Services & Products Created With Ultra Hal

[JosephP]

If I write really hard and pound away using Microsoft Word for instance, for a couple of weeks and come up with a manuscript which can be sold, there is no doubt about ownership and my right to sell.

However, I find in this artifical voice/text reader world, this is not necessarily the case. There are restrictions, licensing agreements, territories, which interfer with what I want to do. Some companies with extremely good voices and programs which would work for my application, restrict the use of their product or makes it so exensive that I can't justify even trying them.

Why spend a few hundred hours getting a manuscript together converting it MP3/WAV when I can't freely sell the darn thing. HAL would work quite well for me. I tested several voices and all are great. What I would like to know before I buy, What are the restrictions? Does Zabaware view its program like Microsoft views Word or Excel? Or are there problems with getting a product created using a Zabaware product to the market?

[Bill819]

In most cases what you purchase is a license to use the program and that means you can not give it away. If you want to give away or sell your program and it needs a voice then you must find a way to purchase one outright. I am sure that there are some for sales somewhere, must don't ask me where.
Bill

[One]

josephP,
Bill is correct IMO, I have done a lot of research and what he is getting at applies.

[One]

josephP,
Voiceover?

[One]

josephP,
The only thing you have using another program like the Assistant is;
It needs to be in a fixed and tangible medium then you have a legal "interest" in the product.
Otherwise you must go through a publisher.

J.

[JosephP]

First of all, thank everyone who responded to my post. I can see this is is a forum with very active and thoughtful members.

Let me try again. If I create, let us say a short story using Microsoft Word, I own that story and can dispose of it in any way I see fit, for love or for profit. Microsoft could care less about the content that I created using its word processing product.

However, if I convert that story to a MP3 file with an artificial voice, made it available for downloads for Zunes or Ipod, burned a CD to sell does the company which created the program which allows me to accomplish this retain rights over the disposition of my story in this new format?

Stated another way, it appears to me that this artificial voice technology is another form of word processing. There is a direct line between this new form, the word processor, the typewriter and the ink and feather.

I have checked out a number of text to voice products. One company with very life-like voices charges $500 for 30,000 words. Well, I can go through 30,000 words before breakfast. I would hate to count the words stored on my various hard drives. One would could go broke trying to find a product which would sell at that price. Another company has a licensing agreement which won't let their product be used in America for commerical purposes. Well...ok, then.

The question is: can this Zabaware text to voice product be used in commerial products? Is this a word processor or are there royalities involved like, for instance, when a human voice is used? Are there restrictions? If I used it for commerical purposes, should I expect to have friendly chat with a federal agent?

Anyway, thank all of you for being so very helpful. joe

[Bill819]

As we stated above you can use all the voices that come with Zabaware for your own personal use but if you try to put them in a package and then try to sell them you are in violation of copywrite laws and guilty of piracy and can be held liable in a court of law.
The only way you can use an artiful voice is to purchase one outright from a manufacturer. There is one other option and that is to either use you own voice in creating the MP3 files or pay someone else to recored their voice. The last option though may still have some legal entanglements as the person whos voice you used may sue for some of the profits because you used their voice once and sold many copies of it, therefore your only safe option is to use your own voice.
If that does not sink in then think of it this way if you try to sell Microsofts Word Processing software you are guilty of piracy because you never own it only a license to use it.
Bill

[spydaz]

as far as i know the voices that come with ultra hal standard are the microsoft voices these are free... do with as you will.

Cepestral voices is another story, these you buy off cepestral voices.... with these voice softwares you have to find one that enebles you to create your own re-distrubutable voice. as far as i know that microsoft SPEECH SERVER is the only product... as you can create a voice profile.. then convert it into a full blown repackageble voice which uses the microsoft speech engine...
So you can make a voice with your own voice!