Blodget’s Blog

I stumbled upon directions for converting text to speech. The solution for Mac uses an Automator script.

SETUP - MAC
1. Make sure the document you want to use is converted to plain text and that your document is saved with the .txt extension.
1. Open Automator.
2. Add an action by searching for and dragging “Get Contents of
TextEdit Document” from the menu on the left to the blank box on the
right.
3. Add action: “Text To Audio File” and complete the fields: System Voice, Save As, and Where.
4. Add action: “Rename Finder Items (Make Finder Item Names
Sequential)”. In the first drop down box, select “Make Sequential”.
Select “Add number to existing name”. Place number “after name”, and
separated by “dash”
5. Add action: “Import Audio File”. Select “MP3 Encoder” and check the “Delete source files after encoding.”
6. Save the Automator workflow as “Text to Speech”. Go to File - Save as plug-in, and select Script Menu to save.

Now you are finished with Automator and only have a few more steps to complete. Continuing with the process:

7. Open the document in TextEdit.
8. If needed, make any modifications to the text at this time.
9. Select the Scripts menu located in your menu bar. It looks like a
scroll or curly “S” and choose the “Text to Speech” workflow.

You will see the status of the conversion at work in your menu bar.
When it’s complete, an audio file will automatically be added to your
library in iTunes.

I was surprised by how quickly the conversion was done. It took only about 30 seconds to convert a book length text to an hour and 20 minute mp3 file. The previous way I did it required recording the file in real time using TextEdit and Audio Hijack.

Here’s the book length sample mp3 file. (18Mb)
It’s taken from “A Conjurer’s Confessions by M. Robert-Houdin

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