Ways to turn logos books into an audio file...

Hi,

I would like to turn my logos books into audio files so I can listen when I am in the car driving. (Not such a great time for reading ;-)

What are some options for doing that? (I can use a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 computer, Apple airbook computer and Galaxy S5 for my tech needs)

Thanks

God bless...

Mark

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Francis

There are programs that allow people to record any audio that plays through their computer. The first problem is that it may not be legally permissible to do what you want to do (but I don't know that for a fact). Then the next problem is that in order to use a program like what I suggested above, you'd need to play through the entire book in order to record it. It may be impractical to record for hours on end. Moreover, you'd probably run into problems if you recorded too much at a time (too big a file, possibilities of crashes, etc).

Do you know that Faithlife has started producing some audio books? See https://www.logos.com/products/search?Product+Type=Audiobooks

A program or app that reads written files is probably the better solution.

Yasmin Stephen

My (convoluted) process doesn't turn books in audio files but I am able to listen to them. I use an iOS text-to-speech app called Voice Dream Reader; it comes with one free voice and you can buy additional voices as in-app purchases. Voice Dream reads a number of different formats and uses most major content sources:

At $9.99 it is a relatively pricey app (and the voices range from $1.99 to $4.99; the Ivona voices are, IMO, the best and cost $4.99 each) but it’s been worth every cent I've spent on it. I 'read' 99% of my online articles via the app as I can listen while doing housework and other 'mindless' tasks. I've listened to full books on there as well. For Logos books, I use two methods to get content into Voice Dream: (a) I use the Logos Send-to-Kindle function, and I convert the resulting Kindle book file (which I pull from the Amazon Cloud Drive) to ePub (using Calibre), or (b) I use the Logos Export function to send sections of a resource to Microsoft Word. I then upload these files (ePub or Word) to either my Dropbox or Google Drive. I also use the Pocket app for saving online articles I want to read later, all of which I then pull into Voice Dream to listen to:

You can also send content from your other apps to Voice Dream using the “Open In” or “Share” functions. Speaking of supported formats, I’ve only used ePub, PDF and Word files; can’t speak to the rest. The PDFs are not such a good listening experience, as the app reads the embedded metadata at the end and/or beginning of each page (even if you can’t see it!). And, oh, it can sometimes make a hash of Scripture abbreviations (like saying ‘peas’ for Ps. [Psalms]). I think there’s somewhere in the settings where you can train it to read such things properly but I’ve never messed with it.

All of what I've written here is from my experience using this app on my iPad; I don't know if it can even be used on an Airbook ??? There used to be a free trial ('lite') version of the app; don't know if it's still available but the functionality was enough to help me determine the app would suit me. You can find more information about the Voice Dream Reader app here.

Rosie Perera

Well, you could use any audio recording app like Audacity, start Logos in Read Aloud mode to read aloud whatever book, and record it all. You'll probably have to do it in chunks (say, chapters), and it would take as long as it would take to listen to the whole book to make the recording, so you might as well be listening to it at the same time, and then what's the point of making the recording?

JT (alabama24)

Since you have a Mac, there is an easy and quick way to do this, built into the OS. Print some pages to a word doc, open in pages, export as spoken track. Start to finish in a couple of minutes.

PeteDaCatholic

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/702790#Comment_702790

As of 2018 I don't see this feature in Pages anymore. Unless I am missing something.

J. Remington Bowling

If you have an iPhone, you can enable text-to-speech feature in the accessibility settings. You then swipe down from the top of your screen with two fingers and the phone will read whatever is on screen, including a Logos book you have open in you Logos app or an article on a website. This will save you time from having to convert and transfer and since it scrolls the page you can easily pau it and highlight a text if you want, without having to find it later.

Also, though I know this may not be what you’re looking for immediately, in the future you might want to consider checking if the book is available on Kindle with Whispersync. If you buy the ebook first you can get a good discount on the audio book (sometimes for just $2 or $3) and then you can have the book open with the professional audio reading—no tinny distorted machine reading. Not every book has this Whispersync feature, but a surprising amount do. (Also, you dont need to own a Kindle device, just the app on your phone.)

David Thomas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/989962#Comment_989962

I do not enjoy the read-aloud built into my iPhone or Windows 10, but Alexa has a VERY NATURAL text to speech feature. For my academic books I have purchased many in both Faithlife Ebooks (formerly Vyrso) and Kindle. I keep notes and searchability in the Logos ecosystem, but use the Alexa feature purely for the audio ability. The Alexa speech to text is available on many books where "whispersync" to an audiobook is unavailable.

I have an Amazon Tap device for listening to Kindle books. My travel setup is a little convoluted. I use my iPhone as a mobile hotspot to provide wifi to the Tap then use the kindle app on my phone to start the "read aloud" of the kindle book I want to listen to while on the road. if something catches my attention, I open the same book in my logos app so that I can highlight or notate the truth I may want to access later.

I know this is a lot of extra steps but the iOS read aloud always reads "Gen." as "General" and other similar mistakes with biblical book abbreviations and the Win10 is even more "techno talk"

John Brumett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/989977#Comment_989977

Can the Alexa app be used directly from the Logos app or does it read only Kindle books?

David Thomas

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/989990#Comment_989990

Can the Alexa app be used directly from the Logos app or does it read only Kindle books?

Only Kindle

Michael S.

Following.