I want to help an older person with severe macular degeneration from thousands of miles afar where she could use an AUDIO file of long text
(like of a book or short story, normally, as in Great Books stories).
I'm on Windows 10 and Android 12. She's on the iPhone and iPads.
I can easily save a web page (like a news story) to text and sometimes I
can convert a PDF of a book to text (depending on how the PDF was made).
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
I want to help an older person with severe macular degeneration from thousands of miles afar where she could use an AUDIO file of long text
(like of a book or short story, normally, as in Great Books stories).
I'm on Windows 10 and Android 12. She's on the iPhone and iPads.
I can easily save a web page (like a news story) to text and sometimes I
can convert a PDF of a book to text (depending on how the PDF was made).
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
I want to help an older person with severe macular degeneration from thousands of miles afar where she could use an AUDIO file of long textThis is a feature of Adobe Reader that I have never used but know it
(like of a book or short story, normally, as in Great Books stories).
I'm on Windows 10 and Android 12. She's on the iPhone and iPads.
I can easily save a web page (like a news story) to text and sometimes I
can convert a PDF of a book to text (depending on how the PDF was made).
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
You will need:
1) Copy of Audacity or a similar audio recorder.
2) Male to male audio cable. Connect Line Out to Line In.
This step, is to avoid fighting with "What You Hear" setup,
which could waste half the afternoon.
3) Run Firefox.
4) In Windows Mixer, set Windows Sounds (beeps and boops) to zero.
This is to avoid the Windows Defender toast notification or a
You Have Mail ding, from ruining your recording.
Now, use Firefox Reader View, open your text file.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/DzhXyywq/firefox-reader-view-TTS.gif
After listening to a half dozen other TTS implementations
that suck, that one is almost bearable.
With some programming, as Newyana2 describes, you can do better
than that, but then it's a real long project. This method
may not be efficient, but you also don't have to be a programmer.
The Firefox page should auto-scroll, as it plays the text. I do not
know how long a web page (or text file) can be, and whether your attempt to convert War & Peace to sound, is going to work.
I may have recorded for 16 hours before with Audacity, but that
was on the other, smaller machine. Make sure all the steps of
recording and saving are working on Audacity, before your run.
You would not want to generate all those tiny sound files,
and have it croak before saving.
I think Windows also has an "improved" sound recorder, which
you might want to research. That's if you can't get Audacity
to work (which... happens sometimes).
The namespace for audio is a bitch.
An "improved" sound recorder, is one for which
you don't have to "define a fixed size audio file" before
you begin recording.
Some of the Windows demo apps have
been absurd that way. The damn thing should just record,
and then you do the Save As, and done. Check that it works
that way.
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
iOS has very good accessibility features. I suspect it already can read any pdf you provide.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph3e2e415f/ios
Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
You will need:
1) Copy of Audacity or a similar audio recorder.
Absolutely no problem. I have Audacity on both Android & Windows.
2) Male to male audio cable. Connect Line Out to Line In.
This step, is to avoid fighting with "What You Hear" setup,
which could waste half the afternoon.
I can make one of those.
3) Run Firefox.
I can run that.
4) In Windows Mixer, set Windows Sounds (beeps and boops) to zero.
This is to avoid the Windows Defender toast notification or a
You Have Mail ding, from ruining your recording.
Windows Mixer? https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+windows+mixer
OK. It's explained here for both Windows 10 and Windows 11. https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1044702/
Now, use Firefox Reader View, open your text file.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/DzhXyywq/firefox-reader-view-TTS.gif
Firefox reader view? https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+firefox+reader+view
OK. It's explained here. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clutter-free-web-page
"Reader View is a Firefox feature that strips away clutter like buttons,
ads, background images, and videos while also letting you customize the layout and theme to fit your reading preferences."
After listening to a half dozen other TTS implementations
that suck, that one is almost bearable.
Whatever Windows sound plays when I am in MerriamWebster seems fine to me. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/otorhinolaryngologist
With some programming, as Newyana2 describes, you can do better
than that, but then it's a real long project. This method
may not be efficient, but you also don't have to be a programmer.
I don't want to be a programmer since I can already convert most "things"
to text so that's why I wanted to turn text into something she can play.
The Firefox page should auto-scroll, as it plays the text. I do not
know how long a web page (or text file) can be, and whether your attempt to >> convert War & Peace to sound, is going to work.
Most things are about twenty pages as I've been converting them to text already for her where she selects the text inside an email and plays it.
I may have recorded for 16 hours before with Audacity, but that
was on the other, smaller machine. Make sure all the steps of
recording and saving are working on Audacity, before your run.
You would not want to generate all those tiny sound files,
and have it croak before saving.
I'm familiar with audacity. It can output MP3 which I assume is the
standard file format for all computers as it is for my phone & PC.
I think Windows also has an "improved" sound recorder, which
you might want to research. That's if you can't get Audacity
to work (which... happens sometimes).
I can handle audacity. It's on both Android & Windows.
If it's on the iPad, maybe she can play the file in iOS Audacity?
When I looked up Audacity on the iPad I realized it's not on it.
But it's not on Android either.
https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
The app called Audacity on Android doesn't seem to be the "real" one. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=audacity&c=apps
The namespace for audio is a bitch.
Can you clarify what "namespace" means in this context?
An "improved" sound recorder, is one for which
you don't have to "define a fixed size audio file" before
you begin recording.
Absolutely. I can't imagine defining the size ahead of time.
What program requires that? I've never run into it myself.
Some of the Windows demo apps have
been absurd that way. The damn thing should just record,
and then you do the Save As, and done. Check that it works
that way.
Yes. Agree. If it requires me to guess, I don't want to use it.
You will need:
1) Copy of Audacity or a similar audio recorder.
Absolutely no problem. I have Audacity on both Android & Windows.
2) Male to male audio cable. Connect Line Out to Line In.
This step, is to avoid fighting with "What You Hear" setup,
which could waste half the afternoon.
I can make one of those.
3) Run Firefox.
I can run that.
4) In Windows Mixer, set Windows Sounds (beeps and boops) to zero.
This is to avoid the Windows Defender toast notification or a
You Have Mail ding, from ruining your recording.
Windows Mixer? https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+windows+mixer
OK. It's explained here for both Windows 10 and Windows 11.
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1044702/
Now, use Firefox Reader View, open your text file.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/DzhXyywq/firefox-reader-view-TTS.gif
Firefox reader view?
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+firefox+reader+view
OK. It's explained here.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clutter-free-web-page
"Reader View is a Firefox feature that strips away clutter like buttons,
ads, background images, and videos while also letting you customize the
layout and theme to fit your reading preferences."
After listening to a half dozen other TTS implementations
that suck, that one is almost bearable.
Whatever Windows sound plays when I am in MerriamWebster seems fine to me. >> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/otorhinolaryngologist
With some programming, as Newyana2 describes, you can do better
than that, but then it's a real long project. This method
may not be efficient, but you also don't have to be a programmer.
I don't want to be a programmer since I can already convert most "things"
to text so that's why I wanted to turn text into something she can play.
The Firefox page should auto-scroll, as it plays the text. I do not
know how long a web page (or text file) can be, and whether your attempt to >>> convert War & Peace to sound, is going to work.
Most things are about twenty pages as I've been converting them to text
already for her where she selects the text inside an email and plays it.
I may have recorded for 16 hours before with Audacity, but that
was on the other, smaller machine. Make sure all the steps of
recording and saving are working on Audacity, before your run.
You would not want to generate all those tiny sound files,
and have it croak before saving.
I'm familiar with audacity. It can output MP3 which I assume is the
standard file format for all computers as it is for my phone & PC.
I think Windows also has an "improved" sound recorder, which
you might want to research. That's if you can't get Audacity
to work (which... happens sometimes).
I can handle audacity. It's on both Android & Windows.
If it's on the iPad, maybe she can play the file in iOS Audacity?
When I looked up Audacity on the iPad I realized it's not on it.
But it's not on Android either.
https://www.audacityteam.org/download/
The app called Audacity on Android doesn't seem to be the "real" one.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=audacity&c=apps
The namespace for audio is a bitch.
Can you clarify what "namespace" means in this context?
An "improved" sound recorder, is one for which
you don't have to "define a fixed size audio file" before
you begin recording.
Absolutely. I can't imagine defining the size ahead of time.
What program requires that? I've never run into it myself.
Some of the Windows demo apps have
been absurd that way. The damn thing should just record,
and then you do the Save As, and done. Check that it works
that way.
I haven't tried any of them, but I did a web search for "convert pdf to
mp3" and there are a whole bunch of free on line converters listed.
Have you explored that option?
Yes. Agree. If it requires me to guess, I don't want to use it.
Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
iOS has very good accessibility features. I suspect it already can read any >> pdf you provide.
Thanks for that suggestion where the main goal is one way for everything.
She will get super confused if there isn't one way for everything.
Not one way for this kind of PDF. Another for that kind of PDF.
And yet another for text. And another for HTML. And so on.
It has to be ONE way for EVERYTHING, where there's no way any program, no matter how smart it is, can read out ALL PDFs (since many are bitmaps).
For the bitmaps, I was thinking of looking up OCR or, if it's short, just reading it aloud to myself and recording it on my phone's voice recorder.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph3e2e415f/ios
Thanks for that suggestion since she only has iOS iPhones & iPads.
And I don't.
I looked at that page which seems to be much like what Windows does.
Which means it will drive any normal person nuts with extraneous talking.
It has to be an audio of the text only and nothing else for it to work.
The firefox text-only speaking suggestion from Paul is along those lines.
It has to be ONE way for EVERYTHING, where there's no way any program, no
matter how smart it is, can read out ALL PDFs (since many are bitmaps).
Unless it's very old pdfs the usual is certainly not bitmap pdfs
Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:A quick Google, seems to indicate that OCR is part of the professional
It has to be ONE way for EVERYTHING, where there's no way any program, no >>> matter how smart it is, can read out ALL PDFs (since many are bitmaps).
Unless it's very old pdfs the usual is certainly not bitmap pdfs
There is probably a program to automatically OCR a file that is really an image of the text. It's not really a PDF. It's more like an image of a PDF.
On 06/15/2023 12:19 PM, Peter wrote:
Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
It has to be ONE way for EVERYTHING, where there's no way any program, no >>>> matter how smart it is, can read out ALL PDFs (since many are bitmaps). >>>Unless it's very old pdfs the usual is certainly not bitmap pdfs
There is probably a program to automatically OCR a file that is really an
image of the text. It's not really a PDF. It's more like an image of a PDF.
A quick Google, seems to indicate that OCR is part of the professional reader, ot a paid subscription
mutool extract sony_srs-t1_t1pc_sm.pdfextracting image-0001.png
Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
It has to be ONE way for EVERYTHING, where there's no way any program, no >>> matter how smart it is, can read out ALL PDFs (since many are bitmaps).
Unless it's very old pdfs the usual is certainly not bitmap pdfs
There is probably a program to automatically OCR a file that is really an image of the text. It's not really a PDF. It's more like an image of a PDF.
In article <news:u69qne$3jmg7$1@dont-email.me>, Retirednoguilt <HapilyRetired@fakeaddress.com> says...
I haven't tried any of them, but I did a web search for "convert pdf to
mp3" and there are a whole bunch of free on line converters listed.
Have you explored that option?
Yes. Agree. If it requires me to guess, I don't want to use it.
I have tried them in the past but most PDFs don't contain any text.
The text looks like text but try selecting it and you can't.
Is there an electronic OCR for PDFs that can reveal the true text?
A quick Google, seems to indicate that OCR is part of the professional reader, ot a paid subscription
Adobe Acrobat Professional
Paper Capture
"Rasterizing page and sending to Paper Capture..."
Performing page recognition
Converting to indexed color
Thresholding image
Deskewing image
Finding rules and frames
Reading characters
Forming words
Grouping characters and words
Writing ACP file
Do you want to save the changes to "file.pdf" before closing?
But where's the OCR results?
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
In comp.mobile.android Peter <occassionally-confused@nospam.co.uk> wrote:
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
AWS has a text to speech service called 'Amazon Polly'. There's a site for testing it here:
https://ai-service-demos.go-aws.com/polly
You send Polly text and it generates you a URL with the speech, which you could perhaps send to your correspondent.
AWS requires an account and payment over a certain number of characters.
Polly is an API rather than an app that you can use, but maybe somebody has written a frontend for it that makes it easier to upload text (the demo is a bit limited) and either pay them or use your own AWS account.
I want to help an older person with severe macular degeneration from thousands of miles afar where she could use an AUDIO file of long text
(like of a book or short story, normally, as in Great Books stories).
I'm on Windows 10 and Android 12. She's on the iPhone and iPads.
I can easily save a web page (like a news story) to text and sometimes I
can convert a PDF of a book to text (depending on how the PDF was made).
But how can I turn the text into a "podcast" for her to listen to?
And would it be too large to email to her in a typical email message?
...a program to automatically OCR a file that is really an
image of the text.
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