I would like to say a few words..

[caravanman]

Hi,

I was responding to a post in Trip reports, and then wondered if I could save my overworked index finger some effort. (it is the only one of mine which can type!)..

On an earlier usa trip, I recorded my thoughts onto an Mp3 "dictaphone" type device, rather than making notes on paper. I am wondering now whether there is any way I can edit and upload audio to share on the internet? I am not a technical person, and aged 56, so any tips need to be in plain english!

Would a "spoken" trip report be of interest, or am I just being lazy?

I know there are sites where one can upload video clips, but they seem just 30 seconds or so. An audio report would need to be more like 30 minutes..?

Ed B)

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

There is a large universe of people on the Internet, many of whom are blind, who regularly upload and download audio content that is not music, e.g. http://librivox.org/

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

Thanks for that link, it seems a good project to have "talking books" available for visualy handicapped folk. I guess I need to catch up on technology.. I am thinking something like a "podcast" where anyone interested could click on a link on, say, this site, then hear my trip report on audio, rather than me typing it out at my slow pace..

I suppose one needs to find a site to "host" the audio/mp3 rather like we need in order to to show our photos on this site?

Someone on here will know! (My technological expertise faded after thermionic valves/tubes were thrown on the scrap heap..)

Ed B)

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

I am inclined to think a Pod-cast kind of offering such as you describe would be a bit difficult to find a home. I would simply open a blog and post a version in text. Google host blogs for free: https://www.blogger.com/start

You can post audio files on blogs, and Google allows this as well: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42140

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Would a "spoken" trip report be of interest, or am I just being lazy?I know there are sites where one can upload video clips, but they seem just 30 seconds or so. An audio report would need to be more like 30 minutes..?

I have several friends who seem to spend quite a bit of time listening to podcasts, so I imagine you'd find at least some audience if you posted an audio trip report.

I happen to like reading text rather than listening to speech, in part because I have more control over the speed at which I absorb the information with text, and skipping around is easier with text, but I'm sure there are people who would prefer the audio to the text.

Because of how text-oriented this site is, it may not attract those who strongly prefer audio; you might find that both posting your trip report here and on an audio-focused site is a good approach. Then again, there probably are some people who pay more attention to photographs than text in the trip report section, too, and some of the people who like pictures might also appreciate the audio.

And in spite of my general preference for text, I do think there are times when short audio clips would enhance this site. For example, sometimes it is difficult to determine the correct pronounciation of a place name without hearing it. (In theory, there are phonetic alphabets which provide ways to write the pronouciation unambiguously, but in spite of having been exposed to the IPA a bit, I really don't have anywhere near enough practice to use it fluently.)

Have you looked at speech recognition software at all? What little I know about it suggests to me that, for the cases where you really need to produce text, it might work better for you than typing.