Text file format for iPad

Question

Text file format for iPad

I have created over 50 audio books from text files, on the Mac with a couple of applications, to play on my iPod, as MP3 files with cover illustrations and they all work just fine.

I am considering purchasing an iPad 2 and would welcome advice on the best file format in which to save a book text files, together with a cover illustration, to show up on the iPad book shelf and be available to read as an i-book?

I use a Infovox (Graham) voice for text reading when creating my audio books, is it possible to load this into the iPad and make it the default audio reader of all text files?

G5 PowerPC-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 1, 2011 3:47 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Rudegar

Level 10

170,724 points

Oct 1, 2011 5:27 AM in response to gerald fromjavea

apples ibook app works great with epub (as thats it's native format)

there are tons of free tools which let you set cover and metadata and add bodytext and make an

epub file with it which you add to itunes and then sync to ios devices

epub is not a closed apple format but an official std used by many apps

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,916 points

Oct 1, 2011 6:11 AM in response to gerald fromjavea

gerald fromjavea wrote:

is it possible to load this into the iPad

You cannot load anything into an iPad (or any iOS device) which is not obtained from the app store. Whether there are any extra voices available there I don't know.

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Answer 3

Oct 3, 2011 12:42 AM in response to gerald fromjavea

Thank you Rudeger - I have had a good look around and there seems plenty to play with and much advice -there even seems a possibility of getting Graham on board the iPad as well - looks good - a new iPad purchase on the way.

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Answer 4

Oct 3, 2011 12:50 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Sorry Tom, I think you have been reading too many Apple iPad adverts - there is plenty you can make up yourself and add to an iPad - see Rudegar above - as with the iPod and even the Kindle - the software is out there for you to do your own thing mostly for free - my 50 audio books and 60 pieces of classical music on my iPod are all DIY and work just fine. Go check the internet then try some your self.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,916 points

Oct 3, 2011 5:48 AM in response to gerald fromjavea

gerald fromjavea wrote:

there is plenty you can make up yourself and add to an iPad

I was referring specifically to adding additional voices for text to speech. If you have found a url with instructions on how to do that without jailbreaking, please provide it.

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Answer 6

sjduesey

Level 1

0 points

Oct 3, 2011 8:59 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Sorry Tom - try <http://www.acapela-for-iphone.com/> for size - it is all out there if you care to look - happy hunting.

ps - you did write “You cannot load anything into an iPad (or any iOS device) which is not obtained from the app store.” This is unequivocally not correct. I have yet to get my hands on an iPad, but 30 seconds on the internet will show you how wrong you are.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,916 points

Oct 3, 2011 9:29 AM in response to sjduesey

sjduesey wrote:

Sorry Tom - try <http://www.acapela-for-iphone.com/>

I thought the question here was whether an ordinary non-jailbreaking user could add voices. Acapela doesn't do that as far as I can see: From their FAQ.

"- I would like to have your voices integrated into VoiceOver
- I want to use my iPhone with your voices but the voiceover doesn’t have the arabic language

Acapela TTS for iPhone and iPad is not an application for end-users. This is a Software Development Kit dedicated to developers and integrators and not an end-user solution.

Unfortunately, VoiceOver application, included in iPad, iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 cannot use our voices. It works only with build-in voices of iOS (that cannot be used by other applications than VoiceOver)."

If you do have examples of voices, fonts, or keyboards which users can themselves add to their iOS device without creating an app or violating the iOS license agreement, I would be interested in the urls.

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