Why AI audiobook narrators could win over some authors and readers, despite the vocal bumps

Apple and Google’s AI turn in a booming market may sound less than human and raise the ire of voiceover actors, but it has cost benefits For the first few seconds, the narrator of Kristen Ethridge’s new romance audiobook, Shelter from the Storm, sounds like a human being. The voice is light and carefully enunciated, with the slow pacing of any audiobook narrator, as it begins: “There’s a storm coming, and her name is Hope.”Then, something about the pacing of the words grates on the ear. It’s a little too regular, even robotic. “I know that sounds a little crazy,” the breathy voice continues, grinding out the words. “That something so destructive could be labeled with such a peaceful name.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-05 06:41:18 UTC ]
News tagged with: #audiobook narrator #audiobook

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Why AI audiobook narrators could win over some authors and readers, despite the vocal bumps

Apple and Google’s AI turn in a booming market may sound less than human and raise the ire of voiceover actors, but it has cost benefits For the first few seconds, the narrator of Kristen Ethridge’s new romance audiobook, Shelter from the Storm, sounds like a human being. The voice is light and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-01-05 06:41:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #audiobook #voiceover actors #audiobook narrator


Erica Berry on the Polyamorous Intimacy of Reader, Author, and Audiobook Narrator

I always imagined, that, given the choice, I would read my own audiobook. I had heard memoirs often sounded best in the author’s throat—something about the familiar tang of the hardship unspooled. But had I written a memoir? A bookseller acquaintance asked me that a year before the publication... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-22 09:54:39 UTC ]
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Amazon’s Audiobook Narrators Can Now Make Their Own AI Voice Clones

Plus: Meta’s AI scrapes the UK, Google digitizes your passport, Chrome syncs your tabs everywhere, and (have you heard?) Apple announces some new iPhones. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2024-09-14 14:30:00 UTC ]
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Audiobook Narrators Fear Apple Used Their Voices to Train AI

After a backlash, Spotify paused an arrangement that allowed Apple to train machine learning models on some audiobook files. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2023-02-14 16:03:54 UTC ]
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Nope, I do not like these AI audiobook narrators one bit.

Because AI is apparently just like us, it seems to have romanticized the creative fields. So instead of, say, figuring out how to help me dispute denied insurance claims, it’s more interested in writing children’s books, getting into poetry, and now… narrating audiobooks. Yesterday, The Verge... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-06 17:02:28 UTC ]
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Apple's new audiobook narration service uses AI voices

When you browse Apple Books for your next audiobook, you might come across a few titles with a note that says they were "Narrated by Apple Books." That's because the tech giant has released a catalogue of titles that make use of its new AI-powered digital narration service. The company said the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-01-05 13:10:59 UTC ]
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Google Play Books Expands AI Audiobook Narration

Google Play Books has announced that publishers in six countries can now create, edit, publish, and sell auto-narrated audiobooks on its platform. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-04-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Inside the Narrators Booth: Things You Never Knew About Audiobook Narrators

Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes while recording audiobooks? Six prolific audiobook narrators gave us the inside scoop. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-09-23 10:31:00 UTC ]
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L.A. author Percival Everett wins National Book Award for retelling of 'Huck Finn'

USC professor Percival Everett wins the National Book Award for Fiction for 'James,' a retelling of 'Huckleberry Finn' from the character Jim's point of view. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-11-21 21:14:19 UTC ]
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Percival Everett, Author of ‘James,’ Wins National Book Award for Fiction

Jason De León received the nonfiction award for “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-11-21 03:36:15 UTC ]
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Agents, Authors Question HarperCollins AI Deal

HarperCollins has become the first Big Five publisher to strike an AI licensing deal, which authors and agents appear to be approaching with caution, skepticism, and a measure of hope. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins is selling their authors’ work to AI tech.

On Friday, author Daniel Kibblesmith posted a series of screenshots on Bluesky in order to share a concerning email he received from the agency who’d repped him on his children’s book Santa’s Husband: the book’s publisher, HarperCollins, was offering $2,500 (non-negotiable) for the right to use... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-11-18 13:36:53 UTC ]
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Amazon reportedly bumped back its AI-powered Alexa to next year

If you’re wondering what happened to Amazon’s new and improved version of its Alexa voice assistant, you’re not alone. Bloomberg reports that the new Alexa is still stuck in its developmental phase and Amazon has cut off access to its beta phase including its new “Let’s Chat” phase. As a result,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-11-01 21:50:42 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House amends its copyright rules to protect authors from AI

Artificial intelligence makers have faced a mountain of criticism for borrowing from the work of others to train its models. Now the world’s largest publishing house is taking steps to ensure its authors don’t have their work plagiarized in the name of progress. The Bookseller reports that... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-10-18 21:04:36 UTC ]
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Han Kang: innovative South Korean author wins the 2024 Nobel prize for literature

Han Kang’s poetry and short stories are just as innovative and important as her novels. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2024-10-10 17:11:35 UTC ]
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ACX Testing AI Program to Replicate Narrators Voices

Under the initiative, narrators will be able submit a sample voice recording for free to ACX, which will turn it into a replica of the participant’s own voice. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors Sue AI Firm Anthropic for Copyright Infringement

The complaint accuses Anthropic of using a dataset dubbed “the Pile,” which allegedly includes a trove of pirated works, to develop its Claude AI product. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-08-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Jo Callaghan wins crime novel of the year with story of an AI detective

In the Blink of an Eye was praised at the Theakston Old Peculier crime writing festival as ‘changing the way we think about policing forever’A “boundary-pushing take on the police procedural” which features a human detective working with an AI sleuth in order to solve a missing persons case has... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-07-19 16:29:44 UTC ]
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Spotify’s new audiobook bundle may reduce music royalties and shortchange authors | Millicent Weber for the Conversation

Music artists say the bundle is ‘cheating’ the royalties system while authors have concerns about how streaming will affect how they’re paid and rights over their workAudio streaming giant Spotify, one of the world’s largest audio platforms, entered the audiobook market last October, offering... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-07-02 03:23:25 UTC ]
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James Beard awards: two Australian cookbook authors win prizes in ‘the Oscars of food’

Restaurateur Josh Niland and recipe developer Hetty Lui McKinnon scoop prizes in food publishing awards, which also honoured aid worker Zomi FrankcomGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailTwo Australian cookbook authors have won prizes in this year’s James Beard Foundation awards, dubbed the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-06-11 07:21:43 UTC ]
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