Audio time-compression (Was: On 80 columns should (not) be enough for everyone)

[Ulrik Mikaelsson]

2011/1/30 Walter Bright <newshound2 at digitalmars.com>:
> People who use screen readers often crank up the playback rate to 2x. The
> software adjusts the pitch so it doesn't sound like the Chipmunks.
>
> I've often wondered why DVRs don't do this (I've sent the suggestion to
> Tivo, they ignored me). I'd like the option to play the news (or other talk
> shows) at a faster rate, with pitch adjustment. I've found I can watch Tivo
> at 3x with the closed captioning on, and can almost keep up. The problem
> with DVRs at any fast forward speed is they turn the sound off! Grrrr.
>
> A golden opportunity missed.
>
> I'd also love it if youtube etc. did this. It's so boring looking at youtube
> presentations because they talk so slow. I'd love a double speed youtube
> viewing option.
>
> Remember I posted this in case some troll tries to patent it.
I KNEW I wasn't alone at this. My S.O. usually just rolls her eyes
when I do this. (Tip: VLC does it for at least double-speed)

I think the reason I.E. YouTube and Tivo don't do it is that AFAIU, it
is fairly CPU-consuming (FFT back and forth?) In the TiVo-case, my
guess is nobody paid for the hardware, and in the YouTube-case I doubt
neither Flash nor JavaScript will enable the performance required.
Perhaps it can be done browser-dependently with HTML5.

Now, what we need is the audio-equivalent of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NcIJXTlugc