Tell me about your experiences with the kindle E-Reader and Voice View

I've asked myself this question many times over the past fifteen or so years. I did actualy try it, once or twice, ages ago, but I always give it up as a bad job.

Honestly, use a phone. Use a second phone if yu want more battery life, i had an iPad mini as my 'books' for a while...now I just get a new iPhone Pro every two years. The battery last all day and all night in low-power mode, so I only charge it once a day.

I never go anywhere without my phone, so reading is always available.

Of course, if money is no object, then the Victor Reader Stream is a great choice, if it does Audible and Kindle reading still.

Lottie
XOXO

I do have a Pixel tablet thingy i never turn on. I wonder if you can buy Kindle books and Audible books on Android?

Being normal is good, cheap to! that's why I am such a cheerleader for the Meta Ray-Ban glasses - nine pairs for the cost of a pair of Envision glasses.

Get a new Kindle, they are are always on offer. Give yourself a month to try it and then...it is a handy gift to give to someone at Christmas, if you do that sort of thing.

I worry I'm misunderstanding your question, but you should be able to get those formats on any Android-based device by having the Amazon app and the Kindle app on the device. Buy them in the Amazon app, then select to have them sent to all your devices somewhere in the process.
I have an old Fire tablet, and if I remember, that is the same process on it as well, even though it is an Amazon device. I can't say Voice View is spectacular, but it does read books with the two-finger-swipe-down, and has some granularity options like lines, words and headings etc.

I am also interested in that. I thought there were only kindle fire? Just learned that there are other kindle based devices. I had a VR Stream for awhile and the audio experience on audible with it is unparalleled anywhere else, you can't get that audio quality elsewhere :)

You have to go into Safari to buy a Kindle book on iPhone. You can buy an Audible book in the Audible ap, but not a Kindle book in the Kindle app.

What the guy is saying is that on a Kindle device, you can buy both formats from the app - and it is a great book reader because it only does one thing, does it well, and the battery last a lot longer.

Is that right?

I was just asking myself - playing the odds, on this site for one. Also, I've never met a girl called Ollie, but I am very old.

Sorry Ollie, if my off-the-cuff comment was incorrect.

I understand where that guy, Ollie, is coming from. In a way, I got my Fire tablet for the sole purpose of watching movies, which you can rent directly from the movie watching app. I'm fairly burned out on watching movies, and tend to get books from libraries, so my Fire mostly sits there.
I was talking about your "Pixel tablet thingy," and getting books on it, @Charlotte Joanne, when you asked "I wonder if you can buy Kindle books and Audible books on Android?"

Disclaimer: This is not the lack-luster assistive reader found within the Kindle app.

If you want an amazing experience having eBooks and Audio books read aloud, or otherwise played out to you, just get yourself an Alexa device. The Assistive Reader for Kindle books built into Alexa devices, as well as the Alexa iOS app, is simply phenominal.

Thank you, that is all. 🙂

Hello guys!
it is completely unusable.
I tested my girlfriend's 10th generation Kindle and even the Kindle samples it either reads in words or characters.
No line reading, continuous reading, etc.
It's not a worthwhile product for us, in my opinion.

I’m not really sure I entirely understand what you’re saying. I get that you want to be “normal” and use your phone like everyone else, but using your phone is normal! A lot of blind people I’ve talked to actually say they don’t like being on their phone too much, and sometimes it’s hard for them to explain that they’re not just texting or scrolling mindlessly. It sounds like you want to use your phone less, but that doesn’t mean you need a secondary device like a Kindle to be “normal.” You already are normal! You might not fit into everyone else’s definition of it, but that’s okay.

If you don’t really need another device, what I’d recommend is using your spare iPhone and downloading the Kindle app. Or, for longer battery life, you could consider getting an iPad. I mean, if you don't already have one. I’m not sure if this is an option for you, but I know you can download it, and if you sign up for Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, it’s about $12 in the U.S. Not sure what it costs in other countries, though. The nice thing about Kindle Unlimited is that even though they don’t have every book, you can switch between the e-book and the audiobook version if it’s available for the book you’re reading.

You could also pay for Audible separately, but I get the sense that you want access to both the e-book and the audiobook versions, which Kindle Unlimited offers for certain titles. If you buy books outside the program, I don’t think you automatically get the audiobook version—it’s usually only available for those on the program. But I think you can still purchase audiobooks separately if you want to.

I’m not sure why people would prefer using a physical Kindle over the app—that’s what I use, and it works fine for me. But hey, maybe there’s something about the Kindle I’m missing! Just a suggestion for you to consider. If you purchase content from Amazon on different devices, can you log into the account on a secondary device, and have access to the content that way? And, I get that you might want some variety in terms of voices, but I think the screen reader voices are OK. It's not an audiobook, but, yeah.
Wait, do they still sell the smaller iPads? Like the mini ones? I guess that you want a device that deals with only books, but, you could always use that one single device for only reading books.

I love audiobooks for sure, but, sometimes, it's too slow for me. I can finish more books on Kindle, then I can with audio. Plus, e-books are generally easier to get than audiobooks, at least, ones that are professionally narrated. If you know, you know. I use the Samantha default voice on my phone, and it works well enough for me. I don't like over the top accents, or too much emotion, where someone is reading the book, and it just goes over the top. I feel like it doesn't work, so, yeah. Besides, Kindle unlimited is cheaper than audible, and you're able to switch between both formats. Audible is more expensive, and not every book has an audio version.
I wish there was a way to pay for the Amazon Kindle unlimited program without needing to add a card on file. I reached out to them to ask if they would consider implementing a policy where we can pay for a set amount of time, for example, two months, for a $30 Amazon gift card. I even told them that, if refunding was an issue, they could say that there's no refund if you use a gift card, or give you back half of what you spent. So, you would get back a $15 Amazon gift card, if something goes wrong. I just can't afford to pay for the program every month. US$12 is about $1200 for me. I've been competing in the Microsoft rewards program for free, even though it's slow to try to earn an Amazon gift card at the end of the year. The only thing I can do now is to try to get enough points for even a $15 Amazon gift card. If there are any sales around the holiday, I might be able to buy four or five books, with the gift card balance, depending on the prices. Other services like Netflix allow you to pay month by month when you have a gift card. I don't know why they can't do the same thing here. From what I understand, you can pay with your gift card, but you need to have a card on file. That makes no sense. I told them that if they did not want to include paying for Amazon gift cards, alone, on the subscription based plans, to give us prepaid plans. Just like I said above.

I don't think I could afford both of them, but I don't want to put my card on file for Amazon. I don't think what I suggested above was unreasonable though. Could I put it on there, activate the three month plan, and then remove it afterwards? I will put a gift card balance on there though, in case I want to continue. Does it work like that? Actually, the problem here is that, I don't live in America. The thing is, in order for me to purchase any of these services, the price, when converted to my currency, becomes very high. Plus, the type of cards that Amazon wants, my country doesn't always have those cards available. So many people talk about the library, overdrive, and all of these great services, but most international users don't have access to them. I love the idea of Amazon Kindle unlimited, and I wish there were more programs like this on the market. They need some competition. It's easier to pay, preferably with a gift card, for one service, and get a certain amount of books, than to pay for them individually. Not everybody can afford to pay every single month. I would pay for the service when I'm able to do so. I don't know why Apple doesn't have a similar service by now. I would love to check out what they have on Audible as well. They sound like they have a really great catalogue. Amazon needs to treat their authors better, and maybe get rid of the exclusivity clause. Maybe more individuals would be willing to join the program. I know that they want to dominate the market, but I wonder why they don't have a Amazon Kindle YouTube channel for audiobooks. I mean, they would still get their money, we get to listen to audiobooks, and I don't know if they could work something out with the other companies.

I would say going for a Fire Tablet would not be a bad idea either... Though probably best getting the "plus" version do to the extra ram (unless ya like certain colors). Latest deals on Fire Tablets can be found here. Braille Screen Input typing works quite well on said tablets too by the way. Info on that (along with Voice View help) can be found here.

I have to agree with Winter Roses on a point or three. Lately there seems to be greater value in Kindle Unlimited over Audible. As a subscriber of both, I am sad to admit that I seldomly use credits anymore. I do enjoy the Plus and Access catalogs, though. As those 2 categories give free books , audio dramas, and podcasts.

Of course for those who are feeling truly adventurous, an Audible subscription can grant between 20% and 30% off of books purchased out of pocket.

So there is that.

What I find valuable in Kindle Unlimited, is the fact that authors whom I follow always seem to have more books out on Kindle, and as I mentioned above I love listening to Kindle books through Alexa, either with the device or the iOS app.
@Winter Roses,
I do not know what your budget is like, but some authors put their stuff up on Patreon. The idea here is if you become a 'patron', you can get their books at a discounted price, up to and including a handful of books per month for free. This depends on the author, and the tier you subscribe to.

Just wanted to put that out there.

Finally, I concur with Trenton Matthews, if you're going to go with an Amazon tablet, go Fire.

Kindle Unlimited - all the crap books you can stomach! OK, there are a few good books on there, but I usually have a month or two a year and that is enough.

I have Audible+ all the time and it does seem to have more better books on it. But I do only get it because it is included and I am an Audible Ninja - I buy books at the cheapest possible price.

For reasons previously mentioned, I'm not a big fan of Whisper Sync - but it seems to work well when I do try it.

Interestingly, some KU titles have the audio as well, but most don't. I've not seem it work the other way - getting the Kindle version of an Audible+ title.

I think it would make sense to include the audiobook version for readers. Many people prefer e-books but also want the option for an audiobook, so why not give them that choice? When you subscribe to Audible, it’s clear you’re only there for audiobooks, not e-books. Unfortunately, with the Kindle Unlimited program, it’s how a lot of authors make their money, but many authors choose not to participate because it’s too exclusive. There’s also a big issue with pirating in the book community. Many authors avoid joining Kindle Unlimited because they believe their books are more likely to get stolen when they’re part of the program. Even authors who aren’t in the program face this issue. When books are pirated or found on unauthorized sites, authors can lose good standing with Amazon, their publishing deals, and more, all because Amazon enforces an exclusivity clause. The worst part is, Amazon doesn’t seem to investigate these cases thoroughly—they immediately blame the authors, even when it’s out of their control. In the end, it hurts everyone involved. Not to mention, when people pirate these books, they’re stealing money from authors, which affects their ability to pay bills, write more books, and continue their work. This is why I wish Amazon would find a solution. It’s not just about my budget, but in my case, $10 USD translates to about $1000 in my currency, and I simply don’t have that kind of money.

I have a kindle fire and a fire tv stick. I also have a kindle unlimited subscription. First, I'll give my opinions about the screen reader. It's easy to use, and they have the Ivona voices, which are still great voices to this day. The only thing I've noticed is VoiceView is not that stable. It sometimes crashes, and it can be kind of a pain to get it back working again. It's great for beginners as you can customize a lot about how it's used. You can't add third party voices or any third party apps to it though, and the app store lacks accessible apps. It's only good for reading basically.
I love having kindle unlimited. I guess I enjoy self-published stuff. Unless it's super bad, I generally can deal with it. I will say that I've heard there is a penalty for books that are too long, so if you generally like reading Stephen King, or Brandon Sanderson, you probably won't find any of those there. It's really good for finding novela style fiction, and short story collections. There are also a lot of light novels on there as well, but if you don't like reading something akin to someone's first true work, or you aren't like me and can sometimes pass YOUR time obsessively scrolling amateur poetry websites, then you might not like some of those. They are getting better at adding authors that are more well-known or published by the big publishing companies like Harper-Collins. They have a decent sized collection of nonfiction titles as well. N everything published by the big companies are worth reading either, especially if you are a child or young adult. Just look up the warrior cats series. If you can't stand self-published works, try indie publishing. Some of my favorite novels were published by those. They usually give their authors more freedoms and take more risks, so you get stories that don't fall neatly in genre conventions, or are a bit more experemental in nature.

I read a lot of books pertaining to Isekai, LitRPG, Portal Fantasy, etc by indie authors. They are some of my all time favorites. 😀

They're pretty entertaining. Portal fantasy in general is one of my favorite genres. This has been true ever since I watched Dragon Tales on my old TV as a kid.

You can buy content with the Amazon app. I believe you can by video with the Prime app. Possibly even can purchase music through the Amazon Music app.

So why in all that is right in the world, can we not purchase books through the Audible or Kindle apps? 😕

I assume you mean on a Fire device. I wonder if it might be some kind of monopoly avoidance--I can't think of the term for it right at the moment.
Bummer about all the dead ends with what should be cool devices.

Yeah, that makes absolutely no sense. You're honestly telling me that I can view the books on the Kindle app, but I can't actually purchase them directly from there? I actually saw someone complaining about this today on Instagram. It's crazy, and talking to Amazon doesn't work. I feel like all of the customer service representatives our AI bots responding to me.

@OldBear,

I meant in general, but my experience is mainly within iOS.

@Winter Roses,

Yeah. If you have a credit, you can purchase an audio book through the Audible app, if I am not mistaken, but no chance of that if you wanna pay out of pocket. Same for Kindle. If you have a Kindle Unlimited sub, you can add books directly to your library from the app, but you have a better chance skateboarding to the moon than you do purchasing a book out of pocket through the Kindle app.

it is, in a word, stupid. 😒

It's my understanding, unless it has recently changed, Apple charges a huge fee to the provider to sell that type of digital content on iOS. So Amazon doesn't want to pay it, and you can't buy it directly, or something like that.

Which is why we have to purchase content for these services through a we browser. Which, while perhaps taking a little bit longer to complete, completely disregards Apple's fees.

So yeah, gimme back my purchasing rights, Apple! *Grrr* 🙁

Hi Olly,
I do pretty much the same thing. If I like the sound of a book, I add it to my list, and then open Safari, navigate to my shopping list saved in my bookmarks and buy it from there. I just tried buying a Kindle book with the Alexa app on my iPhone and the Amazon app but no luck.