Virtual Voice Sample

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Hard Luck Hank: Early Years

By: Steven Campbell
Narrated by: Virtual Voice
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Publisher's summary

Collection of short stories featuring Hard Luck Hank and his early days on Belvaille. Print Length: 63 pages Includes: -Why Hank came to Belvaille -Hank's first job -Where Hank got his plasma pistol -Hank's first murder -Introduction of glocken -Where the Gentleman's Club and Athletic Club came from -Hank's first love -How and why Belvaille changed and became what it is today NOTE: while the stories are stand-alone, it contains many references to characters and events in Hard Luck Hank novels.

This title uses virtual voice narration

Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks.
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What listeners say about Hard Luck Hank: Early Years

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The awful narrator.

Virtual voice is awful. It pulls you out of the story and makes it hard to follow. The mispronunciation of names is painful.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I don't like AI voiceover

As per usual, Campbell wrote a great story. That being said, all the charm of Hank and this unique world is lost due to a virtual voiceover. It's pretty good for what it is, sounds a lot more human than most, but there's no emotion. It mispronounces things here and there as well, but what most bothers me is the lack of soul in the delivery. Unfortunately, I will probably refrain from listening to any more stories in the Hank universe unless they are voiced by Liam, the original guy 

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

AI Virtual Voice is terrible don't bother listening

The stories were fine. The "virtual voice" they used is terrible. Inflections are off, it pronounced things weird, it was monotone and the no emphasis on anythis so it made it so hard to follow. Just a monotone drone. What's worst of all is it's missing the soul and voice of Liam Owen.

If this is the future of audiobooks, we might as well end our subscriptions now.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

AI narration lacks soul

These are background stories of Hank. I liked it overall, but I was impressed and disappointed with the narration. The articulation was good. It's better even than a lot of narrators. However, it ultimately failed to pass the humor to the reader. This example would work for class subjects. It was free for subscribers, so I am not unhappy.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story. Crappy AI reader.

Ok short story about Hanks early years but the AI reading is poor. No inflection of voices and several improper pronunciations of names. This AI is not ready for prime time.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

do not listen to this! AI voice sucks!

PAY VOICE ACTORS!!! Don't listen to books using this synthesized voice. AI voice is a scam trying to drive the prices of actual workers down to unsustainable levels.
story is good, do not download! demand better!

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Dred Aled Allert!

I can believe in a world where robots are the bad guys there is this abomination of an audio book. Major characters names were flubbed, the overall voice was lost... I only bothered to finish because I wanted to know the childhood stories. Come on Steven... I stuck with Hank through the last three (weak) books but I'm not going to put up with Cliston reading to me. .. hire Liem back.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

AI narration sucks

the AI narrator sucks any joy this prequel may have had. Not sure why this wasn't given to Liam, but I am terribly disappointed.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic Hank

This ~short story title of Hank by Steven Campbell is a prequel to the first Hard Luck Hank book, Screw The Galaxy. First time readers/listeners may want to start there first, but this and Delovoa Early Years can be enjoyed fully after the first full book in the series. These aren't narrated by the artful Liam Owen (yet?) that we've grown to love with the main Hank books, but the AI narration isn't a problem for me. Full marks!

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