Alex voice copyright question

Question

I'd like to know if apple has a copyright on the "Alex" voice itself. I'm a writer and I'm writing a series of poems about technology and computers. I really like the way the poems sound when read by a synthesized voice since it fits in with the technical vibe that I'm going for.
If I was to record "Alex" reading my poems into an mp3, add some mood music using garage band, what are the copyright considerations? I'm looking for several answers to the different facets of this question, such as:
Can I legally record the voice at all?
Can I legally record the voice and release it as free content?
Can I legally record the voice and release it as paid content (specifically, I'd like to release a companion CD with a book of poems)?
If so, is it simply a matter of giving apple credit and a citation for the voice? Or would I actually owe them money since I used their voice to read my content and made some (small amount) of money off of it?
If it's really an issue I can read the poems myself, trying to simulate a computerized voice, but I really like the "Alex" voice. It sounds like a neat mix of human and machine, sounding mechanical a large part of the time, but creepily human in others. It's a great effect, and really adds to the mood I am trying to establish with my series of tech poems.
Anyway, thanks for your replies. I'm looking forward to anyone who can shed some light on this.

Answer 1

I cannot comment on the legality issue.
However I would like to give some guidance on how to record poetry using Alex.
(1) You can record directly into an audio file.
* Put your text into a plain text file (not formatted or rich text). One way to do this is with TextEdit.
* Run Terminal, navigate (using "cd") to the folder containing that file. e.g. MyFile.txt
* type the following:
say -v Alex -f MyFile.txt
You should then hear the text spoken by Alex. If it sounds the way you like it, then type
say -v Alex -f MyFile.txt -o MyFile.aiff
You will not hear anything, but the file "MyFile.aiff" will be created in the same directory. You can play this in the Finder, put it into iTunes, work with it in GarageBand, etc.
The advantage of doing this, rather than plugging the audio output of your Mac into a recording device, is that the quality is maximum, there is no distortion, no added noise, no spectral imbalance, and the signal-to-noise ratio will be as good as it gets.
(2) When recording poetry (or anything else), liberally add punctuation. Particularly in poetry at the ends of lines. Commas add a pause and a falling-rising pitch pattern. Exclamation marks will raise the pitch peaks of preceding accented words. An intervening blank line causes a new paragraph to begin, which inserts a larger pause and does lots of things to the pitch.
Compare Alex synthesis of the following two passages. To do so, select all the text and then choose
Safari>Services>Speech>Start Speaking Text
Hit it once
Big Frank bunts?
Cepeda runs to field the ball, so does Hiller, so does Miller
Miller hollers Hiller
Hiller hollers Miller
Haller hollers Hiller points to Miller with his fist
And that's the Miller, Hiller, Haller hallelujah twist
Hit it once,
Big Frank bunts,
Cepeda runs to field the ball, so does Hiller, so does Miller.
Miller hollers Hiller,
Hiller hollers Miller,
Haller hollers Hiller, points to Miller with his fist.
And that's the Miller Hiller Haller hallelujah twist!
(this is from a song by Danny Kaye)
You might not like that particular set of punctuation, but it illustrates the point.