The sound is choppy or slightly digitized with the play back speed is set to Fast when playing podcasts or books. The older Fuse would up the pitch. Now the pitch stays the same but at the cost of the very clear sound. It would be nice if there was an option in setting to maintain pitch or not. I more often than not appreciate the higher pitch. I may be the odd person on this issue.
When playing back a book in fast mode, what you’re hearing is a “time-compressed” version of the audio. Gaps in speech are truncated a wee bit, and the Fuze+ converts the playback frequency to match the frequencies heard in “real time”.
It is normal to hear a little jitter generated by this process, as the player is doing some number crunching to produce the end result, requiring a bit of processor overhead. If the display is active, the processor is also busy with the screen driver “module” of the program. See if it is better after the screen blanks.
I’ll have to look into some rapid playback with a known book track. I don’t have a cool simulator available here to debug whether the OS is actively processing the GUI while the display is blanked. The e200 saved overhead this way.
I love playing BBC NewsPod back in slow and dopey mode, it sounds quite humourous listening to the slow rolling speeeeech at times. Sure makes picking a specific word out much easier.
Overhead might be the key to debugging the voice recorder. I am anticipating progress soon!
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
I still hear the buzz mostly in men voices, but also in some women voices, at fast speed when the screen goes blank. It is not so bad near engine noise. I more often go with normal now to get away from the buzz. When going to normal, most readers seem to drag. I liked having women voices sound like kid voices when women are reading kid stories. The Pitch shift is not a problem without the buzz.
Sorry, but I just wanted to ask a question of opinion here.
Why do people listen to audiobooks? What is so good about a book that is spoken to you?
I can understand podcasts and news, but why audiobooks?
@slimmyshady wrote:
Sorry, but I just wanted to ask a question of opinion here.
Why do people listen to audiobooks? What is so good about a book that is spoken to you?
I can understand podcasts and news, but why audiobooks?
For people who can’t read. 
When you have to drive 70 mile each way, and leave work a 5:30 AM , most music only help me sleep. Unless they are good sing-a- long songs that make you scream. The Odyssey for nearly 12 hours or the Federalist Papaers for 21 hours are good to drive by. I can not think of any music or podcast ( except Car Talk) I could stand for more than one hour.
I understand now.
Audiobooks are great on the Sansa. As my eyes have grown older, there are times when it’s great to listen to the book, rather than read the text. It’s a very different experience.
Listening to a book is great when doing something else, like cleaning or craftwork, where your eyes and hands are needed, but you’d like to enjoy a book, rather than music.
With the blind or elderly, listening to books has been a necessity; today, the audience for audiobooks has grown tremendously. Years ago, I spent hours passing the time with friends in a skilled nursing / retirement home, reading chapters for them. Portable digital players have made the process so very much easier and convenient than tapes or CDs. I started listening to Audible books after a free trial, and have found them to be quite enjoyable.
I collect hardcover editions, as I love to reread my favorites, and I have the same titles in Audible format for convenient review. Granted, there’s no substitute for the speed, accessibility, and the feel of reading a printed edition, but after enjoying books in audible format, I love them.
The limitation of spoken word is speed of access. When reading, I scan the words in several modes, either slow and deliberate, or as a speed reader does, as mental images. One can scan words on several levels, a process that’s hard to really quantify. On my e280, at the moment, I’d bet there are about a dozen unabridged editions on the microSD card.
Back to the Fuze+, sorry to digress. Audiobooks are hidden inconspicuously under Podcasts in the main menu, which is a little quirky at first, when you try to find them. You must tap on Podcasts, then sweep over from the podcast list to Audiobooks. The wee dots at the bottom of the screen are your first hint that something is hiding on the back shelf.
I just had a thought, I’ll have to run this sample Audible file (it is located on the microSD in the Fuze+), after authorizing the new device. Around here, device authorizations are a real pickle, as I have Sansas all over the place. I haven’t checked if the Fuze+ will play back the file in fast mode as a pitch-corrected compressed output! Shows how busy I’ve been. Well, I don’t use fast mode with books very often.
Bob :smileyvery-happy:
Wow, thanks for your huge response, I read it all!
I can see how audiobooks would appeal to elderly and workers who can’t physically read a book, but seeing as I don’t fit into either category I would rather read a book than listen to an audiobook.
