Converting Text to Speech for iTunes and Mobile Playback

INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................................................................1  
PROCESS .....................................................................................................................................................................................................1  
ISPEAK  IT ...................................................................................................................................................................................................2  
AUDIOBOOKS .............................................................................................................................................................................................4  
ADDING  ARTWORK...................................................................................................................................................................................4  
COPY  TO  IPOD  TOUCH .............................................................................................................................................................................5  
HOW  IT  WORKS  –  IPHONE/IPOD  TOUCH ............................................................................................................................................6  

Introduction

For many students comprehension of printed text materials depends on reading and
listening to the text at the same time. Although it is possible to scan printed materials into
electronic format the process is tedious and inaccurate. Some publishers will provide audio
materials in a format that requires a special player such as a Victor Reader. Typically these
players are cumbersome to use, bulky, and are not integrated within a student's learning
environment. There is also the stigma of having to carry around the device. In this scenario
publishers provide PDF.
Attention! Conversion of copyrighted materials can only be used by students who have
purchased the textbook and are registered with the Office of Accessible Services. The
PDF’s and converted spoken text cannot be distributed and should not be left on a public
lab computer unless they are password protected.
Solution: Convert the PDF document to text-only for text-to-audio conversion to iTunes.
Software: PDF to text converter; iSpeak It! for Macintosh or Flame Reader (Windows);
iTunes for Macintosh or Windows http://www.apple.com/itunes
Hardware: iPod Touch for reading and listening; portable media for audio only.

Process
 Open the PDF document - typically a chapter file - and convert it to text (Macintosh
Preview, Adobe Acrobat, CutePDF for Windows, or http://zamzar.com).
 Copy and paste the text into FlameReader for Windows or iSpeak It! for Macintosh
 Convert text into MP3 or AAC audio format.
 Add the recording to iTunes and then tag the audio recording.
 iSpeak It for Macintosh provides options to facilitate tagging, bookmarking, and
categorizing the spoken text as an iTunes audiobook. In addition the text is copied to
the Lyrics tab.
 Copy the recorded chapters to the iPod Touch. Students can read and listen at the
same time or listen only.
Joe Fahs
Converting Text to Speech for iTunes and Mobile Playback
 Note! Refer to the section audiobooks to learn how chapters can be organized into a
customized audiobook.

iSpeak It
iSpeak It for Macintosh provides options to facilitate tagging, bookmarking, and
categorizing the spoken text as an iTunes audiobook. In addition the text is copied to the
Lyrics tab.
 Start iTunes and choose iTunes > Preferences > Import Settings. Choose AAC
Encoder Spoken Podcast for the most efficient compression, which results in
approximately 15MB of storage per hour of spoken text.

 Open your PDF document (Preview for Mac OS X Leopard or higher), CuteFTP for
Windows, or Acrobat Standard) and copy the text. Typically books are organized into
chapter files.
 Open iSpeak It (Multimedia Resource Lab iMac) and paste your copied text into the
open window.
 Choose iSpeak It > Speech Preferences.
 Click the Text to Speech tab and choose Alex (Mac OS X Leopard, which synthesizes
the most realistic voice) or Bruce – Victoria (Mac OS X Tiger). Set the Speaking Rate
to Normal and close the window.
 Click the Transfer Document to iTunes button.
 Type the chapter title in the Song Name box (e.g. Chapter 1 – Part 1). Use Chapter xx
as the prefix to ensure proper ordering in iTunes.
 Type the book’s author into the Artist box.
 Type the book’s title in the Album box (e.g. Heart of Darkness)
 Keep the default Spoken Text in the Genre box.

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 Type the book’s title in the Playlist box to quickly locate related chapters in your iTunes
Library.
 Choose Encoder = ACC, check Bookmarkable, and check Audiobook. These settings
will ensure that spoken chapters are organized in the Audiobook category and allow
readers to continue listening where they left off last.

 Click the Transfer button, which processes the conversion in less then two minutes per
hour of spoken text, depending on the speed of the computer’s processor.
 Repeat the process for all chapters and other sections.
 Switch to iTunes and locate the converted chapters in the Audiobook category.
 To sort introductions and other sections open the track in iTunes and choose File >
Get Info > Sorting. Type the letter a in the Sort Name box to sort an introduction
before Names beginning with Chapter xx.

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Audiobooks
 Select all related audio files.
 Choose File > Get Info and click Yes to edit all at once.

 Remove any characters from the Track Number box and check the box

so the iPod Touch will display the chapter names and not the
track numbers.
 Click the OK button.

Adding Artwork
As an option you can add images to individual tracks to add artwork to the audiobook.
 Click on each track and choose File > Get Info > Artwork. Delete any previous
images and click the Add button to locate and import your file, which typically is in
JPEG or PNG format. (You can also drag the image file to the open Artwork window.)
 Repeat the process for each track. Note that the last image added becomes the cover art.

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 Click the Audiobook category and choose Grid View to display the audiobook as an
organized collection of individual chapters with its cover art. Clicking the audiobook
icon will open the last track played at its previous position.

Artwork for the audiobook Heart of Darkness

 Click List view to choose tracks separately.

 Click on the Lyrics tab to read and listen to the text at the same time.

Copy to iPod Touch

 Connect the iPod Touch or iPhone to the computer that contains your new iTunes
audiobook.
 Click on the chapter tracks and drag them to your mobile device.

 Once the tracks are copied disconnect the iPod Touch.

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How It Works – iPhone/iPod Touch

Follow the steps bellow to play the audiobook on the iPod Touch or iPhone.
1. Turn on the iPod Touch and press the Music button.
2. Press the Audiobooks button (if it is not displayed, then press More > Edit to drag
the Audiobooks icon to menu bar below. Press Done.)
3. Press on your audiobook's cover page to open the listing of chapters. Note that each
chapter will have its own art cover if you added an image to the Artwork tab.
4. Choose the chapter you want to listen to, which plays immediately.

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5. Press the 1x button to the right of the timeline to speed or slow down playback.
Press the center of the screen (where the artwork is displayed) to toggle between
displaying and hiding the lyrics.
6. Press the index button to bring up a listing of all spoken text, which allows you to
easily navigate among chapters.

Written by Joe Fahs

Elmira College
Filename: text_speech_itunes_mobile.doc
Last Update: 2-5-10

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