I would like the opinion of the group on the issue of using recorded human voices for exercise instruction (http://podcasts.exertrack.com) or to use digitized voices, as we currently do. Our reasoning behind going the digitized route is: 1) speed to market - we can roll out new instructions quicker and easier 2) cost of creating the correct male and female voices 3) the accent issue - the whole planet is not from the USA, and we have customers in 67 countries so far - we are currently using a digitised US accent, which represents a large portion of our clients, but we're wondering if we should do 3 or 4 more accents, or if this is a non-issue?
OK, I bit, and I went and had a look at your site. I downloaded the podcast for one exercise (the crunch) and that was enough to teach me that I don't want to put my ears through another one of them.
The US accent doesn't bother me in the slightest - I'm English, but it's not as if I've never heard an American speak - and similarly I don't care if the instructions are given by a man or a woman. The digitised voice is too much to cope with, although it's reference to a "sexercise" did amuse me. (It was trying to say "No equipment is needed for this exercise", but the stress on the last two words was very odd). The instructions don't flow at all well, and I think you'd get a better result from even the most hesitant public speaker.
I'd recommended you just attach a microphone to your PC and start speaking!
Mouse, Thanks for the feedback, and for biting ;-) (no, it wasn't a thinly veiled attempt to spam the group).
We're actually busy recreating all the podcasts at the moment with real live humans talking, as we suspected that the digitized voices are a bit tough on the ear, so thanks for the confirmation.
Sexercise? mmm... wonder how many people have done the crunch sexercise so far? I'll have to look into that.
