Amazon is Discontinuing Alexa's Celebrity Voices, Even If You Paid For Them (theverge.com) 51
Amazon is getting rid of its celebrity voices for Alexa. Not only are the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Melisssa McCarthy no longer available for purchase, but Amazon will also stop supporting them on Alexa devices as well. From a report: The voices were fairly cheap, with a $0.99 price at launch before moving up to $4.99, but many users expected to have access for longer than this.
I Pitty the fool! (Score:3)
I Pitty the fool who turn off my Mr. T. Alexa voice!
Full disclosure, I never used Alexa nor have one, nor know if their is actually a Mr. T voice. But it would be kinda fun if it did.
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I am also a Samuel and I frequently use the word motherfucker in business communication. The Samuel L. Jackson voice was kind of fun and something I thought was pretty fun. I hope the dude got a chunk of the whole $1 I spent on getting his voice to come out of my Dots.
For what it's worth, all my smart home stuff is shoved off on its own VLAN with no access to the rest of my network. I get a lot out of using Echo devices as speaker groups and they were my starting point as an IoT controller.
Re:I Pitty the fool! (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Rent my software...they decide they don't want to do it anymore or go out of business, *poof*...there it goes.
2. Have online only software, where I don't get either a soft copy or hard copy to keep and use after I pay for it.
If I pay for something, I WANT a copy of that something that I can hold physically or on my own computers in perpetuity to use as long as I wish...I don't want the risk of something I paid for disappearing based on some other individual or company making decisions about said property.
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Large business feels so entitled these days they no longer even feel an obligation to provide products or services that have been paid for.
Coming soon "We're sorry to inform you that the 200 inch flat screen you ordered for $1000 is out of stock. We have substituted the gently used viewmaster I found in the attic."
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Actually it would be closer to "We're sorry to inform you that the 200 inch flat screen you paid $1000 is not working anymore. We decided to cut our expenses and the server that was required to keep your TV activated was shut down."
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They need to make it clear in the first paragraph, especially the "too big to care" companies like Amazon, that if you buy something from them that it is merely rented. Possibly this also applies to physical goods as well, it would not be surprising if the gumbas showed up to reposses last year's model.
This is Amazon, they pull this trick all the time. Anyone surprised by them doing this today needs to pay attention.
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This is why I keep using Sketchup 2017 instead of upgrading to their new always-connected/subscription-only version. This is also why I don't want to switch to Fusion 360 even though it has everything I would ever need.
If either of these goes offline then I wouldn't be able access my dozens of personal project anymore, things I've been working on for nearly a decade. Only an idiot would take that risk.
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This is why I keep using Sketchup 2017
That, and their "Web version" sucks ass to use.
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This experience is closer to tipping a couple bucks to a stripper. The person in question performed a service that was briefly pleasing and (probably) quickly forgotten. The value of the interaction was relatively low and simple on both sides.
It's really not a great Stallman moment.
I assume they're dropping support because they only licensed the voices for a set amount of time. It really doesn't change the underlying capability of the devices.
Re:I Pity the fool! (Score:1)
There was indeed a Mr. T voice available on TomTom nav devices, at least in the early 2000s. I listened to the samples, and quickly determined that "celebrity voices" was not a thing for me.
Burt Reynolds, another of the choices available on TomTom, sounded so bored I felt sad for the guy. I had trouble imagining the celebrity who wouldn't be phoning in their turn-by-turn audio. The repetition of whatever little bits of cleverness or "persona" the celeb had decided to include... Ugh.
(But hey, mileage may var
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Pedantically, phoning it in is exactly what they're doing, isn't it?
One would think that at this point linguists would have managed to identify and isolate the base-sounds that are combined to make words for just about every language, such that a voice-performer could say all of these sounds phonetically into a recorder, and could then say their more trademark words/expressions for the programmer to be able to construct synth language with this data. They could even use autotune to ensure that pitch-change
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https://beta.elevenlabs.io/ [elevenlabs.io]
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Pop songs? dude, I use the Chrono trigger boss theme for my family calls.
Yes, I dont get along with them all that much
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There was indeed a Mr. T voice available on TomTom nav devices, at least in the early 2000s. I listened to the samples, and quickly determined that "celebrity voices" was not a thing for me.
I always wished I could get my Garmin to use a John Cleese voice. Instead of "Turn around when possible," it would say "You missed your turn. Turn around, you stupid git."
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I would have rather had a voice from Majel Barrett. She recorded enough dialogue over the decades that it should be possible to produce a simulated version of her voice that is convincing.
If not Majel Barrett, William Daniels.
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She went in more recently for many hours of PHONYM recording sessions. They didn't just record her saying dialog, or even words. They basically digitized her VOICE, 100%, so she could continue to be "the voice of the computer", forever.
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So it should be pretty easy then.
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https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-cl... [getyarn.io]
Snakes (Score:1)
Amazon says ... (Score:5, Insightful)
"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." [voiced appropriately]
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"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." [voiced appropriately]
It used to say it in the appropriate voice. Now it just says it in the Alexa voice. :-(
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"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." [voiced appropriately]
It used to say it in the appropriate voice. Now it just says it in the Alexa voice. :-(
Which I imagine would sound even MORE sinister...
Purchase? (Score:5, Insightful)
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The only reason... (Score:5, Insightful)
Once his voice is gone, I'll be pulling the plug on Alexa.
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The only reason I have an Alexa is so that Samuel L. Jackson can tell me the weather, etc. Once his voice is gone, I'll be pulling the plug on Alexa.
It would be great to start ripping out more of Bezos' privacy-raping infrastructure, so while you're at it, could you be a sport and pull the plugs on all the other Alexas out there too? Thanks!
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Only when you ask him to tell you a joke.
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Showing the Value...or lack thereof (Score:3)
This is why I won't use a purchased service.
If I hadn't got my Echo Show as a door prize, I wouldn't have one. The only thing I use it for is to stream music using a free account on one of the streaming services. I also tried to make sure that it wouldn't share my wireless connection.
If it starts doing things I don't want it to do, I have no problems with unplugging and getting rid of it.
Plays for sure! (Score:2)
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I'll squirt it to your Kin.
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if I had "bought" (rented?) any of those voices I'd be contacting them asking how they plan to make the refunds.
Bring on the meme (Score:1)
First time? *smiles*
I think all of us on Slashdot have lost digital media in the past that we supposedly bought "for keeps"...
This is why... (Score:3)
...I don't "buy" movies on streaming services but rather prefer to buy them on DVD or Blu-Ray. With streaming service "purchases" the company can do what Amazon just did with the celebrity voices.
The distinction is 'Licensing' Vs. 'Buying' (Score:2)
Admittedly, I haven't looked into this specific case, but nowadays you don't actually buy anything anymore, you just license it. Digital 'purchases' aren't a purchase of a product, they are a purchase of a license to use a specified item as per the terms of the license provider. More often than not, these terms are subject to change at any time without recourse of any kind.
You will own nothing, and do it with a smile (Score:2)
You will own nothing, and do it with a smile on your face.
Are they issuing refunds? If not, I smell lawsuit (Score:2)
Is this why Apple doesn't have celebrity voices? (Score:2)
I wanted to have them for Siri. :P
Should be illegal (Score:2)
It should be illegal to call something a "sale" or "purchase", treat it as a rental, and not disclose the lease period. Imagine trying to rent a rototiller to prep your garden, and when you ask the store when the machine needs to be returned, they tell you, "Indefinitely. You can use it until you can't. But, we reserve the right to stop by your house and pick it up arbitrarily without notice at any time."
The software market has weaseled their way out of this for far too long, and now these practices are
Refunds are available (Score:2)
According to a story on AFTVnews, refunds are available [aftvnews.com]. But you have to ask.
this is BS... (Score:1)