Hi Jacob, Shaun, and Others, JS: Is there a program to convert a text file to a spoken audio file? I'd like to make iPod audiobooks out of my book collection, which I currently have as straight text files.
SJ: Maybe use Automator to do the conversion from start to finish. JS: Hi Shaun Wow, it's amazing what automater can do. I sometimes forget it's there, but yes, automater's text to audio file function will serve my needs quite well. I'll take care of the conversion with iTunes since I need to convert to AAC and then make the file bookmarkable. Check the mailing list archives discussion in early December about automator actions. The big sticking point in the early discussions of automator actions was using speeded up voices for the original encoding. Jane got a response on how to do this from the Accessibility folks: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg24218.html Otherwise, you need to go through something like VisioVoice or GhostReader to get sped up voices, and you need to allow for about 10 MB for each minute of recorded speech in the default recording mode (AIFF or Audio Interchange File Format). Also, if you convert to compressed AAC format as part of your automator action, I think you have to set the iTunes preferences for the amount of compression before you run an automator script, since these options can't be passed as arguments: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg24722.html The archive post discussed MP3 format settings, AAC settings are similar. I remember that Darcy was experimenting with Audio Hijack captures as AAC files as part of automator, and it may be possible to make that work. That could save you some working space. Another few pointers: it's probably easiest to just create separate AAC tracks section by section. However, there is a "Join Together" AppleScript at Doug Adam's AppleScripts for iTunes site that you may be able to use. One major requirement for the Join Together AppleScript is that the files be encoded at constant bit rate because that allows the header for the joined audio file to be accurately created without having to re-encode the complete joined file. Well, with QuickTime 7.3 the default encoding for AAC files changed from "constant bit rate" to "average bit rate". That means you can no longer simply stick the audio files together and predict what the legal heading will be for the combined files, since it will depend on the fluctuating bit rates that were used for both segments. Instead of seeing 128 kbps for the bit rate on the Get Info summary page for your music, you might see anything from 120-129 kbps. If you do want to be able to join AAC files (and you may not want to bother), you'll have to use a script called "Rip AAC Old School v0.9" http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=ripaacoldschool (Ignore this if you don't care about joining AAC files). This solution only works for Leopard; there's no option to get constant bit rate AAC under Tiger if you've upgraded QuickTime to 7.3 or above. And if you've just updaed your iTunes to 7.6, make sure you get a new versions of the MakeBookMarkable AppleScript: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=makebookmarkable so you don't get a timeout error when you select multiple tracks. Good luck and let us know how it works out. Cheers, Esther
