The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled has just released the My Talking Books skill on Alexa, to complement their BARD Mobile Apps.
See their link here to register for access.
The My Talking Books skill allows registered users to search for titles and store them on a bookshelf, navigate around inside a book and stream its contents at different speeds and pitch. The current collection made available (English, Audiobooks) has perhaps 100,000 audio books, and can be accessed where ever Alexa is found. Whether it be smart speaker, or an app on an iPhone or elsewhere.
RealSAM Inc and its parent company RealThing AI have been working with the Library of Congress (the parent organization of NLS) since 2019, prototyping different voice operated solutions. This is the first to be released in the the public, as an Open Beta. We are very excited!
We will also look to adding the NLS library to RealSAM downstream, once NLS ok’s its new systems for access.