Voice Dream Reader for iOS is now $59.99/year

Hi Jane,

I totally understand your disagreement with the decision. Just to look at it from our perspective, you paid $10, Apple took 30% of that, and we were left with $7 over 12 years. That's 58 cents a year.

We can't pay for everything with 50 cents (and that number will go down over time). We have to pay for support, active development, voice licensing, Apple's annual fee, hosting costs, software that we use to build the app, etc. It's just not a feasible business model. There are ongoing costs.

Again, we understand the frustration, but hopefully that illustrates why we need to transition to a subscription.

Are there any other alternatives besides voiceDream to play audiobooks?
I like voiceDream’s add to library feature. I was able to add zip files, that contains audiobooks.

Already got the app that I like which is EasyReader
But I need something that I can read newspapers and other articles from websites/periodicals.

I bought the app one time, when it was 9.99, I think it was in 2014.
I loved all the voices ever since, I did my college studies on the app.

I would like to afford another subscription, but at this point, I really can’t. I would’ve liked to use voiceDream on the Mac, as I own one.
But I guess the subscription if I choose to subscribe to it, will have both of them.

Well, first it was that people who bought years ago could keep using the app for free and new users would have to subscribe. Now it is that if you subscribe by the first of may it is only $60 a year for life, but it will go up to $80 after that. How long will it be possible to keep that promise? I suspect the purchasers of this program have bitten off more than they can chew, they will never get enough people to pay enough to keep it afloat, especially if they have to keep buying voices. The higher the price, the fewer people will be able to buy it, economics 101 strikes again.

The trouble is that you can do most of the same stuff with a combination of free programs, not to mention that a lot of people still have devices around that can handle these functions. I was surprised how well the synthetic speech download from bookshare worked on my old victor stream, I could easily switch from the bookshare speech to the stream's built-in speech if I needed to check a word's spelling, for example.

You might have a point but Most if not all users will have purchased the voices they like so this isn’t a valid point from them. Bundling all the voices into the subscription and claiming thats a valid cost doesn’t work for that reason. Also we need to be very careful with their claims about costs. What they promised (for what it’s worth which isn’t anything anymore) is that they’d give a 25% discount on the subscription price in the AppStore for life. In return customers would have to subscribe outside the AppStore and lose all the benefits that being inside apples ecosystem offers. Depending on their revenues, thats worth either 15% or 30% of the subscription cost to Applause.

Book Player is a truly fantastic app for playing books. It has everything I need and no useless filler. It’s free but you can donate if you’d like. I did and would have been happy to pay more. Not a subscription though. I’m all subscriptioned out.

It will be interesting to hear Jonathan's interview. I'm willing to listen. If they offered an app store monthly option I may change my mind.

I bought the VDR about 5 years ago I think, but have only really used it for the past 3 years, when I decided to dich my Old VR stream, for an iPhone only,based reading experience. I only use VDR for Bookshare books, and I use the built in eloquence TTS that comes with Voice over. I don't want, nor do I need a subscription, where I get access to all sorts of TTS voices and i Don't have the need for a mac version, as I have no mac computer. I just want a decent player giving me access to Bookshare, that does not cost 72 USF per Year which is what I am forced to buy the reduced subscription for in the Danish App store. not 60 USD. I know of the Easy Reader app but I am not happy with the interface of the app. The Bookshare reader app is not available in the Danish app store, which is weird, since I can subscribe to Bookshare in Denmark! What other options are there for a decent app? I am considering buying a sensePlayer. It will cost me quite abit, but at least I can subtract the anual cost of VDR! But if I could find a player on my iPhone where I can pay a reasonable amount either per year, or up front that will allow me to import my fairly large bookshare collection of books, I would rather do that. Had VDR just given me a subscription model, where I could continue the way I do now, pay, say 20 -or even 30 USD per year without access to a mac version or additional TTS voices that I do not need or care for, I would still sign on to Voice Dream Reader. As it stands now I unfortunately do not seem to get that choice. In which case I will reluctantly leave VDR as the suggested offer is not for me.

Does Book Player have a sleep timer? I'd be interested if it did.

It’s definitely worth a go.

You can subscribe to livingly blindfully plus for just 60 american cents and get access today or wait 3 days. I strongly encourage you to listen to it. I do think the Voicedream team does care and value our feedback.

It’s going to come down to action not words now. They are obviously feeling under threat, knowing they’ve blown everyone’s trust. People can be very convincing when they fear losing something. If the words and actions match then I’m all ears.

In fairness to those that subscribe I gave away all I will. I again recommend subscribing.

I’d turn back from the forcing of existing features locking sub, and either (A) start charging just for each new feature separately (a la carte), or (B) introduce a subscription just for new features and support, or (C) drop support for VDR altogether- start a new app and let VDR slowly die out due to abandonment .

I’m listening to the interview now and honestly I’m not hearing anything that changes my mind. They’re asking for a frankly insane price to do nothing for anyone who’s had the app for very long. I like Jonathan a lot but sometimes he speaks from a place of tremendous financial privilege that is not the reality for most of us and this is one such time.

I would be fine paying $30 a year to keep the app going or as a basic plan. But they’ve straight up said everyone has to pay $60 (which was the price for new subscribers last year, now it’s $80 for them) for voices I have not used in a decade and a Mac version for a device I do not and will never have. I don’t know who in the community they spoke to that has that much money but it’s sure not the 70% of us who are unemployed or the thousands living in poorer countries. Adding to this, they’ve been very unclear about how people like students are supposed to get free access.

They have communicated so badly that I had to find out about all of this through second hand sources not once but three times now. I am also very concerned about my privacy through them. If they can just turn off my ability to upload documents on my own device when everything I have in the app right now is being hosted on my phone, how are they doing that and what protections do I have? Not that I would trust their word on it after a full year of total communication failures.

To top it off, the claims that they have to squeeze us to keep the app going are just not true. This company specializes in buying legacy apps and keeping them running. They have other revenue sources.

I used to rec this app to everyone. Even at $20 to buy with in-app voice purchases it was worth it. I’d probably pay $3 a month or $30 a year as a legacy member to keep it and if it actually did cost what a cup of coffee costs (which is not freaking $7) I could tell my reading disabled friends to give it a go. But there is no way it costs as much as they’re charging. I don’t even have to pay that much for my weather app and it’s doing a lot more and is much more transparent about where that money is going.

I hate that we got lied to right out of the gate and now shallow greed is going to lock thousands of people out of yet another once great resource.

You have to be there early. I already have a family subscription to MS office, Five people could all use it on multiple devices with 1tb of cloud storage a piece all for a grand total of $110. Makes VoiceDream seem sort of expensive, doesn't it. I wish them well, and I really like their app, but they should've changed this before my office sub, apple music sub, youtube sub, etc. Too late, guys.

As of now, my entire local NFB chapter, all Voice Dream Reader users, are gearing up to quit. The price is just not realistic for the service or this community. The fact that they’ve suddenly forced it on everyone and raised it for newcomers is pretty telling that it wasn’t viable from the start. I don’t know what they’re thinking at Applause Group to have thought this would work out. Yes Bookshare charges $60 a year but Bookshare provides, you know, books! That need editing and formatting and quality checks but they’re also subsidized by governments and schools because they know their average user can’t afford that. Applause Group seems to have done no research ahead of time and it’s already hitting them pretty hard.

Like others I was really keen to hear what the owners of Voice Dream had to say to Jonathan yesterday. I must say that nothing the spokesman said during the interview has convinced me that it is worth the while putting my money into the project. Granted, I think they really want to develop VDR but as to whether it is in a blindness friendly direction, or even a fully accessible way, I am not convinced. The fact that he was so relaxed about not having explained a visual banner in any meaningful way, shows that their knowledge of our target group even after one year is fairly limited. Great if they manage to pull the Kindle integration off, but seeing is believing, and with their current track record I am not gonna put my money into their project, until they actually put it off. If they deliver on this, may be i will come back as a costomer and I know, that I will have to pay the higher price. But for now I will not invest in the Venture, as there is not enough insentive for me to pay the anual fee, and not yet a monthly plan available that I could use, to support them for a couple of months, which I would be willing to do. But under no circumstances will I pay up front 72 USD, for the iffi promises I heard yesterday. Again as I said before. Had they offered an iPhone plan, for a lesser amount or a plan without the voices, I would happily pay a subscription, as the subscription plan is the the best option for developers to get a steady stream of income to pay for development. I am just not willing to pay the asking price for what I will get.
Good luck to Voice Dream.

They didn’t offer to give back what belonged to users and that was the only thing that would have meant anything. Even JM suggested breaking out the old version and letting it die a natural death in his last show. Unless they give peoples property back then they deserve nothing. People had access to something they bought and now they don’t. Thats theft. They wanna make new versions or somehow magically get a contract with Amazon? Thats on them and people have the right to judge their success or failure and pay them accordingly for access to what they build but they don’t have the right to steel peoples property.

In looking through reviews for the app back to October, I saw a ton of people who were attempting to use the free trial but got forced to pay for a year subscription and had no way to cancel or get their money back. That by itself is a huge red flag. And today when going through my Voice Dream library in the files app, I found several new documents that had never been there before with some pretty weird names that have nothing to do with storing book files. This company is as shady as it gets and everything I learn about them beyond their total lack of communication with customers gets more and more suspicious. Do not give them your money right now, all signs point toward a great app having been sold to a scam company.

Files like what? I stopped using voice dream a long time ago so i'm curious. But what files have you been seeing that have nothing to do with books or weird names?

These files may not be suspicious. All book-reading apps need to use files to store details like your progress through the file and your speech settings for each file. While most apps hide these files from users, I don't think it's cause for alarm that this app stores them alongside the files containing media.

I don't know for sure that these files aren't nefarious, but unless you have reason to believe that they are, bringing them up isn't helpful to the discussion at hand. Furthermore, I'm not even sure that your point about those additional files not being visible in the Files app before Voice Dream was sold is correct.

I have since deleted the app and don't have the file names any longer but they were named in line with payment processing details. Someone who still has the app on their phone will need to get the exact names. I had not seen those files before January of this year and prior to everything that's gone down I might not have thought anything of them, but given how dodgy the company is acting, I was suspicious. In the past the only VDR files that would be saved in iCloud and on my phone were just the library itself. These had nothing to do with that.

I still don't see how that indicates that the files were necessarily nefarious. Perhaps the files were just used to link subscription information to a particular iCloud account, which in your case would have indicated that you were not to be charged until you opted into the subscription and that you were using the app by means of a one-time purchase.

Everyone has the right to their own feelings about this situation. However, you do not have the right to make accusations which you have not been able to prove have any merit.

Another user on Reddit has much more detailed proof that they're doing something scummy in regards to tracking user data even when those options are turned off. From their post:

In addition to the financials, I have serious concerns about the privacy practices of Voice Dream Reader.

You should keep in mind that blind people don't only use this app to read commercial books. If you're like me, you probably put everything from your own home recordings to personal journals to work-related notes in there. So you might want to check which sites Voice Dream is actually communicating with.

Under settings>privacy>App Privacy Reports, you can check which domains app developers are contacting in their apps. There is virtually no downside to having this on, and it provides lots of insights into what developers are doing.

Before we get to the bad stuff, here's an example of a GOOD app: my password manager, Strongbox. It contacts the following domains, only: graph.microsoft.com, and login.microsoftonline.com. This is all good, because my password database is stored in OneDrive, so it has to be able to connect to Microsoft servers to sync it.

Now let's look at our old friend, Voice Dream Reader. Here's a sample of what domains it's contacted: api.onesignal.com, ⁦‪api.revenuecat.com‬, ⁦‪api.superwall.me‬, ⁦‪api2.amplitude.com‬, ⁦‪builder-templates.superwall.com‬, ⁦‪cdn.superwall.me‬, ⁦‪collector.superwall.me‬, ⁦‪gateway.icloud.com‬, ⁦‪graph.facebook.com‬, ⁦‪inappcheck.itunes.apple.com‬, ⁦‪o416041.ingest.sentry.io‬⁩, ⁦‪oauth.reddit.com‬, ⁦‪ocsp.pki.goog‬, ⁦‪voicedream.herokuapp.com‬.

There are more, I just got tired of pasting each domain into this message.

I would like to suggest that we take a pause and consider why this app needs to be contacting all these places. Out of all those places, the only domains I think it should be contacting are the iTunes and iCloud ones. They are needed to validate app purchases, and sync data from iCloud. The rest look like a massive amount of tracking, revenue and analytics sites, please correct me if I'm wrong, including none other than Facebook and Reddit. In addition, the app asks you to opt into ad tracking when you install it, and if you subscribe, they take your Email and other personal info which they would be able to associate with whatever data they're transmitting with all those domains. The developer also tracks you with a unique ID, you can see this if you contact support and look at the pre-filled Email.

Since the app provides no cloud locker or other server based features that are personalized to you, there is in my opinion, no need to have an account at all, no need to take your personal info and absolutely no need to be contacting a plethora of tracking and analytics sites or even the developer's own domain. There is no upside whatsoever for you, the end user.

Will this data tracking stop if they want people to pay? Are paid users automatically opted out, or can they opt out? What exactly is being exchanged with these sites and what benefit to you do they claim having an account serves, when all synchronization happens over iCloud? Voice Dream's developers sure aren't saying, and I think we need to be reaching out to support to ask about this info.

I am open to being corrected on any of this. Curious to hear your thoughts.

Edit: to be clear, all these domains are still contacted even if you opt out of tracking when iOS prompts you upon installation.

Link to the original post where more users are confirming this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/1bsrrn6/psa_privacy_concerns_re_voice_dream_reader/

Oh I don't expect a response but if I annoy them, I'll be glad.

I've pasted this thread letting them know a little bit of what @Magic Retina said and hope they read this.

I've out right told them that if they don't get things together they should quit the business I could have worded that better but you know what I mean.

This is so scummy and I hope everyone leaves for their own sake.

This is the first time that even though I don't use the app, I still wrote to a company. I really hope I annoy them.

Is it a bit childish? Yep, do I care, not in the slightest.

They took a genuinely good, helpful thing for thousands of people around the world and not only made it financially inaccessible but seen to be morally bankrupt on top of that. I would rather the original dev had just let it die naturally than this awful garbage that’s happening with it right now. I hope this stains their company’s reputation so every future team-up reconsiders working with them, they’ve done us so dirty from the start. Who robs from the blind this blatantly? It’s disgusting.

@Magic Retina Quite eye-opening and useful. Hope it reaches the minds of those who still think the new company has valid reasons to rip off both the app and its old user base.

Here's even more proof. If you look at their terms and conditions, pasting them below, nowhere in those terms does it say, 1. That they can modify or change the terms and conditions and, 2. Nowhere does it say that they can change the payment method or form of payment, like what they did here, where they forced everyone into a Subscription, even people who already bought the app as a one time purchace. Nowhere does it say that if they want to, they can suddenly say oh, we're changing our payment method. For reference here are the terms,
In addition to legal terms and conditions that you accepted when purchasing the Application from Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Amazon Appstore, you also understand and accept the following legal terms and conditions as a condition to your use of the Application:
Addendum A. Text-to-speech voices (TTS Voices) from Acapela, Ivona and NeoSpeech (Vendor)
TTS Voices, either packaged with the Application or purchased through in-app purchases, are subcomponents of the Application and are subject to the same legal terms and conditions as the Application, plus:
1 You will use TTS Voices only as a part of this Application.
2 You will use TTS Voices solely for personal use and not for commercial purposes.
3 You will not use TTS Voices in a manner that: (a) may be considered sexually explicit, vulgar, profane, offensive or obscene, defamatory, slanderous, religiously or racially offensive or otherwise promoting hate towards individuals or groups, promoting terrorist or other criminal activities; or (b) infringes anyone else’s intellectual property rights or rights or privacy.
4 You will not distribute Speech generated by TTS Voices, in any manner, including, but not limited to, in the form of audio files, as a part of applications, materials and multimedia works created by or for you or otherwise rent, resell, lease or lend Speech to any third party.
5 You shall not tamper with, modify or defeat nor attempt to tamper with, modify or defeat, any security measures built into TTS Voices.
6 Voice Dream at its sole discretion may teriminate the license of one or more TTS Voices granted to you.
7 You agree to destroy TTS Voices together with all copies, modifications and merged portions in any form upon termination of the license granted to you.
Addendum B. Use of Application while operating a motor vehicle
1 Voice Dream draws your attention to the fact that, when using the Application, observing traffic rules and regulations (e.g., proper and generally expected care and attention in the given situation) is your exclusive responsibility. You acknowledge and understand that use of the Application while driving may be dangerous and result in accidents. You agree not to use the Application while operating any vehicle in a manner that presents a danger to others, would constitute a criminal offense or would give rise to civil liability. Your use of the Application while operating a vehicle is at your sole risk.
2 VOICE DREAM WILL NOT ASSUME (AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS) ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES OCCURRED WHILE USING THE APPLICATION IN A MOTOR VEHICLE.

This is looking shadier by the minute.

Just so everybody knows, Applause Group is blatantly violating App Store guidelines. This text is taken directly from Apple.
"If you are changing your existing app to a subscription-based business model, you should not take away the primary functionality existing users have already paid for. For example, let customers who have already purchased a “full game unlock” continue to access the full game after you introduce a subscription model for new customers."
As well as this:
Apps that attempt to scam users will be removed from the App Store. This includes apps that attempt to trick users into purchasing a subscription under false pretenses or engage in bait-and-switch and scam practices; these will be removed from the App Store and you may be removed from the Apple Developer Program.
It goes without saying that Apple should be notified of this breach of contract as soon as possible, and action needs to be taken. What Applause Group has done here is completely unacceptable. Absolutely disgusting Company and they will never see my money. Here is a direct link to the guidelines so you can see for yourself: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
I believe this combined with the privacy violations is a nail in the coffin for both this app and the company around it, and I don't see how anyone in good conscience could defend their actions here.

I suspect Applause group has lawyers that read the guidelines. I don't think this will work but it doesn't hurt to try.

It doesn't matter what their lawyers think, this is a blatant violation, plain and simple. There's no other way around it. They openly published a blog post detailing their plans to make all users pay a subscription, and doubtless someone at Apple has already seen it given how quickly News of this has spread.
I would be shocked and appalled if Apple were to approve this change, and that would be further fuel to the antitrust fire that's currently brewing. People need to take action now.

I don't think it will do anything but it doesn't hurt to try.

Have to agree. Given what's going on, yoll should report what's going on here to apple directly to apple via the report a problem. Don't know if it'll help, but apple should know about this for sure.
I contacted apple as well via the report a problem, reported the app as fraud / scam and let them know what's going on.

The living blindfully podcast is out for all. it is episode 275

I am now 100% sure than I will NOT subscribe. What they are doing is wrong and might actually be illegal as well.

I'm pretty sure they had lawyers review it. Apps change all the time to subscription. Take fantastical and Ulysses No one complains about those prices. For the record Fantastical is about the same price as VDR.

Hearing a humans voice did threaten to soften me for a while but the facts remain the same. People of low income spent significant money on VDR and voices. They owned something thats being taken away. End of story. It’s really unfortunate because if they’d come on and said we’ve got Kindle coming as well as voices we think possibly even Eleven Labs and maybe a Windows version and maybe Audible iBooks and whatever else they could throw at it. Soooo many people would have said, Applause are amazing and I’m subscribing because I can afford it and want or need the new features. Thats not what happened though and thats where this is and will always be a problem. All this could have been avoided if they’d just stuck to what they promised and built a load of cool new stuff. Bring people along, don’t lock them out. Those who could pay would have paid and those who couldn’t would have kept what they bought paid for and owned. I think JM did a fantastic job of describing the current state of play before introducing the representative. He also tried to pass a few easy questions over that the rep bodged, he really was up against it though. Not having anything new to offer and having to explain something he knew people wouldn’t like. All in all. A good interview but doesn’t change the facts and thats the problem.

The example of FantastiCal is quite ironic because if memory serves correctly, didn’t they have to break out a legacy version for people who’d bought the previous version? FantastiCal 2. I know Applause didn’t make that link but others including JM did but it is an example that shows eventually people got back what they owned. I’m guessing significant numbers are now on the subscription version but I wonder what would have happened if they didn’t see the light and promise to give back what customers owned and had a reasonable expectation couldn’t be taken away from them. Trust means a lot and wow have Applause ever broken trust. Digging in after realising how rightfully upset their customers were can’t have done anything to help.

Here's the thing though, this is legal, and yet, at the same time, it is illegal. The illegal bit, is that per apple's guidelines, you can change to subscription, however users who previously payed f'or the app, content etc, before you went subscription, have to still be able to access the content they bought as a one time purchase before the thing went subscription for new users. And it is this very term, which applause group has violated. So yes, from that standpoint, it is illegal, given they're deliberately breaching apple's guidelines as to what they can and cannot do.

Hear is why. You will still be able to access previously uploaded content. You won't be able to upload or import new stuff so it is in a gray area in my opinion.

And you know this how? Please start providing sources or I personally will have no reason to believe you. Frankly, you're unflinching support of this company is really confusing to me, make no mistake, they do not care about their customers.
What they have done is illegal, a breach of contract, and Apple should be notified by as many people as possible. I personally no longer use VDR, but for the people that use it, this is a huge deal. Paying a subscription for what essentially amounts to a text to speech reader with BookShare and audio file support is insane, there is absolutely no reason to do this unless they are incurring significantly high server costs which they are currently not. Again, they have blatantly violated apples guidelines, and I would not be shocked if Apple revokes their developer account if they continue with this behavior.

as others have stated on the Living Blindfully podcast it does cost to keep updating apps and making them compatible with the next iOS bug fixes and new features. Developers don't work for free. BTW I did call apple and file a complaint I just see it going no where.

Dude, if you download the app, you cannot proceed without subscribing. You cannot access the app at all unless you subscribe. I've downloaded the app and... what welcomes me when I first open it? The same exact text you find on their blog. So no, you cant access the app whatsoever.
Want proof? I did a screen recording. You can access your stuff now, but when may first comes? Not anymore unless you subscribe. The only reason you can still access your stuff now, add documents etc... is because may first hasn't arrived yet, but once this is in effect... no dice.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0fcktE-1mvw15xv_NqET_EY_A

And it seems it *might* be illegal in the UK under Consumer Right Act (2015)

I’m quoting what says in the page here (not the actual law):

“What the consumer can expect (statutory rights)“

“Certain digital products are upgraded over time. The digital content must continue to match the description but it can contain additional or enhanced features that are not part of that description.”

https://www.businesscompanion.info/en/quick-guides/digital/digital-content

So there might be something in here but then again there may not be..

If the guidelines clearly state that customers who previously purchased products before they entered a subscription model should still have access to their purchased content, that's a clearly stated rule with no possibility of gray. Applause has clearly stated that customers who previously bought the app and voices will now have to pay for the use of products they previously bought. When old customers bought the app, the uploading of documents was part of the package that was purchased. Likewise, any voices that were previously purchased under the older buy and keep model should belong to the purchaser. Applause has taken away key functions o the app from those of us who have already paid. So, Dennis, I'll have to disagree on this one. I really think they should have come up with a better, less devisive way of making money off of a truly useful app.

I agree they should've come up with a better way. The thing that will be sorted over time is can they block uploading of new documents. If so then there is nothing to do but subscribe. If not they will have to make that accessible not allow any new voice ETC or features. I think that is what they should've done. If you wanted to remove any voices they added. Leave you with whatever was there when they bought the app and say want x y z new voices you need to subscribe. You want Kindle support awesome subscribe. as an example only want Voicedream for windows subscribe.

I couldn't care less about new voices, Neospeech Paul gets it done as long as they don't break it like the broke everything a few months back. I don't care about a version for a computer that can't even reasonably browse the web, let alone let me access Excel, either. I'd love to see the Kindel accessibility, but I don't think I'd really pay for it, the number of books I've read on Kindle because I couldn't find them anywhere else is quite small.

Good luck to them,they bought a horse who's racing days were just about over, and all the hope in the world isn't going to fix it.

This is important I will be reporting the app.
Please follow the instructions he gives.
https://cdn.tweesecake.social/cache/media_attachments/files/112/208/510/831/262/201/original/d9ce03ec2b623f64.mp3

Such approach is really unfair. I understand they might have changed their mind and decided to introduce a paid service. What has been given, cannot be taken away. I think they should be deprived off the golden Apple prize.

I've already sent them emails so won't do anymore but this isn't right and i hope something is done.