Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
The voice of legendary voice actor Kenji Utsumi is revived with AI voice! Sony Music Entertainment’s e-book store Reader Store starts free distribution of e-book “YOMIBITO Plus” with AI voice reading
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Sony Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. will exclusively distribute the e-book “YOMIBITO Plus” with AI voice reading at the e-book store “Reader Store” from March 29, 2023 (Wednesday).
“YOMIBITO Plus” is a new type of e-book that allows you to enjoy reading masterpieces with AI voice and text at the same time. The AI voice is created using the latest synthetic voice technology from CoeFont Inc.
This time, the voice of the late Kenji Utsumi is reproduced with AI voice based on the sound source during his lifetime. The AI voice of a legend in the voice actor world reads aloud the introduction of a well-known Japanese masterpiece.
This work will be distributed free of charge at the e-book store “Reader Store” for a limited time from March 29, 2023 (Wednesday) to March 28, 2024 (Thursday). * Membership registration (free) for the Reader Store is required.
https://bit.ly/3nefPaI
Also, on the YOMIBITO official YouTube channel, a making video that follows the production process of “YOMIBITO Plus” has been released. https://youtu.be/kkUKbNR6Tn8
■ Book details
Masterpiece literature read by Kenji Utsumi (Soseki Natsume, Kenji Miyazawa) [Kenji Utsumi (AI voice): with reading voice]
・Recorded works: “I am a cat (Ichi)” “Botchan (Ichi)” Natsume Soseki * Only the opening part is read aloud
“Ame nimo Makezu” Kenji Miyazawa
・Distribution start date: March 29, 2023 (Wednesday) *Limited time distribution until March 28, 2024 (Thursday)
・ Publisher: Sony Music Entertainment
・Price: Free *Registration (free) to the Reader Store is required. * Exclusive distribution at the e-book store “Reader Store”
https://bit.ly/3JEi6U5
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■ Kenji Utsumi
August 26 / Born in Fukuoka Prefecture
Former Ken Production Chairman.
Representative works include the role of Raoh in Fist of the North Star, Jack in Wolf Boy Ken, Papa the Great in Sally the Wizard, Senbei Norimaki in Dr. Slump Arale-chan.
In 2022, the documentary film “Sono Koe no Anata e” will be released. It will be 10 years since his death in June 2023.
■ “YOMIBITO Plus” series works
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Rashomon [Katsuyuki Konishi (AI voice): with reading voice]
・ Delivery start date: Wednesday, March 29, 2023
* Limited time delivery until March 28, 2024 (Thursday)
・ Publisher: Sony Music Entertainment
・Price: Free
* Membership registration (free) for the Reader Store is required. * Exclusive distribution at the e-book store “Reader Store”. https://bit.ly/3JGiMrU
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Run, Melos [Shuichiro Umeda (AI voice): with reading voice]
・ Delivery start date: Wednesday, March 29, 2023
* Limited time delivery until March 28, 2024 (Thursday)
・ Publisher: Sony Music Entertainment
・Price: Free
* Membership registration (free) for the Reader Store is required. * Exclusive distribution at the e-book store “Reader Store”. https://bit.ly/3Z3aFvm
■ YOMIBITO
A label that releases e-books with audio (*), such as masterpieces of literature read aloud by voice actors. A new type of e-book that combines an electronic version of a book and reading audio into one package. So far, 26 works (81 volumes in total) by 21 voice actors have been released.
https://bit.ly/3Uvw1iG
Based on YOMIBITO, “YOMIBITO Plus” is content created as part of the activities of the Content Technology Strategy Committee, which is working on cutting-edge entertainment technology in the Sony Group. (*) When you tap the play button on the e-book page, the sound will start playing. Please enjoy this content with the latest version of the Android / iOS Reader application “Reader”.
■ CoeFont
An AI voice platform operated by CoeFont Co., Ltd. that can convert “voice” into expressive “font” using the latest AI technology. In addition to using over 5,000 types of high-precision voices, you can create original AI voices with a minimum of 15 minutes of recording. In September 2022, we released “Talking Hiroyuki Maker”, which allows you to freely enter text and let the AI voice of businessman Hiroyuki speak, and became a hot topic.
https://coefont.cloud/
■ About Reader Store
Reader Store is the largest e-book and e-comic store in Japan operated by Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
https://ebookstore.sony.jp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReaderStore_JP
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* “Reader Store” and the “Reader” logo are trademarks of Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000144.000014577.html
MAIL:cr@prtimes.co.jp