I'm running the most current versions (47.0) on my M4 Mac Mini and my M4 iPad Pro 13". I read and listen on my iPad, and do study and preparation work on the Desktop. I've been very frustrated at how badly the Read Aloud function on my iPad sounds and to me, it has been unlistenable becauseof how artificial it sounds. On a whim, I decided to listen to a book on my Mac Mini, and was floored by how much better and more realistic it sounded than on my iPad. This set me off scouring google, and the help files on desktop and iPad.
The Good:
Buried deeply in the system settings of both the Mac and the iPad (go to Accessibility - Read & Speak - System Voice on Mac or Voices on iPad/iPhone) and there are dozens of available voices! Many of the voices have enhanced and/or premium options (at no cost). I've found that the enhanced and premium choices are vastly superior to the plain vanilla choices and are very listenable. I tried out many on both my Mac and my iPad and settled on Evan (enhanced) for both my Mac and iPad. After selecting the voice you like best, you then have options to adjust speed, pitch, timbre and sentence pause. Playing a bit with these settings can get you a very listenable narrator.
The Bad
The above paragraph works GREAT on my Mac. It does NOT work on my iPad at all. No matter what voice I select in Accessibility - Read & Speak, I get the same exact voice in the Logos app. The changes seem to work if I enable an option to read selected text, but does NOT work for reading on the iPad by clicking on the Speaker icon on the top right. I have followed the directions exactly per the help file below.
I typically read books on my iPad and I like to listen also while reading as it aids in reinforcing the content and I tend to remember things more when I'm both seeing and hearing them. I will pause the audio while highlighting or making notes, then resume the audio/reading.
Here's another frustration: Logos has many resources which have both a digital book to read as well as a dedicated audiobook. It seems that it is very hit and miss about which resources allow you to have the audio file narrate the book while reading it (on Mac or iPad). This works mostly for Bibles. Other resources are VERY hit or miss with no way of knowing. I've bought many audiobooks in Logos over the years expecting to be able to use them to listen to while reading along. It mostly doesn't work. Kindle/Audible, in my experience does this very well about 90% of the time with only a few books which have both Kindle and Audible versions not syncing to allow listening and reading along. Not only could/should Logos do this better, but even more importantly, for every single resource Logos sells with both a digital and audio version, it should clearly indicate whether the audio and digital will sync while reading/listening. Kindle/Audible call this Whispersync I think, and they clearly annotate the resources which have it. Logos does not.
Summary
I'm pleased to have discovered that I can get tolerable narration on my Mac after having to google and search for help files. The most helpful one I discovered is this:
https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021891851-How-Do-I-Listen-to-my-Books#tab-mobile
It is obvious that Logos intended that this same procedure should allow using the enhanced voices on the iPad and iPhone, but it does not work.
There is still much room for improvement by Logos in addition to making the iPad and iPhone use the selected enhanced voices.
Clearly labeling each resource which does sync the digital and audio would be a start. In addition, if you own the digital and audio resources, there does not seem to be any way to be able to use the audio in one tab and the digital in another tab because the tab which doesn't have focus can not follow along with the other. This is not a problem on the desktop because you can open the audio in one tab and follow along with the digital in another tab. That does not seem work on the iPad. If I'm in error about this, then Logos needs some clearer videos or help files.
