Hi Jacob, If you're using Amadeus Pro for your audio books, and ChapterTool with an xml file (if you make chapter markers), then you can disregard most of my comments, as you've politely noted <grin>. You are, indeed, going a different route.
I'm curious, because although I haven't tried Amadeus Pro, Amadeus II has accessibility issues. (I recall that you posted a long time ago that you used Amadeus II). Is Pro more accessible? Cheers, Esther >Hi >Thanks for the tips. The way I make my iPod-style audio books is a bit >different, however. In all cases, they are one AAC file, not many. >This is for two reasons: so my audio book list isn't cluttered, and so >bookmarks don't get saved separately per file which is a pain if I >want to listen to a book from start to finish. In the cases where I do >want chapter marks, I use Apple's chaptertool with a markup file. This >prevents any AAC header issues (as I've seen interesting things happen >even when cbr files are joined, particularly regarding metadata being >recognized improperly by iTunes). This is the same tool that join >together uses. If I do have to join multiple files, I use a sound >editor (amadeus pro in my case) to join them and save it as one file, >then run chaptertool on it if I desire chapter marks. The process can >be a bit tedious, but well I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my >books :). >A note to anyone converting text, the rate values in speech manager do >not necessarily match up to the values in Voiceover. > > >On Jan 20, 2008, at 4:08 PM, Esther wrote: > >> 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 >> > > > >
