[DECtalk] question about Kurzweil 1000 voices

[Blake Roberts]

Don,

You made some great points regarding trials. It makes sense that I could 
extend a trial period by instaling software on a different computer at 
some future time.


Yes, I am interested in OCR which has speech output. I own a 
license/serial umber for a slightly old version of Abbyy FineReader 
which functions on Windows 10. However, I prefer using OCR which can 
talk on its own (self-voicing with no screen reader required).


Hmm, I have two old OpenBook versions sitting in a shipping box. OB 
version 8 was not compatible with Windows 10 when I updated my computer 
from Windows 7 some years ago. After Kurzweil 1000 evaluation period is 
near expiration, I might get the most recent OpenBook CD I possess and 
see if the OpenBook disk (and associated serioal number) will work on 
current version of Windows 10.


Blake


On 6/15/2021 9:23 PM, Don wrote:
> On 6/15/2021 6:03 PM, Blake Roberts via Dectalk wrote:
>> I also concur with what Jake McMahan wrote. I would like to point out 
>> that the
>> DecTalk list archives are publicly accesible, so anything posted here 
>> could
>> realistically be visible to anyone on the Internet for decades to come.
>
> Or, *today*.  You have no way of knowing who is subscribed, reading via
> Google, etc.
>
>> Regarding Kurzweil 1000: I currently plan to use James and Kurzweil 
>> until
>> shortly before the Kurzweil 1000 trial expires. I do not intend to 
>> ever install
>> illegal copies of NeoSpeech voices on my computer. That's my choice. 
>> I know
>> those voices are *not* free. The Kurzweil trial period enables me to 
>> legally
>> use James, Kate and Paul during the trial's duration period.
>
> Trials are a grey area.  I've never seen a license say that trials
> are limited to "one per customer".  If my disk drive crashes (and
> any memory of having installed a trial "disappears"), when I
> reinstall Windows, why can't I reinstall the trial, AGAIN?
>
> If I have ten computers, can I install the trial on each of
> them -- successively (as the trial for one expires, install a
> new trial on another machine)?
>
> Trials are an honest attempt to let you get a REAL feel for what the
> product can do.  "Demos" are often too contrived to let you see
> how it will address YOUR needs.  The folks making trial versions
> of their products know that there are ways around the limitations
> imposed by the trial.  But, they hope it is just too inconvenient
> to try to work around the limitations -- if you're really interested
> in the product (enough that you are willing to go to those lengths
> to work around the trial's limitations), then why not just buy it?
>
> Imagine wanting to compare performance of product A to a similar
> product B.  It takes some time to be learn to USE product A proficiently.
> Likewise, to learn about product B.  Whichever one you try first will
> likely have expired before you get around to trying the other.
>
> So, being able to reinstall *both* -- after you've got an idea as
> to how to use them -- lets you do a meaningful comparison after
> you are up to speed.  Legal?  <shrug>  But, it is within the
> SPIRIT of the trials' intents!  (to evaluate against competitors)
>
>> Since Kurzweil costs as much as OpenBook (a competing optical character
>> recognition product which does not have NeoSpeech voices), I might 
>> not buy
>> Kurzweil 1000 for $995. But I definitely like all three NeoSpeech 
>> voices.
>
> There are many OCR packages available.  But, I suspect you want the
> text automatically fed to a synthesizer and not just stored in a file.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dectalk mailing list
> Dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
> https://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk