Read To Me

HOW ABOUT A PERSONALISED BEDTIME STORY SESSION?

MOST PEOPLE like the real thing – the feel of a book held in the hands, the smell of paper, and the satisfaction of turning a page. But in today’s high-pressured existence, there’s less and less time to switch off the world and settle down to a good read. One option is to use technology to have the book read to you. And for anyone who owns an Amazon Echo product, this is dead easy.

You don’t have to do much to get Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, to help you get through your book. “Alexa, read my book,” is all you need to say, and it will immediately open up the book you’re reading on a Kindle device or app and start, picking up from where you left off. Now, the Indian Alexa sounds none too good while reading and is slow and somehow not smooth and natural. You can cheat a little by going to the Alexa app and changing the language setting to UK or US English. Just enter Settings, select your Echo, and scroll down for language. Do this before beginning the listening session and don’t forget to set the language back to Indian English because Alexa is regionalised beyond just the voice and accent, and will no longer recognise many services if not set to the region-specific one.