From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Tutorial:
Convert any ebook or text to audiobook spoken English on Windows
and copy to your mobile device to play that audiobook for hours

I've been undergoing many days of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
where it's rather boring being in a sealed pressurized chamber.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Lsjs3tj8/hyperbaric01.jpg> hyperbaric chamber

The hyperbaric clinic will allow you to connect your mobile device
but it has to remain outside the hyperbaric chamber so they have to
be able to operate the controls (essentially, hit a button to play).

I generally only listen to documentaries so I came up with an idea.
Why not just create my own "audiobook" from any book out there?

That turned out to be so easy, that I wrote this up to help others
at the clinic who also might want to convert an ebook to an audiobook.

This is the basic process:
a. Obtain an ebook on Windows
b. Convert that ebook to an audiobook on Windows
c. Copy the audiobook to your mobile device
d. Connect the mobile device using the hyperbaric chamber dongle
e. Set up the audio player so the clinic staff can hit the play button

For others to benefit from everything I do (which is how I'm wired),
here is a quick log of the specific steps I used for this process.
1. Obtain any desired (large) file of any format & roughly of a book size
2. If needed, on Windows, convert that (large) file to a suitable format
3. If needed, on Windows, edit the file to remove extraneous pages
4. On Windows, convert that (large) text file to a (large) audio file
5. Copy that (large) audio file from Windows to your mobile device
6. Play that (large) audio file on your mobile device

It takes all of a few minutes using the freeware I used below:
1. Obtain any desired (large) file of any format & roughly of a book size
<https://standardebooks.org/>
<https://www.ilovephd.com/60-legal-websites-to-download-millions-of-free-books-in-2025/>
<https://www.howtogeek.com/these-are-the-best-sites-for-drm-free-ebooks-and-comics/>
2. Use Windows Calibre to convert your (large) input book file to TXT or DOCX.
3. Many may opt to use Microsoft Word (or Notepad++) to edit the TXT or DOCX.
4. Use Windows Balabolka to export as an audio file using any preferred voice.
5. Copy the (large) audio file to Android over USB (where iOS is constrained).
6. Play that (large) audio file on your mobile device using VLC freeware

Here are the steps in more detail (sufficient for others to reproduce)
1. I started with this EPUB file (which I converted to an M4A file for iOS).
"Relativity : the Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein"
That book explains Einsteinos theories in accessible language.
<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5001>
<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5001.epub.noimages>
Name: pg5001.epub
Size: 181564 bytes (177 KiB)
SHA256: 07D0F0F8CD9D3AC3CBE251F2CA4DAAF11183E3C755001B80A729EC310074AE6B
2. I opened it into Windows Calibre & converted the EPUB format to text
Calibre input formats:
EPUB (.epub), MOBI (.mobi), AZW, AZW3, AZW4 (Amazon Kindle formats),
PDF (.pdf), DOCX (.docx), RTF (.rtf), TXT (.txt), ODT,
HTML/XHTML (.html, .htm), CBZ/CBR (Comic book formats)
Calibre output formats:
EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, PDF, DOCX, RTF, TXT, HTML, LRF (Sony Reader),
ZIP (for packaging HTML or TXT), FB2 (FictionBook).
3. Using Windows GVim, I edited out table of contents, bibliography, etc.
4. Using Windows Balabolka I converted the (large) text into (large) audio.
Balabolka can read & process:
TXT (.txt), DOCX (.docx), RTF (.rtf), PDF (.pdf) with some limitations
HTML/HTM (.html, .htm), FB2 (.fb2), ODT (.odt), LIT (.lit), CHM (.chm),
EPUB (.epub) - Only partially supported; better to convert to TXT or DOCX
Balabolka can output spoken text as:
MP3 (.mp3), WAV (.wav), OGG (.ogg), WMA (.wma),
MP4 (.mp4) Only for video with subtitles, not standard audio output
When paired with ffmpeg in the Balabolka setup, Balabolka can output:
M4A (.m4a), M4B (.m4b), AAC (.aac), FLAC (.flac), ALAC (.alac),
AIFF (.aiff), Opus (.opus), PCM (.pcm), CAF (.caf), AU (.au),
AC3 (.ac3), MP2 (.mp2)
5. To copy the resulting large file to Android you just connect by USB.
For iOS, it's much harder, where you can't just easily copy over USB.
First I tried LocalSend but it failed so I won't go into those details.
Then I used VLC & it worked perfectly to transfer the file to iOS
using the Wi-Fi local-LAN capability of VLC to copy files into iOS.
6. To play the (large) audiobook, I used VLC on both platforms.
The technicians at the clinic only needed to press the VLC "play" button.

Here is the free software I used (EPUB players are added for completeness).
(I try to never suggest software that isn't free or that delivers ads!)

Windows:
Calibre EPUB reader & converter (FOSS)
<https://calibre-ebook.com/>
Balabolka text reader & audiobook creator (freeware, but not FOSS)
<https://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm>
Ffmpeg audio conversion tool (FOSS)
<https://ffmpeg.org/download.html>

Android:
Voice Audiobook Player FOSS adfree (FOSS)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.ph1b.audiobook>
Smart AudioBook Player free adfree (free, but proprietary software)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ak.alizandro.smartaudiobookplayer>

iOS :
BookPlayer audio player by Gianni Carlo (FOSS)
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id1138219998>
Everlisten++ audio player by Tomoyoshi Natsui (free, but proprietary software)
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id1116483197>

Here is the Calibre conversion sequence from EPUB to either TXT or DOCX:
1. Launch Calibre on Windows.
2. Click "Add books" to import your EPUB file into the Calibre library.
3. Select the imported book in the Calibre list.
Relativity _ the Special and Ge - Albert Einstein.epub (178KB)
4. Click "Convert books" in the top toolbar.
5. In the conversion window, set "Output format" to "TXT" in the top right corner. (or set the output to docx if you want to edit in Microsoft Word)
6. Optionally adjust metadata, layout, or remove images under the various tabs.
7. Click "OK" to start the conversion.
8. When finished, right-click the book in the Calibre list & choose
"Open Book Folder" (or "Open containing folder").
9. Locate the newly created TXT file in the folder for use in Balabolka.
Calibre named the 1,848-line text file based on its metadata:
"Relativity _ the Special and Ge - Albert Einstein.txt" (201KB)

Here is the Balabolka conversion sequence:
1. Launch Balabolka on Windows.
2. Click "File" > "Open" to select your TXT or DOCX file.
"Relativity _ the Special and Ge - Albert Einstein.txt" (201KB)
3. Review the text in the main window. You can edit it if needed.
4. Choose your preferred voice:
Click "Voice" > "Select Voice" (Windows comes with voices)
Pick from installed SAPI5 voices or Windows system voices
5. Adjust speech settings if desired:
Click "Voice" > "Settings"
Modify speed, pitch, & volume
6. To export audio:
Click "File" > "Save Audio File"
Choose an audiobook format (MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, M4B, WAV, etc.)

If you have FFmpeg installed, you can also choose M4A or M4B
How to get FFmpeg for Windows:
a. Go to the official FFmpeg website:
https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
b. Under "Windows", click the link to the recommended build
(usually https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/)
c. Download the "release full" ZIP package
d. Extract the ZIP file to a folder on your computer
e. Inside the extracted folder, locate the ffmpeg.exe file
(usually it will be found in the "bin" subfolder)

How to point Balabolka to FFmpeg:
a. Launch Balabolka on Windows
b. Click "Options" > "Audio File Options"
c. In the dialog box, check "Use external program for audio conversion"
d. Click the "Browse" button & select the ffmpeg.exe file you downloaded
e. Choose an output format & adjust encoding settings if needed
f. Click "OK" to save your settings
g. Balbolka can now export audio using FFmpeg-supported formats.

7. Set filename & destination & wait for the beep to indicate it finished.
Mine took about two minutes to convert.
The default name based on the metadata is:
Name: Relativity _ the Special and Ge - Albert Einstein.m4b
Size: 36100654 bytes (34 MiB)
SHA256: 67A92B6476F050FB3D9B16A6ABE326A9E229BF1AF1199260019C9F4FAB671A25

Here's how I transferred that audiobook file from Windows to Android:
1. Connect Android to Windows over USB
2. Click on the Android icon that shows up & pick a destination
3. Slide the (large) file over from Windows to that Android destination

To transfer any (large) non-camera file from Windows to an iOS
device is miserable compared to how trivial it is to do on Android.
1. Make sure both your iOS device & Windows are on your local LAN.
2. Install VLC for Mobile freeware from the iOS App Store
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id650377962>
3. Start VLC & tap the VLC cone icon in the top left corner
to open the side menu & tap "Sharing via WiFi" to enable
the WiFi transfer feature.
4. Note the IP address shown (for example, http://192.168.0.2).
5. On your Windows computer, open a browser & enter
the IP address shown in VLC.
6. The VLC web interface will appear.
Drag & drop your (large) audio file into the upload area.
7. Wait for the file to finish uploading.
It will appear in the VLC media library on your iOS device.
8. On your iOS device, tap the audiobook file in VLC to begin playback.

In summary, these simple cross-platform steps should work for you too:
1. Get the book <https://standardebooks.org/>
2. Convert format [Calibre ==> EPUB > TXT or DOCX]
3. Remove non-narrative sections [GVim, Word, Notepad++]
4. Generate audio [Balabolka + FFmpeg]
5. Transfer to mobile device [USB (Android), VLC Wi-Fi (iOS)]
6. Playback [VLC, BookPlayer, Smart AudioBook Player]

I'm sure there are other ways to obtain, convert, copy & play
books on your mobile device, so please improve with how you do it.

NOTE:
A "technicality" is the clinic only has an HDMI-to-mobile-device adaptor connecting to your power port (either USB-C or Lightning); nothing else.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

I simplified the tutorial for the patients to use at the hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic. The main takeaway is you can essentially convert anything
on the Internet that is text to an audiobook, no matter how large it is.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Lsjs3tj8/hyperbaric01.jpg> hyperbaric oxygen chamber

============================================================================= Tutorial: =============================================================================
Convert any ebook or PDF or HTML text to audiobook spoken English on
Windows; then copy to & play on your mobile device for your chamber.

Freeware:
All items suggested in this tutorial are legally free & open to use.

Basic process
1. Obtain any textual ebook on Windows (e.g., .epub)
2. Convert the input format to written text (e.g., .txt)
3. Optionally edit out non-narrative material (such as the bibliography)
4. Convert the text to a spoken-audio file (e.g., .opus)
5. Copy that spoken-audio file to a mobile device
6. Play that audio file on your mobile device

Free or open-source Windows software used to create the audiobook:
a. Free open-source Epub reader & converter software
Calibre <https://calibre-ebook.com/>
b. Free text-to-audio conversion software
Balabolka <https://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm>
c. (Optional) Additional free audio conversion software
FFmpeg <https://ffmpeg.org/download.html>

Free or open-source Android software used to play the audiobook:
a. VLC audio/video player
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc>
b. Voice Audiobook Player
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.ph1b.audiobook>
c. Smart AudioBook Player
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ak.alizandro.smartaudiobookplayer>

Free or open-source iOS software used to play the audiobook:
a. VLC audio/video player
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id650377962>
b. BookPlayer
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id1138219998>
c. Everlisten++
<https://apps.apple.com/app/id1116483197>

Step 1:
Obtain any free textual epub book you wish to convert to spoken audio.
Example book:
Special & General Theory of Relativity, by Albert Einstein, 1916
<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5001>
<https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5001.epub.noimages>
File name pg5001.epub size 177 KiB
SHA256 07D0F0F8CD9D3AC3CBE251F2CA4DAAF11183E3C755001B80A729EC310074AE6B

There are many free no-registration ebook (.epub) sites on the Internet.

A. The largest & oldest free ebook library with 70k plus titles in EPUB
<https://www.gutenberg.org/>

B. Public domain books in HTML format, no login needed
<https://authorama.com/>

C. Beautifully formatted EPUBs, no account required
<https://standardebooks.org/>

D. Index of free books hosted elsewhere
<https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/>

E. Public domain texts with EPUB export, no account required
<https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page>

F. Curated list of external sources
<https://ilovephd.com/60-legal-websites-to-download-millions-of-free-books-in-2025/>

G. Curated free ebooks across genres, no login needed
<https://www.getfreeebooks.com/>

H. Informational article with links to other sites
<https://howtogeek.com/these-are-the-best-sites-for-drm-free-ebooks-and-comics/>

I. Nicely formatted classics in EPUB or PDF, no ads
<https://www.planetebook.com/>

Step 2
Convert that ebook to text with Calibre freeware
a. On Windows, launch the main Calibre program
b. Click the green "Add books" icon at the top left
c. Select the epub book you just downloaded
d. Click the brown "Convert books" icon near the top left
e. At the top right of the form that pops up, select "Output format = TXT"
f. At the bottom right of that form, click the "OK" button
g. Wait for the bottom right "Jobs" count to go from "1" back to "0"
h. Press the blue "Save to disk" icon at the top bar to save the text file
i. Choose a location for saving the text file
j. Right click on the selected book & choose Open Book Folder
k. You should be able to locate the newly created TXT file

Note Calibre input formats include
EPUB MOBI AZW AZW3 AZW4 PDF DOCX RTF TXT ODT HTML CBZ CBR
Calibre output formats include
EPUB MOBI AZW3 PDF DOCX RTF TXT HTML LRF ZIP FB2

My suggestion for your first attempt is:
Input format = EPUB
Output format = TXT (or DOCX)

Step 3 (optional)
Edit out any non-narrative text
a. Open the resulting TXT (or DOCX) file in any Windows editor
b. Remove non-narrative text such as the table of contents,
or the bibliography or other extras such as images.
c. Save the edited text (or DOCX) file

Step 4
Convert the text file to spoken audio using Balabolka freeware
a. On Windows, launch the Balabolka audio-file-creation program
b. Select the edited TXT (or DOCX) input file
Balabolka:File > Open > file.txt
c. (Optional) If desired, edit the text in Balabolka
to remove non-narrative text such as the dedication or
table of contents or the bibliography, etc. and save
d. Select the desired Microsoft Voice (e.g., David or Zira)
Balabolka:Voice > Voice > Microsoft David Desktop
e. Set desired options for an efficient audio file size
Balabolka:Options > Audio Files > Options
Click on the "OPUS" tab to set .opus options
Set the "Bitrate" to either 24 kbps or 48 kbps
Leave the "Audio Format" at "Default for voice"
Press the "OK" button to save these settings
f. Save the audio file
Balabolka:File > Save Audio File
In the "Save as type" dropdown, select "Opus audio files (.opus)"
Click OK, then save your file.

Optionally, you can set up Balabolka to use FFmpeg to enable
more output formats than Balabolka normally enables on its own.
a. Download the Windows FFmpeg build
<https://ffmpeg.org/download.html>
<https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/>
b. Extract the ZIP & locate ffmpeg.exe in the bin folder
c. In Balabolka Options Audio File Options check Use external program
d. Browse to ffmpeg.exe & save settings

Step 5
Transfer the spoken-audio file to your mobile device.
Android
Connect by USB
Copy file to device storage

iOS
Install VLC <https://apps.apple.com/app/id650377962>
Enable Sharing via WiFi in VLC
Note IP address shown
On Windows open browser to that IP
Drag & drop audio file to upload
File appears in VLC library on iOS

Step 6
Play your newly created audiobook on your mobile device.
On Android open VLC or another player such as Audiobook Player & press play
On iOS open VLC or another player such as BookPlayer & press play

Summary
1. Get any free electronic book text on the Internet
2. Convert the textual ebook with Calibre to TXT or DOCX
3. Optionally edit out non-narrative text using any Windows text editor
4. Convert the text file with Balabolka to a spoken audio file
5. Transfer the spoken-audio file to Android by USB or to iOS by VLC WiFi
6. Play on the mobile device with VLC or any other free audio file player ============================================================================= --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.mobile.android

Marion wrote:

I simplified the tutorial for the patients to use at the hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic. The main takeaway is you can essentially convert anything
on the Internet that is text to an audiobook, no matter how large it is.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Lsjs3tj8/hyperbaric01.jpg> hyperbaric oxygen chamber

<OT> How does a hyperbaric oxygen chamber work anyway?

You're locked inside a "propane tank" where you're not allowed to bring anything with you - not even your own clothes. So you're bored to death.

To stave off boredom, they allow you to play anything you want on the
speakers. Always wanting to learn something new, I decided on playing
audio books of my own choosing (e.g., Einstein's Theory of Relativity
from 1916 which is out of copyright since it only lasts for 100 years).

That's why I wrote the attached guide.
So the clinic patients can do likewise.

With this tutorial, you can take anything on the Internet and convert it
to an audiobook - which is usually about five or ten hours long.

That's suddenly useful because you have to spend two hours each day locked
in that "500-gallon propane tank" where they send you "down" to about 85
feet (if it were a freshwater dive) and you go through 7 cycles from:
1. About 10 minutes of pressurization from 1ATM to 2.5ATM on air
2. Then they switch you to about 30 minutes of high-pressure oxygen
3. Then an "air break" of 5 minutes (to forestall oxygen toxicity)
4. Then back to about 30 minutes of high-pressure oxygen
5. And again, a short "air break" of about 5 minutes
6. Back again to about 30 minutes of high-pressure pure oxygen
7. And then about 10 minutes to bring us back up to the surface on air.

The total therapeutic time is 90 minutes on high-pressure oxygen.
The main dangers are oxygen toxicity & nitrogen narcosis.

It's all about partial pressures, which everyone learned long ago.
It's basic scuba-diving stuff that every diver studies in detail.
Q: How does it work?
A: It fills your body with oxygen molecules at high pressure.

Oxygen molecules are of a relative size of a grain of sand compared to a
truck when it comes to how big red blood cells are, so they can get all
over the body through tiny roads (arteries & capillaries) and walls in our tissues and organs. The perfusion only lasts a short while though.

So you have to do it again.
And again.
And again.

If a truck (RBC) can't get through a narrow artery, the grain of sand
can get through it - where the hope is the oxygen does some good.

Anyway, that's why I wrote the tutorial for how to convert anything
textual on the Internet to an audio file for people who are bored,
and stuck inside a propane tank for a couple of hours with nothing
else to do to keep their mind occupied (other than clear their ears).

The hope, as always, is that it helps everyone easily do what I can do.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2