Video: Demonstrating the Kindle’s text-to-speech function

Comments (24)

• kim sammarco says:

  May 7, 2010 at 11:31 pm

  the “text to speech” function seems to be disabled on my kindle – won’t highlight so that it can be chosen. What can I do to make it work?

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  • james says:

    June 17, 2010 at 4:53 am

    some books are not enabled with text-to-speech.

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  • Greg Lockhead says:

    February 20, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    I want to use the text-to-speech feature but my Kindle seems not to work. The machine is 2 years old and has no space bar. Will it work?

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• Christin says:

  July 15, 2010 at 3:12 pm

  What about the Kindle for Iphone app?
  Is it enabled to read text to speech?

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• Marc Saltzman says:

  July 15, 2010 at 4:04 pm

  Hi Christin,

  Nope, the text-to-speech feature doesn’t work for the Kindle smartphone apps,

  Marc

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  • Susan says:

    September 24, 2010 at 6:25 pm

    Any chance the text-to-speech feature will be part of the Kindle – iPhone App soon?

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• Tim says:

  July 23, 2010 at 9:44 am

  Sometimes I convert text file to mp3 audio files, and export the m3 files to the smartphone. I suggest run the text to speech program Panopreter Plus (http://www.panopreter.com) on Windows Vista or 7 than on XP.

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• Hannah says:

  September 9, 2010 at 10:15 pm

  I think the newest edition of the Kindle does allow audiobook download, correct?

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• marsha says:

  September 23, 2010 at 12:19 am

  Last night I used text-to-speech to read chapter 2, but tonight I get a message saying kindle has encounter an error. It instructs me to restart my device from settings. I go to settings and I find no restart there.

  I bought my kindle BECAUSE of the text-to-speech feature. I’m visually impaired.

  Any suggestions for getting this feature back?

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  • rose haft says:

    January 21, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    When that happened on my Kindle 2, I back tracked to the page where I did have text-to-speech. Starting from that point corrected the problem. Hope it helps..

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• bond4ever says:

  September 28, 2010 at 4:08 pm

  marsha: maybe you should do a hard reset on your device, holding the power switch for 15 seconds then release it.

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• harsha says:

  October 10, 2010 at 2:41 pm

  Thank you for posting the video.We bought our 80 year old grad dad a kindle,and I think this feature is particularly helpful for him.

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• steph927 says:

  October 29, 2010 at 3:20 pm

  This works great, just like he demonstrated!!

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• mpullara says:

  November 26, 2010 at 4:18 am

  While reading,either a book or a newspaper, using my kindle in text-to-speech mode, it frequently skips several screens. Has this very annoying problem been reported by others or is it just my kindleDX?

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• lovereading says:

  December 26, 2010 at 10:15 pm

  I am interested in using the text to speech on my kindle for mac. However, I do not see how to enable this option on my laptop. Also, can you print off or email the notes you write in the sidelines of a kindle book?

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• Robin says:

  December 28, 2010 at 2:39 am

  Marc, thanks for your YouTube posting. Nowhere in my Kindle manual did it explain how to turn on text to speech. I am also glad that you threw in the note about the Sony device downloading books on tape. Are those Sony devices still a viable and good option?

  Thanks,
  Robin

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• Marc Saltzman says:

  December 28, 2010 at 12:03 pm

  Thanks Robin!

  Yes, the Sony eReader Touch edition can play audio files, be it music, audiobooks, podcasts, old time radio episodes, and so on.

  Best,

  Marc

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• amy says:

  January 4, 2011 at 1:13 am

  looking at Kindle vs. nook. love text to speech feature. so question…hearing impaired son (cochlear implant).. could we hook up any external speaker? Is the speaker built right in? I kept leaning to the nook until i noticed this feature tonight and it would be KEY for my son and his learning as we listen to a ton of books as we read along. Also on text to speech…the text still stays there then? It doesn’t dissapear? (We read AND listen for optimal learning.)

  Thanks and regards
  Amy

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• Jean says:

  January 28, 2011 at 8:50 pm

  So, can the Kindle download audiobooks and read them, or do we have to get the Sony eReader? We subscribe to a program from “Readings for the Blind and Dyslexic.” Thanks!

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• Carol says:

  February 19, 2011 at 5:55 pm

  I can’t get the volume up on my text to speech feature. I found how to turn it on, but there is no voice. Help!

  Thanks, carol

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  • kc says:

    March 24, 2011 at 1:23 am

    Carol, did you resolve the volume issue? I am having the same problem!

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• tlt says:

  April 11, 2011 at 12:43 am

  I was given my Kindle for Christmas. My instructions say that the text to talk can either be male or female and I can make it faster or slower. How?? I can’t seem to find a setting feature that will let me change it.

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• tlt says:

  April 11, 2011 at 12:44 am

  How do I change the text to speech feature to make it read faster? I do not have the 3g model but only the lower model.

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• Susie says:

  April 21, 2011 at 10:29 pm

  Thank you!!! Very easy!! and your info was much appreciated!

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