Voice Dream Reader

Wish voice dream read kindle, then can lock screen as read. Would only use to read books.

The voices stop speaking after i close the screem. This happened after i updated the app. What should I do?
Can I make the app to not reed the footnotes? How?

Thank you.

Probably my ipad needed a compleet reboot , because only than worked.

I didn't find any feature regarding the turn on/off screen lock.

What's New in Version 3.1.1

-Specify number of lines visible (1, 3 or 5).
-Specify keeping speech cursor always centered, or on the page.
-Improved performance of iOS built-in voices.
-Corrected pausing at end of line for Ivona voices.
-Improve Pocket download reliability.
-Many minor bug fixes and enhancements.

I am running the latest version, and I decided to put the app through some stress tests. I started with a 575mb daisy book (specifically the front page manual from daisy.org's examples section). This failed to load. The same was true of a 2gb zip file containing mp3s. In either case, the loading screen simply disappeared. I assume typical use would not include this, so the failure of the app doesn't strike me as much of a problem. However, in looking at the file sharing documents, there are still some junk files from these failed imports. Is there a way of flushing the temporary folders short of jailbreaking the phone, rewriting the directories in question, and unjailbreaking? I guess I could also reinstall the app. This isn't urgent, but I was curious.
Thanks for all the great work; I love the app!

Can you use kruptis to remove any junk and temp files? I did not spell the app right but I can when I wake up get a link.

Take care.¬

To the developer:
(since there's no contact link on the product Web site) If OneDrive integration can be added alongside DropBox and GoogleDrive, I'll buy this app in a heartbeat, because it is a solution I've been looking for for literally ten years (the Symbian days!). However, my professional library is tied up with Office, and that's tied up with OneDrive pretty tightly these days. I have the same Word functionality on my Book Port Plus, for example, but I never turned out to use it for the same reason: lack of graceful access to my files. So, I hope it's in the works and doesn't require expensive licensing.

This version now bring support to the iOS 8 with many other fixes.

What's New in Version 3.2.0

-Support for iOS 8.
-Updated appearance for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
-Korean localization.
-Fixed: Deleted documents no longer take up extra storage.
-Fixed: Built-in iOS voices speech rate now correctly set.
-Fixed: Audiobook resuming at the correct position after audio interruption.
-Fixed: Bookmark icon always visible in PDF original layout.
-Changed all icons to white-on-black (blue on black is difficult for low vision users).

Note: Voice Dream Reader will not longer be updated for iOS 5. Because of the new devices with different resolutions being introduced, it is simply too
difficult to continue to support iOS 5. If you must remain on iOS 5, Voice Dream Reader version 3.1.1 will continue to be available in the App Store.

Hi, I noticed this as well, as well as when you try to buy new voices. Each button to purchase the voice is labeled as "unavailable". Is there a possible fix?

I, too, have had this problem. I still try and click on the buttons for the voices and it seems to work okay.

I just joined book share. Because I didn't have a DAISY reader with text-to-speach capabilities, I downloaded my first two books as MP3 files to use on my digital book player from the NLS. That worked, but wasn't ideal because I had no way to easily put the files on my iPod (I'm still working to get iTunes for Windows and JAWS to cooperate with each other) for easy portable listening.

So I decided to get either Read2go or Voice Dream Reader for my iPod. I eventually chose Voice Dream Reader because it seemed to have more features, was actively supported (Read2go appears to not have been updated in a long time), and was half the price.

Well, it appears there is some truth in the old saying, "You get what you pay for."

Here are just some of the problems I encountered with Voice Dream Reader:

The help file mentions rewind and fast-forward buttons and matching gestures. I searched all over and never found the buttons, nor could I get the gestures to work.

The help file also nentions a full screen mode and a gesture to toggle in and out of it. Thinking that the missing buttons and gestures mentioned above might only be available in full screen mode, I tried to turn it on. I could never get the full screen mode toggle gesture to work, and was reluctant to use the automatic full screen mode option because, if the gesture to toggle full screen mode didn't work, I'd have no way out of full screen mode to access the rest of the app.

The only in-book navigation I could get to work was the percent bar which allows you to move back and forth in 5% increments, which isn't very convenient, because in a typical 400 to 600 page novel, that's 20 to 30 pages per jump.

Despite the touted book share integration, there appears to be no access to book share's reading list feature. This means that in order to access a book from book share in Voice Dream Reader, you either have to start to download it first so it appears in your history, or search for it in the app.

After struggling with Voice Dream Reader for a day, it seems to me that the emphasis is on more ways to get content and ear candy (voices) that just make the app sound better, when the emphasis should be on accessability to the content itself. What good are more content sources and a "pretty" sound if the usefulness of the content is hampered by limited navigational abilities within the content?

I listened to the Read2go podcast demonstrating the app. Just from that podcast, Read2go sounded a lot easier to work with than Voice Dream Reader has been for me.

I believe there is a message in this thread that is a couple of years old that said that navigating within a book wasn't very easy or reliable in this app. I guess I was hoping that after a couple of years, that those issues would have been addressed. I guess I should have heeded that message.

As it is now, I can't recommend this app to anybody. There are other DAISY readers out there. They may not be as fancy as Voice Dream Reader, but they may be more reliable and useable, which is more important than lots of features and sounding "pretty".

I'm using a fifth generation iPod Touch running IOS 8.1

PS: I just came back from Voice Dream LLC's web site. I was hoping to find a support or contact link to talk with the developers about the problems I'm having with their app. I could not find any links to support or to contact information of any kind. Their web site appears to be nothing but an ad for their apps.

I'm sorry you had a hard time with the app, but I think I can clear up a lot of your confusion.

1. To fast forward or rewind, find the Play button, and do a one-finger flick down or up, respectively.
2. To control the increment by which the fast forward/rewind moves, flick right once from the Play button. You'l find a picker to choose 15 to 60 seconds, chapter, sentence, and so on.
3. Bookshare's reading list is not supported, as you found out, but I don't think Bookshare offers that support in their API. Voice Dream can only implement the features that Bookshare allows, and if you look at Bookshare's API documentation for searching books there's nothing about a user's reading list. VDR can't, therefore, do this, Bookshare has to allow it first.

If you have any other problems with the app, post here and we can try to help. It's a really great app once you get used to it, though the help documentation is in need of a major update. Oh, as to books, remember that you can also import from Dropbox; you could therefore download books on a computer, toss them in your Dropbox folder, and then use VDR to import them that way.

First of all, if you double tap on the percent bar, you can then enter the percent of your file that you wish to go to. Second, if you want to read a book in Voice Dream from Bookshare, you will, indeed, have to download it from Bookshare first, but only once. Also, it should not take long to download and be ready for use in Voice Dream. As for rewinding and such, I don't know about that. The way I do it in a Daisy file (once again using Bookshare), is to make sure that the book portion of the screen is highlighted, then, if I want to go back a sentence or two, drag my finger up the screen to find the line I want to read again. Otherwise, I either enter a percentage, which you can find from the home screen that lists all of your files, or I will use the three finger scrolling gestures which works great. Play around with Voice Dream a little more. Like you said, Read2Go hasn't been updated in a long time, is double the price, and only has a couple of Acapella voices to choose from, and, as I recall, it chews through battery pretty fast. Voice Dream certainly has a few issues, but in general, once you get used to it, I think you will find it very user friendly and quick to use. Good luck.

First, as others have indicated, the application is called "Voice Dream Reader" -- three words, not "VoiceStream Reader" -- two words.

Second, I find the Search button very useful. Put in a phrase and you'll get a list of locations where that phrase occurs in the book. Just tap on the one you want and you're there.

Let Voice Dream Reader come to you on its own terms; it operates a bit differently from what you may be used to. But it's about the only app I use to read Bookshare books anymore.

mehgcap;

If the buttons are there, , they must be rather small, it'd be a lot easier if the fast forward and rewind gestures mentioned in the help file worked.

sockhopsinger;

Unless you have enough vision that you can see what's on the screen, how do you make sure the book portion of the screen is highlighted?

My vision is mostly limited to seeing light sources. When I look at the screens on my iPhone and iPod, all I see is a fuzzy rectangle, so I have the screen curtain turned on on both devices to conserve battery power.

Weary Mouse;

Unlessthe rotor defaults to something else in Voice Dreamm Reader, I've never changed it, so it should still be on "adjust values", but I'll check it next time I try to use the app.

I have been able to use the three finger swipe up and down, but the gestures are unreliable, sometimes they work, more often, they don't.

The book is always in view, once it is opened. The top of the screen has some buttons and indicators, then most of the screen is part of the book, then the rest of the controls (these for payback and positioning) are on the bottom. Touch the center of the screen to focus on the book's contents, or three-finger gestures won't do much of anything. I tend to like to navigate by fifteen-second increments instead of bothering with scrolling, but that's just my personal preference.

This app is far and away the best book reading app I've used, including Read2Go and some on other platforms. The ways you navigate are different at first, but they are ingenious and really speed things up once yo get to know them. My only complaint is that, as you found, the help documentation can be confusing; it might be god if the app included two help files, one for sighted users and one detailing the ways VoiceOver users can interact with the app.

I think the app takes a little time to get used to, especially to really get the best way to use all the features. I'm someone who always skips the documentation, learns by trial and error, and then maybe checks the documentation if I can't figure something out. For people who do actually read documentation, I think it isn't that great and is a bit confusing because the app is so very different using VoiceOver versus without it. Perhaps that's something for the developers - if you are reading this - what about just having separate documentation for with or without VO?
In the iPhone world, there seems to be a premium on apps that are so simple that there is no learning curve. I think that's a loss - so I encourage you to hang in with this app, that it's really worth it.
I've been particularly impressed with Voice Dream Reader because when I first discovered it, it didn't really support VoiceOver - it was, I guess, designed to be an app for sighted people with learning disabilities or who otherwise did things visually but needed to read with text-to-speech. I remember thinking it's value lay in that I might be able to use it to read Bookshare books in Spanish, or if I wanted to work on my pitiful French, as the Read2Go app does not support other languages. So, I put it aside, and then read about on AppleVis, gave it another try, and the app had been thoroughly re-designed from a VoiceOver perspective. And they kept adding new VoiceOver features. I really like being able to change the reading speed while I'm reading. And I remember at one point wanting to be able to read with the iOS voices, and other blind people were saying "why would you want to do that?" and I thought, oh, well, most people prefer the more human voices so it's not going to be worth it for them to support the iOS voices, but then they added that support. And it's better than any other app I've used if you want to select text, in order to copy it for your notes or some other purpose. because you're not confined to the somewhat cumbersome VO system. Ididn't get it at firsst, how well it works, even though the hints built into the control really do tell you what to do. I guess I didn't really believe it would work, so it is only recently I've used it, and it's quite nice.
Anyway, the controls you are saying don't work, should work and they work for other people, and they work very consistently. It's a very stable app. so maybe we are not understanding the problem?
I'm not clear why the size of the controls should matter, if you can't see them. Perhaps, if you are exploring the screen by running a finger over it, you migh miss some controls - try swiping right and left to find them all. Then, when you know where they are in relation to each other, they will be easier to find at their exact location. Also, if you can't see the text, why would you bother with full screen mode or worry about hilighted text. Those are really features for visual readers.

If you tap in the middle ofthe screen while reading is stopped, you should hear Voiceover reading the line of text you touched. Remember, though, the reading portion of the screen is only about the middle ... hmm ... 60% of the screen, but it is plenty of room to be able to tap on a line of text, then recognize the text that you just heard, and take appropriate action from there. Good luck, and as you saw, the developer is very active on these forums and works hard to answer questions and help us with any issues.

OK, it sounds to me like the provided help file is for users that aren't using VO. It would have been nice if that had been made clear so users using VO wouldn't get frustrated trying to use features that aren't available to them. It would also have been nice if a help file for VO users had been provided.

I believe that Voice Dream Reader doesn't deserve it's current rating of being fully accessable and easy to use because use with VO isn't documented nor intuitive enough to be easily figured out without documentation or help from other users.

Unless Voice Dream Reader isn't intended to be used by user who need VO to access their iDevices, I think it is a major oversight and a huge disservice to those users who need VO not to provide help or instructions for using the app with VO.

If it isn't intended to be used with VO, that fact should be made clear in its description so that VO users won't waste their time or money on it, and can continue looking for something that is designed to be used with VO.

I still plan to continue to work with the app as it seems like it could be useful, once I figure out how to use it with VO.

My two cents...

Mike Freeman;

Your continued harping about this does nothing to contribute to the discussion. All it does is show everyone that you are a spelling and grammar nazi, more interested in correcting everyone's spelling and grammar mistakes than participating positively in the discussion. Do us all a favor and just drop it. After this message, I will join everyone else and just ignore any more comments you make about it.

Hello,
As I said, I agree that the documentation needs to be updated and clarified. However, to suggest that this app is not made with VoiceOver users in mind is to do a huge disservice to the app developer. He has addressed countless VoiceOver bugs in updates, and has added VO-specific features not seen in any other media player on iOS. If you enable hints, which is suggested for every new app you try, you are told what the different controls do. I understand the frustration of not getting an app to work the way you were told it would, but saying the app is not made with VoiceOver in mind is simply not accurate.

I bought Read to Go when it first came out, and was frustrated by some issues I was having. I decided to switch, and without reading help files or seeking assistance, I was immediately able to use this app efficiently. It works great for all my Bookshare needs. Thanks to the developer for a very VO friendly app that just works.

I'm a VoiceOver user, with no vision, and I found Voice Dream to be the most useful reading app on my phone. Navigation and selection of text takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have it, this becomes one of the most feature-rich apps out there. I love all the others; Bard, Kindle, Read to Go, etc., but Voice Dream seems to be my "go to" app for everything.

My comments below are probably going to sound a bit rude, but I mean absolutely no disrespect whatsoever. I do agree that the help file isn't as intuitive as it should be. But to suggest that a help file specificly for VO users should be created in addition to the one that comes with the app is rather silly. You don't see any other app developer doing this, and I hope the trend doesn't start, because seriously, if you have VoiceOver hints turned on there is a wealth of specific VoiceOver help to be had. For example when you're on the play pause button, and you have hints enabled, VoiceOver will say, play button, adjustable. swipe up to rewind and swipe down to fast forward. swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value. If you experiment just a little bit, you will figure out that the play pause button also acts as a rewind and fast forward button, and thenavigation unit i.e. how much time progresses when rewinding and fast forwarding can be adjusted by swiping once to the right from the play/pause button. VoiceOver says navigation unit, 15 seconds, adjustable. swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value. you have a choice of 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, chapter, and bookmark. and I found all this out by simply listening to what VoiceOver told me, I didn't even need to read the documentation. Also, if you're going to mention an app, at least have the decency to get it's name correct. It is not "voice, stream, reader. It is Voice. dream. reader. There is no app that I'm aware of called Voice Stream reader. Voice Dream reader however, is a supurb app and if you take a few seconds and listen to the hints VoiceOver gives you, I think you'll find that you can learn it very quickly. If you haven't already done so, please go into your VoiceOver rotor settings and enable VoiceOver hints. and if you have them turned on, please listen to the hints. The developer took the time to put them in, and I'm very greatful for all his hard work. The app wasn't even designed for visual impaired people to begin with if I have the story right, but he's taken the time and energy to actually learn what VoiceOver is, and fine-tune the app so it gives the VoiceOver user specific hints about what to do when using the app. So I think he deserves a vote of thanks.

I get being protective of Voice Dream Reader and it's developers. I feel the same way - gratitude to people who really make something work for us. But I don't think they are going to stop supporting VoiceOver because an occasional person picks up the app and can't use it.
In case that's what all the reaction is about. The reality is that a lot of people can't easily learn to use an iPhone with VoiceOver at all, never mind different apps with different approaches to using the gestures. I'm a trainer who gets asked often for iPhone/iPad instruction instruction because a blind person, often a very intellegent one, couldn't figure out what to do with the device. And one of the smartest blind people I know keeps telling me he can't figure out what I love about Voice Dream Reader because he doesn't figure it out himself. Some day I'll get to sit down with it and him and he'll get it in five minutes, but what's obvious to one person is very individual.
Why do I suggest good documentation? Because for some that's how they learn, not through trial and error. That's true for some sighted people and that's also true for some blind people. This particular app has a whole gesture system that doesn't work with VoiceOver and an alternate gesture system for VO users, because it's an app that is meant to be customized for individual reading needs and there is a big difference in the reading needs of a learning disabled sighted person who is very visually oriented, despite having difficulty with purely visual reading, and those of a totally blind person whose reading needs are totally auditory. It's great that the developers get this. And it's also why there's a need for separate documentation. Because the two interfaces really diverge.
Are some here really saying that just because they can learn to use something *any* blind person can and if they can't ... what? They aren't trying hard enough? They don't deserve the product? The truth is that people who struggle more to learn to use technology are less likely to be commenting on this site in the first place, so if they make it here, we should be applauding. And using their struggles to help inform us, so we can do a better job of getting this technology into the hands of the everyday blind person and not just the exceptional ones. If that's a goal. It certainly seems to be a goal of the administration of this site. I think we'd learn a lot by listening to what people struggle with and figuring out how to address it. I don't think we accomplish anything by telling people they are silly or ought to be able to do something they clearly haven't figured out yet.

I consider Voice Dream Reader to be one of the finest accessible reading apps available and use it every day without sight to read PDF, RTF and DOC files on my iPhone. I appreciate the intuitive and comprehensive document reading and navigation controls, the seamless integration with google drive & dropbox, and the continual updates and improvements provided by the developer.

I also frequently recommend the app to folks who have low vision, dyslexia and other print disabilities because the Developer has done a fantastic job making the app accessible to Folks with various reading abilities.

I agree that, for apps that behave the same regardless of whether VO is on or off, VO specific instructions aren't needed. But, when an app has a very different behavior depending on whether VO is on or off, then instructions that inform the user of those differences should be provided. Even if it's just a single line that tells VO users to turn on hints until they are comfortable with the app. Voice Dream Reader's help doesn't ever mention VO even once, as far as I can tell, the help file was created before Voice Dream Reader supported VO and has never been updated since.

While I don't read an applications help file "cover to cover", I do read any introduction and getting started sections that may have been provided, just so I have some idea of what to expect and what to do, rather than blundering ahead without a clue, this isn't supposed to be blind man's bluff.

It also says something about the user interface design when a developer finds it necessary to stack a number of functions on a single control so that what it does is dependant on what you do with it. While learning software development, I had always understood that this was bad user interface design that should always be avoided.

Finally, it seems that some people need to take reading comprehension over again. Please point out to me where I said that Voice Dream Reader wasn't designed for VO users in my message.

Actually when I first started using voice ream there was specific help on voice over use. I just cant remember where it is since I deleted the what's new stuff. And I did read the help from cover to cover whilst washing dishes, about 6 months ago.

Hello,
I am attempting to help a friend who has a student using voice dream reader with a Braille display. Using one myself, I was unable to get the display to show the text within a document I had in voice dream. this was a pdf document and the student was attempting to use it with a bookshare document.

Are there current issues with the present version of this app and voiceover with Braille displays under the latest version of IOS, or are we doing something wrong in settings?

Ok, I'm just gonna say this once and then i'll shut up. If you're gonna talk about an app, at least get the name right. The proper name for this app is voice. dream. reader. not stream, but dream, as in d. r. e. a. m. Please, Gene, stop calling it voice stream reader. There is no app with that name.

The previous poster did not call it Voice Stream. They called it by its appropriate name. Well, maybe they went back in and edited it, but I did not read Voice Stream anywhere. I agree with you 100% though. If you are going to post about an app, at least call it by its right name.

Oops, just ignore my previous post. Saw you were talking about someone else. Haha. Guess I should read things all the way through.

I'm really disappointed. I thought this was a community that was supposed to be for visually impaired users of Apple products.

and yet I find a number of members who are so intolerant of difficulties another member is having that causes them to misspell a proper name, that they continually harass and bully that member until they get their way.

Because I am totally dependent on a screen reader, and with Tinnitus affecting my hearing, "Voice Stream Reader" and "Voice Dream reader" sound virtually identical to me. Did any of you even consider that? Or was my spelling mistake more important to you than the actual discussion? Especially since, despite my spelling mistake it seemed to me that you knew exactly what I was referring to.

It wasn't until Tune Head actually spelled it that I realized my mistake. I have now fixed the mistake in all my previous messages.

However, since being harassed and bullied over such a trivial matter as spelling has left a foul taste in my mouth, and since I avoid places, both on line and in real life, where I been harassed and bullied, I will not be returning to AppleVis, nor will I recommend AppleVis to anyone.

It is my sincerest hope that you all will be happy with the results of your actions. And if not, that you will learn tolerence.

I'm in total agreement with Mike on this one for the exact reasons he mentioned. We were only trying to help, we didn't want you to look silly. That really is all it is, I promise. I'm sorry if you took it otherwise, I'm certain no offense was intended, at least on my end it wasn't. I try really hard to help folks, I think many people would tell you that I like helping folks, but when someone gives you a suggestion or a correction it's not always meant to be rude.

If I could only have one app, it ould be VoiceDream Raer. I do 90% of my reading in VoiceDream.

Agreed. The audio files rock. I also use it for playing audio files like a mozart piece I'm learning. lol!

hi there. i love this app, as i got it on the cheap the other day, i've loaded several audio books and PDF files into it. how ever, there is one huge, drawback. it's backed up in it's entire, massive size, to iCloud along with backups. now i don't know how many of you have paid for iCloud space, but I sure haven't. and to get an email saying that my iCloud is now full, when previously, it had 4.2 gb free, is a bit of a shock. now, that's the problem. here is my idea to solve it. in several file storage apps i have, they have a toggle, usually in the off position by default, that lets you choose whether or not the files stored within that app, are backed up along with it. this is handy, as it lets me keep the app itself in the backups, but it's contained data, which i can always put back on within minutes, is not backed up to iCloud. i'd like to see this option put into this app. as in the mean time, i have to go in and manually turn off the backup of this entire app.

Hi,
Yes, this is a major drawback as I also have just the basic 5 gb free plan. This needs to change.

Please explain whether extra voices bought with voice dream reader can be used with voiceover also or with only voice dream reader app?