Adobe Community: Read Out Loud from the digital edition

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1. BWolfe [ADOBE],

May 27, 2008 12:14 PM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Read aloud is not a feature of Digital Editions 1.5. That was a feature of Acrobat Reader, which used to include it's own ability to read 'digital editions', which is not hte same as the ebook reader you're using now _named_ 'Digital Editions'.

Yes, it's confusing :(

To read ebooks with read aloud you'll need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader (I believe version 7 or 8).

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player
Adobe

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2. (Lloyd_J_Sandmann),

May 30, 2008 6:48 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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gwilson,
You can use other text-to-speech software. I use NaturalVoice. You can download a trail version and try it for free before you decide to buy. Most TtS software allows you to do this.

Bently,

Digital Editions forces itself onto my computer so I cannot use Reader. How the heck can anyone follow your advice and open an eBook file in Reader? I would love to know the answer.

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3. BWolfe [ADOBE],

Jun 13, 2008 12:12 PM in reply to (gwilson62)

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To switch back to Adobe Reader you have to uninstall Digital Editions (add/remove control panel in Windows) and Acrobat 8 and/or Reader 8 if you have them...

Then install Reader 7.09 from:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

Unfortunate, we know. But Adobe Digital Editions 1.5 is delivered with Flash Player, and the read aloud tools don't work with Flash Player at this time.

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
Adobe

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4. (Mohammad_Karim),

Jun 18, 2008 2:15 PM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Hi Bentley,

I have bought a e-book recently. It costs me around $45. I have tried both version 6 and 8 of adobe reader. However, they could not open the pdf e-book. This e-book requires only digital edition reader.

The main issues are: the digital edition do not come with READ out Loud; and the security of the pdf e-book is so high that it can not be open by any other software.

I have Kurzwell 3000. Even it can not open the pdf file.

Bentley, please solve this issue ASAP. If this continues, I will never buy ebook.

Mohammad

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5. BWolfe [ADOBE],

Jun 19, 2008 9:54 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Mohammad,

We cannot solve this issue for you at this time. If you require read aloud, then you will have to work with the book publisher to find some way to make it work in Acrobat Reader 6 or 7 (reader 8 does not support ebooks). We are aware that this is a feature request, but we simply cannot add read aloud capability at this time.

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
Adobe

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6. (Syed_Aftab_Ali),

Jul 14, 2008 9:16 PM in reply to (gwilson62)

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I am having problem in Adobe Digital Edition 1.5

I have an eBook and the digital edition doesnot show the figures inside the pdf. How can I make them visible?

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7. (melbobs),

Sep 27, 2008 1:41 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Bentley,

I have tried uninstalling Digital Editions and installing Adobe Reader 7. However, Adobe will not "authorize" Reader 7 for eBooks. The message I get is that it wants me to upgrade.

Can you help? Do you know when Adobe Digital Editions will support the "Read Out Loud" function?

thanks,
--Melissa

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8. BWolfe [ADOBE],

Sep 29, 2008 8:02 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Melissa,

I do not have any info on when we might be supporting read out loud, sorry.

I don't understand the error you're getting. Are you sure you haven't installed Adobe Reader 8 or 9? Those would both prompt you to move to Digital Editions.

Give us some more specific information (or open a support web case...)

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
AdobeRegards,

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9. (melbobs),

Oct 11, 2008 1:48 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Hi Bentley,

Here are more specifics...

I have Adobe Reader 7 (not 8 or 9).

I try to open the eBook in Reader 7 and it gives me this message: The document cannot be opened because its ownership has not been established on this computer... then 2 choices: a. I own it... b. Someone gave it to me.

I select a. and click "obtain ownership". (Keep in mind that I bought this eBook last week on this computer, and have never opened it on another computer. The only time I have opened the eBook was in Digital Editions 1.5.... only to discover the read out loud didn't work. Since then I have removed Digital editions.)

It takes me to Adobe's DRM Activator site and tells me this:
This Digital Edition cannot be opened.
Here's the problem and how to solve it:
You have tried to open an Digital Edition that was downloaded to another computer. You can open such a document on two computers only when you have activated Adobe Reader or Acrobat on both computers using the same Microsoft .NET Passport or Adobe ID.
Problem: This computer and the computer to which the document was downloaded were activated using different .NET Passports or Adobe IDs.
Solution: Return to the retailer, library, or other location where you acquired the document and obtain permission to open it on this computer.

Through Reader 7s "File/Digital Editions/Authorize Devices", I have "authorized" this device and Reader 7.

The last thing I tried was downloading another copy of the eBook from the seller. It is an .acsm file which is a gateway to a download. When I try to open/re-download the .acsm eBook file in Reader 7, the .acsm format files are greyed out.

I still have the eBooks in .pdf format on my computer from having orginally downloaded them via Digital Editions 1.5... but those are the files which say they are not authorized on my computer.

Thanks so much for your time. I will be eternally grateful to solve this problem.

best,
--Melissa

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10. Beth Bakeman,

Oct 15, 2008 8:09 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Melissa, now I know why I didn't understand. I don't do any work with reader, just digital editions (the application.. it's unfortunate that they didn't name ADE something more unique). I'm not personally going to be able to help you with this one.

Open a webcase on http://www.adobe.com/support/contact for Reader, and point them back to this thread. The reader support team should be able to help.

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
Adobe

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11. (alieda_nicholson),

Feb 19, 2009 6:26 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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I am also trying to get read out loud to work with adobe reader digital edition. Maybe we should suggest strongly to the company how important this facility is to a large majority of people. Not only would it help people that are blind and cannot access braille but it helps all those that have reading difficulties (dyslexia) but would like to read. Without this facility, this stops people like me accessing information and are discriminated against. In today world it just shows how much discrimination is allowed to go on.
I hope the company will address this problem soon.

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12. Jim Lester,

Feb 19, 2009 7:16 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Text To Speech is not currently supported by Digital Editions.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

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13. jennifer_mitchell,

Apr 29, 2009 8:58 AM in reply to Jim Lester

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Will it ever be supported? Are you working towards that goal or should we find another way and shut up about it...

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14. Lupita Molina,

May 10, 2009 6:18 PM in reply to jennifer_mitchell

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You can do so, if you have a Mac.

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15. marguerite_mcpherson,

Jul 30, 2009 1:56 PM in reply to BWolfe [ADOBE]

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hi, Bentley,

Is there any way to be able to convert acsm files to some format from which we can read these ebooks by sending them to our pdas with Adobe Reader for Palm OS? I loved checking out Adobe ebooks from my local library and reading them on my pda, and rarely had any problems...until the end of March, when Adobe changed everything. I don't like to read books on my computer. Has Adobe made any provisions for those of us who specifically bought Adobe ebooks to read on our pdas, but now find we cannot because of the new file format?

thanks so much!

Marguerite

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16. marguerite_mcpherson,

Jul 30, 2009 1:59 PM in reply to marguerite_mcpherson

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p.s. I have no problems opening the books with Digital Editions (but I don't want to read them on my computer). Why did Adobe (also) change the format so that the ebooks will no longer even open with Adobe Acrobat 8 professional?

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17. PRIMOUK,

Jun 4, 2010 1:26 PM in reply to Lupita Molina

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Hi

I have a Mac and due to digital edition my e-books will not open in anything else, however if you go to Mac system preference (Apple Menu), then to 'Speech' then press 'text to speech' button tick the following box ' Speak selected text when key is pressed' then choose your activation key(s) example cmd (apple command)+A

once you open Adobe digital editions just highlight what you want read aloud, then press your activation key(s), and then the Mac will read it to you!

Hope this helps.

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18. PRIMOUK,

Jun 4, 2010 1:24 PM in reply to (gwilson62)

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please see my new post re this

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19. ryansimonet,

Jun 15, 2012 7:16 AM in reply to (gwilson62)

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Here is a 'backdoor' technique to have Digital Edition 'Read Out Loud'

-Take a screen capture (or screen shot) of the page in Digital Edition.

-Open the screen capture in a program that does OCR (I use Acrobat Pro)

-OCR finds the outline of text and allows you to highlight that text.

-Play highlighted text through a 'text to speech' program.

-Repeat, per page

It may sound like a pain, but I do this technique on my Mac, in a matter of seconds.

Sadly, you can't just do the 'play selected text' option on the Mac.

This is because the Mac processes the "speech" command as "copying/pasting," which is disabled on many ebooks.

I have an annoying case of dyslexia so this 'backdoor' approach is kind of my only option.

I guess you're not having Digital Edition do anything but present the text so you can take a screen capture of it... but whatever.

Hope this helps.

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Adobe Digital Editions

Read Out Loud from the digital edition

May 26, 2008 1:18 PM

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