Free and Open Source Software

Hi all,

I'm a big fan of having ebooks read to me while I'm doing stuff that prevents me from reading them myself (driving, working, doing dishes, etc.).

I've been using Evie on my Android phone for a few years now, and while it does what I need, the interface is a bit cumbersome, and I wouldn't mind a better alternative.

Evie offers paid Amazon TTS, which I neither like nor use, but also has free support for Google's TTS service (~~not sure if this is his API or just using built-in services on the phone~~ — looks like the voices are Android TTS voices), which I've gotten very fond of. I've logged 200+ books like this in recent years, and I'm very content with the quality of the voices (I use en-us-x-tpc-network).

Ideally, a FOSS ebook reader would support Android TTS, as well as controlling playback/reading speed. Does anyone know of such an app? 🙂

Incidentally, I was always "annoyed" that the only way to get money to Evie was through the Amazon TTS subscription, which I don't need or want. I'm a recent update, they added a new feature: paid background sounds to accompany your story, such as "rain", "train ride", etc. I bought them all, just to show my support, and actually ended up using one of the background rain sounds for the last book I went through, and quite enjoyed it. I think this is a very nice way for an app to allow users to spend a bit more to show their support; paid, non-critical features.

Also, just now discovered that they actually have a "donate" button 😅 Sent a few more $ their way.