Voice Dream Reader oddities, possible alternatives?

By Karok, 29 June, 2020

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello, Does voicedream when reading say, mp3 audio books or listening to movies, stop the audio usually at the end of chapters for anyone else but me? ? then, when you restart it playing it jumps back a few minutes? this bug has not been sorted, and is too frustrating to continue using it. Are there any alternatives?

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Comments

By Sam T on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

Hi Will, I have intermittently experienced this bug for as long as I can remember. It can also occur if you stop audio with a two finger double tap. The audio doens't stop first time. The second time you two finger double tap, you are taken back to the point at which you began listening. It's extremely annoying and hard to replicate. I have reported it previously but I don't believe a solution has been found. I'm currently looking at Castro as a possible alternative as it can play external media, but I don't see how folders of audio can be added so that audiobooks can be played.

By Karok on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

In reply to by Sam T

Hi Sam, yes I am looking at Castro as well, but I don’t think we can import audiobooks of zip files. I have reported the book, I think it should’ve been fixed by now, just frustrating had a developer does not seem to take it on board. I think it’s though it is an audio book reader for text files. When I double tap to stop I have exactly the same problem

By Karok on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

Also, i find with voicedream again, that if i am playing a book it stops at the end of a chapter of its own accord as well.

By Adrian Wyka on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

I also have this problem.
I've also been reporting it for several years.
Also there is no reaction.
I don't believe it can't be solved. Other applications for listening `e.g. to music do not make such problems.

By Karok on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

wish was a free app as it not being worked on effectively.

By Remy on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

I haven't experienced any of these problems, though I primarily use this to read straight up word and text files. Regarding stopping chapters, I believe there is a setting which toggles the ability to stop and start reading when moving to a different article. That may be a setting worth exploring.

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

Hello. I just got voice dream reader. A few weeks ago. And I really love it. I haven’t really seen these issues. I’m not saying I don’t believe that they aren’t occurring. I just haven’t seen them. Also, my thoughts on Castro. Even if you could do it, I don’t think I would use Castro. Because of its accessibility issues. There were no button labels on the categories for Podcasts. And I had to make button labels.

That being said, there’s other little things that would make it not a good choice for me. I will use it for Podcasts. But because of the issues, I have deleted it and reinstalled it probably two or three times now. To give it another shot. But, I will still use it. It just won’t be one of my primary podcast players. That being said though, I can’t think of any other alternative where you could do this. The only thing I can probably think of, is maybe it’s the voice you’re using? I don’t know though. I read Daisy books from book share with it. I’m hoping to experiment with reading read pages and the like with it soon.

By peter on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

I generally don't read audio with Voice Dream Reader, but perhaps you could contact the developer. It is always worth a shot. I don't see many updates or new features added to this app so don't know how much the developer is working on it these days, but they can only fix problems they know about.

--Pete

By Tangela on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

I can definitely confirm the app is still actively being developed. I don't tend to use it for audio, so haven't tested pre-release versions for these bugs, but can definitely confirm it is still being worked on.

By SeasonKing on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

Dolphin Easyreader is available for free on Android, and probably for IPhones too.

By KE7ZUM on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

If someone did contact the developer what was their response, I'll give them a link to this thread as well. I don't use the app as of late because I don't read books anymore , not much, so cannot test this. But I will submit this link to the developers and maybe they can contact you.

By Igna Triay on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

Maybee this bug has something to do with the file format? I listen to epub books on voice dream and while I encounter this problem from time to time, it is a rare occurrence at worst.

By Adrian Wyka on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 - 12:11

To all,
The bug only appears with audio files.
If you read books in text formats you won't have this problem.

A new version has just been released. There is a chance that this has been fixed.
Version 4.11.1
- Fixed: occasionally losing audio position while using lock screen.
- Fixed: setting preferred voice not working.
- Fixed: choosing free premium voice sometimes not available.