I’ve figured out a new tech trick that I thought I would share here. You can use TTS - text to speech - in any of the kindle versions of Rick Steves’ guide books. We are headed to Turkey soon and there are a lot of walking tours in the book that aren’t in his app. Using this feature should allow us to listen to the book and walk around just like you do with the audio guides in the app, instead of standing and reading the book. Here’s an instructional video on how to do it. Hoping this will work great on our trip!
Posted by
Freedonia
16312 posts
Just to clarify, this is only for iphone. It doesn't work for Android.
Posted by
OP
KS, USA
677 posts
Frank, that is frustrating to hear for android users. Thanks for the additional info!
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8056 posts
Julie, thanks! I've used TTS sometimes in my car to listen to a book but didn't think of using it for walking tours. Good idea!
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8056 posts
Frank, I don't think that's true. The YouTube video is just for IOS but is does appear that you can use it on Androids as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44K5ok8TV7w&ab_channel=TheTechReview
Posted by
Freedonia
16312 posts
Android doesn't have the functions for this type of use. I tried.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
2734 posts
Frank I found this tutorial that shows how to set it up on Android https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=nhrsb_pGiXA I got it working on my Google Pixel - but it will take some learning on my part to get the hang of it (might not be worth the trouble, for me).
Posted by
Freedonia
16312 posts
He's using the Talk Back feature. It doesn't just put books into spoken words but everything. It's also very difficult to turn off.
This is for people with vision problems to get all instruction via sound.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
8056 posts
Frank, here is another tutorial that is not a video. And it is not Talk Back but Text to Speech.
hhttps://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-to-activate-text-to-speech-for-kindle-on-an-android-device/
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
2734 posts
Mardee unfortunately those instructions don't match up to the current version of the Kindle app on my particular Android phone. The other option that I linked above, as Frank pointed out, applies to the entire phone and all apps, which works but is quite a hassle to maneuver through. So maybe someday the droid side will catch up to the fruit phones on this feature :)