🎧 AI Audiobook Maker (AIABM)

Transform your PDFs and text files into high-quality audiobooks using OpenAI's advanced Text-to-Speech technology. No installation required - just run with npx!

✨ Features

• 🚀 Zero Installation: Run directly with npx aiabm
• 📁 Smart File Handling: Supports PDF and TXT files with drag & drop
• 🎤 Voice Preview: Listen to all 6 OpenAI voices before choosing
• ⏸️ Resume & Pause: Continue interrupted conversions anytime
• 🔐 Secure API Key Management: Encrypted local storage
• 📊 Progress Tracking: Real-time conversion progress with estimates
• 🎛️ Advanced Controls: Adjust speed, quality, and output format
• 💰 Cost Transparency: See exact pricing before conversion

🚀 Quick Start

Method 1: Direct Usage (Recommended)

# Convert a specific file
npx aiabm mybook.pdf

# Interactive mode
npx aiabm

Method 2: Global Installation

npm install -g ai-audiobook-maker
aiabm mybook.pdf

📋 Prerequisites

• Node.js 16+ (Download from nodejs.org)
• OpenAI API Key (Get from platform.openai.com)
• FFmpeg (for audio combining - auto-installed on most systems)

🎯 Usage Examples

CLI Mode

# Basic conversion
npx aiabm document.pdf

# With specific options
npx aiabm book.txt --voice nova --speed 1.2 --model tts-1-hd

# Manage API key
npx aiabm --config

Interactive Mode

npx aiabm

Then follow the interactive prompts to:

1. Select your file (browse, drag & drop, or enter path)
2. Preview and choose a voice
3. Configure settings (speed, quality, output format)
4. Monitor progress and resume if needed

🎤 Available Voices

• Alloy: Neutral, versatile
• Echo: Clear, professional
• Fable: Warm, storytelling
• Onyx: Deep, authoritative
• Nova: Bright, engaging
• Shimmer: Gentle, soothing

💰 Pricing

OpenAI TTS pricing: $0.015 per 1,000 characters

| Content Length | Estimated Cost | Example | |----------------|----------------|---------| | 10,000 characters | ~$0.15 | Short article | | 50,000 characters | ~$0.75 | Small e-book | | 100,000 characters | ~$1.50 | Average novel | | 250,000 characters | ~$3.75 | Large book |

🔧 Advanced Features

Resume Interrupted Conversions

If conversion stops, simply run the tool again - it will automatically detect and offer to resume your previous session.

Multiple Output Formats

• Single File: One complete audiobook MP3
• Chapter Files: Separate MP3 per chunk
• Both: Get both formats

Voice Preview Caching

Voice previews are cached locally to save API costs and improve performance.

Smart Text Chunking

• Respects sentence boundaries
• Preserves chapter structure for PDFs
• Configurable chunk sizes (default: 4000 characters)

📂 File Support

PDF Files

• ✅ Up to 50MB
• ✅ Text extraction with structure preservation
• ✅ Automatic chapter detection

Text Files

• ✅ Up to 1M characters
• ✅ UTF-8 encoding
• ✅ Automatic formatting cleanup

⚙️ Configuration

API Key Storage

Your OpenAI API key is encrypted and stored locally at:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.config/ai-audiobook-maker/config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\ai-audiobook-maker\config.json

Cache Location

Voice previews and temporary files:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.config/ai-audiobook-maker/cache/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\ai-audiobook-maker\cache\

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"FFmpeg not found"

# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Windows
# Download from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

"API key invalid"

• Verify your key at OpenAI Platform
• Use npx aiabm --config to update your key

"File too large"

• PDFs: Maximum 50MB
• Text: Maximum 1M characters
• Split large files before conversion

Voice preview not playing

• macOS: Uses built-in afplay
• Windows: Uses PowerShell media player
• Linux: Requires ffplay, mpv, vlc, or mplayer

Performance Tips

• Use tts-1 model for faster processing
• Use tts-1-hd for higher quality (slower)
• Cache clears automatically after 30 days
• Resume feature prevents re-processing completed chunks

🔒 Privacy & Security

• API keys are encrypted locally using AES-192
• No data is sent to servers other than OpenAI
• Cache files are stored locally only
• Session data helps resume interrupted conversions

📖 Examples

Converting a PDF Book

npx aiabm "My Great Novel.pdf"

Interactive Voice Selection

npx aiabm
# Select "Preview all voices"
# Listen to each voice sample
# Choose your favorite
# Configure speed and quality
# Start conversion

Batch Processing Tips

# Process multiple files
for file in *.pdf; do npx aiabm "$file" --voice nova --speed 1.1; done

🤝 Contributing

Issues and feature requests welcome at: GitHub Issues

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built on OpenAI's TTS API
• Inspired by the original bash script version
• Uses FFmpeg for audio processing

📝 Changelog

v2.0.1 (2025-07-31)

• 🔧 Fixed CLI command back to aiabm as originally intended
• 📝 Updated documentation to reflect correct command usage

v2.0.0 (2025-07-31)

• 🎨 Renamed npm package to ai-audiobook-maker for better discoverability
• ⌨️ CLI command remains aiabm for convenience
• 📦 Improved package structure and metadata
• 🔧 Added proper .gitignore and .npmignore files
• 📄 Added MIT LICENSE file
• 📚 Updated documentation and installation instructions
• 🚀 Ready for npm publishing

Happy listening! 🎧 Turn any text into your personal audiobook library.