Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
4
↓
Favorite ePub iOS app for a Braille Display? (self.Blind)
submitted by garlic-lover
So far I've tried Apple Books and Voice Dream Reader with varying success. They both seem to have quirks about jumping around unexpectedly. Scroll back a screen and you sometimes end up miles away from where you were.
What's your favorite and a little about why you like your choice over other options would be very helpful.
I'm blind with unexpected periods of complete deafness due to tinnitus so I use Braille more often than audio for reading.
What's your favorite and a little about why you like your choice over other options would be very helpful.
I'm blind with unexpected periods of complete deafness due to tinnitus so I use Braille more often than audio for reading.
garlic-lover [OP] 2 points 2y ago
I learned a few things about Voice Dream Reader that makes using a Braille display much smoother without the need to convert ePub files:
- turn on smooth scrolling
- turn off all banner style notifications
- turn on rotation lock to guard against the screen flipping if you bump it
- toggle text from rich text to plain text
The integration with bookshare.org is exceptional.
- turn on smooth scrolling
- turn off all banner style notifications
- turn on rotation lock to guard against the screen flipping if you bump it
- toggle text from rich text to plain text
The integration with bookshare.org is exceptional.
retrolental_morose 2 points 2y ago
even Kindle jumps around, although it is not as bad as some.
easy Reader from Dolphin loads a whole chapter into the viewport at once so that maybe more helpful (it can load epubs).
If I were in the market now I'd get a display with on-board memory and send my epubs to brf, though.
easy Reader from Dolphin loads a whole chapter into the viewport at once so that maybe more helpful (it can load epubs).
If I were in the market now I'd get a display with on-board memory and send my epubs to brf, though.
garlic-lover [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Very good point. It's probably better in the long run to convert whichever book I'm reading to a brf file and load it onto the SD card of my Orbit Reader 20 Plus. Thanks.
retrolental_morose 1 points 2y ago
I use APH's senddtobraille with a modified batch file for use on my Orbit.
I learned SEB, not UE, and grew up with books without capitals - so my .brf's are not very modern.
But that's the beauty of ebraille, you can tinker with it to your hearts delight.
I learned SEB, not UE, and grew up with books without capitals - so my .brf's are not very modern.
But that's the beauty of ebraille, you can tinker with it to your hearts delight.
garlic-lover [OP] 2 points 2y ago
I'm on Mac but I managed to get pandoc to convert an ePub file to plain text which is good enough for my Orbit Reader 20 Plus to do the final translation to UEB grade 2.
> pandoc --to=plain example.epub -o example.txt
I didn't have as much luck with Liblouis. I kept getting hundreds of complaints about invalid escape sequences. But text files are better than nothing.
> pandoc --to=plain example.epub -o example.txt
I didn't have as much luck with Liblouis. I kept getting hundreds of complaints about invalid escape sequences. But text files are better than nothing.
ColonelKepler 1 points 2y ago
Just FYI, you shouldn't need to explicitly specify the output format with --to when using pandoc; as long as the output file has a .txt extension, it'll pick the correct format automatically.
ivanicin 1 points 2y ago
You may want to check my app Speech Central - many users prefer it to Voice Dream Reader and it has a free tier with fully unlocked features so you may try if it fits you: $1
garlic-lover [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I downloaded the free version to test it out. Unfortunately I didn't get very far before being prompted to buy to unlock the full features. I had opened a PDF file in both Voice Dream Reader and Speech Central. After switching between the two apps just once to compare the Braille display navigation, Speech Central decided my trial period was over even after selecting unlock for one day which defaulted to a voice that was unclear. I'll look around for any YouTube reviews to get a better feeling for whether or not purchasing the full version will benefit me.
Thank you for the suggestion.
Thank you for the suggestion.
ivanicin 1 points 2y ago
There is no feature lock in Speech Central in any case, there is no such logic in the app. It is hard to say what exactly has happened. As it uses 'Random - prefer enhanced quality' as the default voice option it is possible that the Random selected another voice that you liked less. This is something that you can change in the settings.
Regarding the import limitation the user is limited to add one long document in a month and two shorter documents in a day. You can test two of those shorter documents (up to one hour) every day. Headlines are completely unlimited.
One free day option worked last time when I have checked it, while I don't remember that anything that could influence it has changed, I will check it again later, thanks for the mentioning of the possible problem. But if it manifests only by the voice change then it works just use settings to pick the voice that you prefer.
Regarding the import limitation the user is limited to add one long document in a month and two shorter documents in a day. You can test two of those shorter documents (up to one hour) every day. Headlines are completely unlimited.
One free day option worked last time when I have checked it, while I don't remember that anything that could influence it has changed, I will check it again later, thanks for the mentioning of the possible problem. But if it manifests only by the voice change then it works just use settings to pick the voice that you prefer.
garlic-lover [OP] 1 points 2y ago
There are only two voices available at the moment. Ellen (nl-BE) and Xander (nl-NL), both of which have heavy accents. I also sent an email through your site about a duplicate setting name with different setting values. I'm currently on iOS 14.5.1.
ivanicin 1 points 2y ago
Thinking some more it is likely that you have selected Dutch as the language by accident (the default is Auto Detect), as you talk about some accent so it seems that you force the English texts to be read by the Dutch languages which would definitely result in the accent.
ivanicin 1 points 2y ago
The app has voices that are available on iOS. For Dutch iOS comes with those two voices, but you can install 'Claire' (Dutch-Netherlands) voice which should be of much higher quality than those two. Also for those two voices you may want to install their enhanced version if they are not already installed as it will improve their quality. It is done from the home screen Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content > Voices.
Regarding your question I can confirm that there is a bug in the app when it is used with VoiceOver for the latest setting that was added and its name should be Sleep Timer.
Regarding your question I can confirm that there is a bug in the app when it is used with VoiceOver for the latest setting that was added and its name should be Sleep Timer.
CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago
I've heard Kindle used to be nice, but I'm not sure about it now. I'm not sure if Read2Go can be used with a braille display.
garlic-lover [OP] 2 points 2y ago
The problem with kindle would be converting all my ePub files to mobi. I'll check out Read2Go but if I remember correctly, there were quite a few negative comments about it. Worth checking though. Thanks!
Update: There a lot of complaints about Read2Go crashing and forgetting your place. It hasn't been updated in years.
Update: There a lot of complaints about Read2Go crashing and forgetting your place. It hasn't been updated in years.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.