Expanding Mobile Gnome to cover eBooks

["Ian Pascoe" <ianpascoe btinternet com>]

Hi all

Firstly, a Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone.

Following an announcement by Amazon in the US to launch it's own eBook
reader, I wondered if there was anything on the market that would allow a
hack to incorporate a TTS engine into either this or any other eBook reader
to allow me to listen to the books through such a dedicated device;
unsurprisingly, I didn't find much of any use.

Is this an area where Gnome would/could want to persue to provide TTS either
on the mobile or desk based devices, or in conjunction with a hardware
manufacturer?

This would, I believe, cross over quite readily from the visually impaired
community into the mainstream, especially with the continuing development of
regionalised voices in speech synths such as eSpeek.  If such a product
could be designed and bought to market, it would revolutionise the talking
books and magazines in both costs and manpower - no more bulky media like
musicassettes or CDs, just either a SD card or a download.  This would also
give the openings mentioned in previous postings to government and
charitable organisations.

I have only done a cursory google to see what can be found in this area, and
very little came back.

Just a thought to ponder on New Year's Day!

Ian