"Books on Tape" version of Life After the Oil Cras

pedalling_faster · Intermediate Crude Joined: Dec 10, 2005 Posts: 914

i was looking for some new listening material this morning.

so i opened up

http://lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

in Opera 8.5, highlighted the text on the first page, then it's just "right-click, Speak".

the browser is available here

http://www.opera.com/

my speakers were set on VERY LOUD when i started it, so my neighbors got to here this part - "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end"

so now they're going to think i belong to a doomsday cult - which i suppose is not far from the truth (i think that the 30 year to build a new infra structure estimate is potentially off.)

the computer doesn't make as good a reader as Jim Dale (the guy that reads the Harry Potter series) or Michael Ruppert (doing his C. Rice valley girl accent/impression), but, for a robotic voice, it's pretty good.

Leanan · News Editor Joined: May 20, 2004 Posts: 4567

Has Matt given any thought to making an actual audio version?

He could do it the way Lawrence Lessig did it with his book. Lessig put a Creative Commons license on Free Culture and allowed people make and give away copies, as long as credit was given to him. The dead-tree book was still a bestseller (since most people do not want to read books sitting at their computers).

Anyway, someone got the idea of making an audio version for the blind. He posted the idea in his blog, and people signed up to read chapters, turn the recordings into MP3s, and upload them to the net. The whole book was done in a few weeks.

MattSavinar · Elite Joined: May 09, 2004 Posts: 2000

pedalling_faster · Intermediate Crude Joined: Dec 10, 2005 Posts: 914

with a little editing the computer can be induced to speak French & Spanish, to stutter, and to call the pResident a Lazy Dog (in German.)

section between "- - -" is for Opera-speak.

- - -

Civilization, as we know it, is coming to an end, SOON.

parlay voo fran say,
La civilisation car nous la savons se terminera bientôt.

en Esponyol,
La civilización como la sabemos está acabando pronto.

George Bush, bist ein une fowler hunt,
Zivilisation, da wir sie kennen, kommt zu einem Ende bald.

bad news is making this computer stutter,
Civ Civilization as we we kno know it is come coming to an end d d soo soon.

- - -

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7738

Great. Now the elderly blind can be depressed too.

PenultimateManStanding