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

[Walter Bright]

Ulrik Mikaelsson wrote:
> 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.

I think the problem is it either never occurred to Tivo or Youtube, or they 
don't care about it. When I shut off my Tivo service, I told them that such a 
feature would entice me to keep it. But I seriously doubt they transmitted my 
idea to the right people.


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

That is an impressive algorithm!