News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by h1fra on Monday March 27, 2023 @04:22PM (#35331928)
Congrats on launching. People already made a lot of feedback on the product itself so I'll keep mine.

Just a few note on the UX:

- Recording your own voice should contain a script too, that could help increase the quality of the sampling because I struggled to say anything relevant.

- Recording again, there is no time so it's hard to say when it's okay to stop

- You enforce the checkbox "not [...] to generate any sexual content" yet you have a filter to display only nswf

- It doesn't work at all with non-english voices, maybe you can add a warning or a way to fine tune depending on the language?

- There is no way to delete a voice nor an account, that's a huge red flag especially when dealing with PII like this.

- An other person has said it already, but generated voices are identified by an Auto Increment, making it easy to access PII of an other person. I would recommend at the very least a random string or an UUID

- All generated voices are public and no way to delete them

Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by hammadh on Monday March 27, 2023 @04:31PM (#35332060)
Thanks, we intended the playground to be merely a testing tool for the new model we're building. We'll improve based on your feedback!
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by mywacaday on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @08:33AM (#35339826)
I noticed that when i put in the following text from the BBC as a test and it pronounces 2008 as "two thousand eight" but I believe most people would pronounce it as "two thousand and eight"

Great work

A billionaire's son, who fled to Yemen within hours of the death of a student in London 15 years ago, has admitted his involvement to the BBC.

The body of Martine Vik Magnussen, 23, was discovered under rubble in a Great Portland Street basement in 2008.

Farouk Abdulhak, who is on the Met Police's most wanted list and is the subject of an international arrest warrant, has never spoken about the case before.

Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by ljlolel on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @10:15AM (#35341464)
Pretty sure I would say two thousand eight?
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by the88doctor on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @10:25AM (#35341627)
I would definitely just say "two thousand eight"
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by iamthemonster on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @10:59AM (#35342162)
Two thousand eight = American English Two thousand and eight = UK and Australian English
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by mywacaday on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @11:33AM (#35342719)
I'm based in Europe and a native English speaker, I thought I was aware of most of the differences between UK/US English. I can't believe I have worked with Americans for decades and never noticed this. Live and learn!
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by JohnFen on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @02:50PM (#35345994)
I'm an American, and both methods sound right to my ears. I hear both variations quite a lot from the people around me. I assume it depends on what part of the US you're from.
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by jnwatson on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @12:01PM (#35343201)
American English traditionally uses an “and” to separate the whole from the fraction, e.g. two thousand eight and two thirds.
Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by barbariangrunge on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @10:28AM (#35341675)
The terms of service is terrifying for anybody who has a voice or anything of value they want made into speech

> you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and license to host, use, copy, reproduce, disclose, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, archive, store, cache, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, transmit, excerpt (in whole or in part), and distribute such Contributions (including, without limitation, your image and voice) for any purpose

There’s a bunch more in there too

Most of the ai companies have these terms, and it’s pretty sketchy

Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by eutropia on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @11:32AM (#35342712)
> irrevocable, perpetual,

Are complete, absolute, non-fucking-starters.

The rest, I roughly understand legally to an extent for actually "doing a SaaS with your voice" as being necessary.

HOWEVER.

I should be able to say "Stop using my voice" and there should be a default license duration equal to your paid subscription. If I have to occasionally click "By clicking this I certify that I renew the license under the originally agreed terms with a new duration" or something, fine, so be it.

Re:Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices f... by JohnFen on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @02:49PM (#35345971)
Woah, good catch. Yes, those are terms I'd never agree to.