a 15-second audio sample. The company says it generates “natural-sounding speech” with “emotive and realistic voices.” The technology is based on the company’s pre-existing text-to-speech API and it has been in the works since 2022. OpenAI has already been using a version of the toolset to power the preset voices available in the current text-to-speech API and the Read Aloud feature. There are a bunch of samples on the company’s official blog and they sound eerily close to the real thing. I encourage you to give them a listen and imagine the possibilities, both good and bad. OpenAI says they see this technology being useful for reading assistance, language translation and helping those who suffer from sudden or degenerative speech conditions. The company brought up a Brown University pilot program that helped a patient with speech impairment issues by creating a Voice Engine clone pulled from audio recorded for a school project. Despite the potential benefits, bad actors would certainly abuse this technology to engage in some serious deepfake tomfoolery, which is already a problem. With this in mind, Voice Engine isn’t quite ready for prime time, as there are serious privacy concerns that must be met before a full rollout. OpenAI acknowledges that this tech has “serious risks, which are... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-03-29 19:03:56 UTC ]
And here it is: Canadian Book-Buying Habits Haven’t Changed Much in the Last Year. In case you’re still reading, for some reason Forbes is reporting that Canadians (my people) aren’t taking to audiobooks in quite the same way their cousins to the south are. Year-over-year American audiobook... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-11 16:22:32 UTC ]
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Five nominees for the Grammys spoken word award offer vastly different listening experiences. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-01-23 15:00:45 UTC ]
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Jeanine Cummins' book has been lauded by Stephen King and Lauren Groff, but also lambasted as "problematic," "harmful" and "brownfacing." Continue reading at HuffPost
[ HuffPost | 2020-01-21 23:31:13 UTC ]
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Seven publishers had sued the audiobook giant last July, claiming that its audio-to-text service Captions was unauthorisedAfter months of back and forth, Audible has settled in a copyright lawsuit with major publishers over its plan to introduce captions to their recordings, a proposal that the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-01-15 14:00:06 UTC ]
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From bestsellers to textbooks, stolen content is easily found on a 14-year-old hosting service operated by Microsoft’s social network. Mid-level writers are hurt the most. If you want to purchase a copy of The Institute, Stephen King’s latest novel about supernatural kids, you could find it at... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2020-01-15 13:00:52 UTC ]
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Amazon's audiobook company Audible has reached a settlement with a group of seven US publishers in the copyright lawsuit against the firm's Captions programme, according to a letter from Audible's legal team. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-13 21:30:27 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House Audio will publish an audiobook edition of the stage production of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel My Name is Lucy Barton (Viking) by the show’s star, Hollywood actress Laura Linney. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-10 15:27:10 UTC ]
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"Derry Girls" actor Nicola Coughlan will read the unabridged audiobook of Michelle Gallen’s début novel Big Girl, Small Town. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 09:51:32 UTC ]
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When you're looking for an audiobook with a great narrator in addition to a great story, check out these excellent audiobooks narrated by Robin Miles. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-07 11:32:32 UTC ]
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Few gifts say I didn’t know what to get you like candles or gift cards. And for about the same price as that throw blanket or wine you were planning to wrap, an audiobook can make you the hero of any gift exchange (and they’re even easier to wrap than books). Choosing books for other […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-18 09:48:15 UTC ]
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Megan Dobson has been appointed publisher of independent audiobook producer RBmedia's ChristianAudio brand. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Here are some recommendations of audiobooks of poetry—in contemporary poetry, classic poetry, and novels in verse—for the Read Harder 2020 task. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-13 11:33:24 UTC ]
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Audible has scooped an original audiobook from Love Factually (Bloomsbury Sigma) author Laura Mucha on attachment theory, following a group of people over the course of a year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 08:00:49 UTC ]
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In the last of three pieces on the audiobook sector in the run-up to FutureBook Live, W F Howes’ Dominic White looks at the future of the format Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-12 00:45:39 UTC ]
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World Book Night will expand its audiobook offering in 2020, after a successful pilot with John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down in 2019. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-10 07:35:35 UTC ]
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In this installment of our audio IRL, senior editor Andrew Tarantola's affinity for anime leads him to an unlikely musical discovery. Senior editor Jessica Conditt is addicted to true crime podcasts, but her recommendation is an audiobook with podcas... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-12-03 14:30:00 UTC ]
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In UK audiobook statistics, Harris Interactive sees younger, higher salaried men leading listeners. Orion's Katie Espiner talks about women in publishing. The post More From FutureBook Live: Harris on Audio, Espiner on Management appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-11-26 09:30:58 UTC ]
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Publishers are missing out on audiobook listeners who want sci-fi and romance titles, statistics on sales show. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-25 14:46:44 UTC ]
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For book lovers, Small Business Saturday means a trip to the local independent bookstore, many of which invite local authors to hang out and make recommendations. If you’re an audiobook lover you can still support small businesses, and I don’t mean purchasing your audiobooks on compact disc. Ask... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-25 09:48:59 UTC ]
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Contemporary recordings breathe new life into such books as “To the Lighthouse,” “Jane Eyre” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-11-22 17:06:26 UTC ]
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