This tutorial was crafted with the help of ChatGPT. Leave a comment if you find any mistakes.

epub_to_audiobook_guide_for_windows.md

EPUB to Audiobook Converter for Windows Users

Welcome to the tutorial on using the EPUB to Audiobook Converter tool on Windows. If you're not familiar with command-line tools or programming, don't worry. This guide is specially designed for users like you. Let's get started!

This tutorial may be out of date. So also check the README of https://github.com/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook for latest command options.

1. Pre-requisites:

• A working internet connection
• An active Microsoft Azure account with access to the Microsoft Cognitive Services Speech Services. If you don't have one, follow this link to create it.
• Download and install Git for Windows

2. Environment Variables

Option A: Setting Environment Variables via GUI

1. Right-click on This PC or Computer from your desktop or File Explorer, then click on Properties.
2. On the left side, click on Advanced system settings.
3. Under the Advanced tab, click on Environment Variables....
4. In the User Variables section, click on New....
5. For Variable name, enter MS_TTS_KEY and for Variable value, enter your Azure Text-to-Speech subscription key. Click OK.
6. Click on New... again.
7. This time, for Variable name, enter MS_TTS_REGION and for Variable value, enter your Azure Text-to-Speech region (e.g., "westus"). Click OK.

Option B: Setting Environment Variables via Command Prompt

1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. Type the following commands, replacing <your_subscription_key> and <your_region> with your respective Azure details:

setx MS_TTS_KEY "<your_subscription_key>" /M
setx MS_TTS_REGION "<your_region>" /M

3. Installation:

Option A: Python Version

1. Download and install Python. Make sure to check the box Add Python to PATH during installation.
2. Open Git Bash (search in the start menu).
3. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook.git
cd epub_to_audiobook

4. Create a virtual environment and activate it:

python -m venv venv
source venv/Scripts/activate

5. Install the required dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Option B: Docker Version

1. Download and install Docker for Windows.
2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
3. Pull the Docker image:

docker pull ghcr.io/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook:latest

4. Usage:

Option A: Python Version

1. Open Git Bash.
2. Navigate to the project directory:

cd path/to/epub_to_audiobook

Replace path/to/ with the actual path where you cloned the repository.

3. Convert the EPUB to Audiobook:

python main.py <input_file> <output_folder> [--voice_name <voice_name>] [--language <language>]

Example:

python main.py examples/The_Life_and_Adventures_of_Robinson_Crusoe.epub output_folder

Option B: Docker Version

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Navigate to the directory where your EPUB file is located.
3. Run the tool:

docker run -i -t --rm -v %cd%:/app -e MS_TTS_KEY=%MS_TTS_KEY% -e MS_TTS_REGION=%MS_TTS_REGION% ghcr.io/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook your_book.epub audiobook_output

Replace your_book.epub with the name of your EPUB file.

5. Further Information:

• For detailed options, voice, and language customization, and other information, please refer to the official README.
• If you want to customize voice or language, check the Microsoft Azure Text-to-Speech documentation.

That's it! You've now successfully converted your EPUB into an audiobook. Enjoy listening!

Thank you for this. I probably would have figured it out on my own, but I truly appreciate the thorough documentation.

Knowing is half the battle.

I have this working on my Macbook but have a much more powerful Windows machine I am trying to use for this purpose. I am a total novice at this kind of stuff on Windows, but I have followed the instructions to the best of my ability and I am still stuck.

• When I use command prompt to run docker pull ghcr.io/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook:latest i get a return that says

request returned Internal Server Error for API route and version 
http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2Fdocker_engine/v1.24/images/create?fromImage=ghcr.io%2Fp0n1%2Fepub_to_audiobook&tag=latest, 
check if the server supports the requested API version

I tried opening Docker Desktop and manually searching for the image but there are no results for p0n1 or epub_to_audiobook.

• When I used the Python instructions instead, everything works through the creation of the venv and installation of the dependencies. However, when I navigate to the project directory in Git Bash and run something, for example python3 epub_to_audiobook.py -h, I get an error that states

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\epub_to_audiobook\epub_to_audiobook.py", line 6, in <module>
    import ebooklib
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ebooklib'

This is confusing to me because within the C:\epub_to_audiobook\venv\Lib\site-packages folder there exists a folder named ebooklib with the associated .py files.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi @athriren.

For docker on windows, I'm sorry since I also have little knowledge about this. I found others are also discussing about this over here docker/for-win#13693. I guess you could try to rest docker settings, upgrade/downgrade docker versions, reboot or reinstall. You cannot find the image in Docker Desktop because it's hosted on ghcr.io not docker hub.

For Python on windows, remember you need to run source venv/Scripts/activate in path/to/epub_to_audiobook each time after you reopen the command prompt or Git Bash to make sure correct python environment is loaded. After activating the virtual environment, ensure that the Python interpreter you're using is the one from the virtual environment. Run where python to see the path of the Python interpreter that is being used. You could also use pip list to check the packages installed. Besides, I think you could try replace python3 with python in your command.

Feel free to leave a message if you still encounter any issues.

I had just forgotten to activate the virtual environment again, embarrassing. I have it working via Python on Windows now as well. Thank you very much for this tool and for the step-by-step instructions.

I'm getting an error as below when I try to run in Python
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ebooklib'

This is the full window
python3 epub_to_audiobook.py C:/Users/Brett/Documents/Epub/HarryPotter1.epub C:/Users/Brett/Documents/EpubOutput
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\Brett\epub_to_audiobook\epub_to_audiobook.py", line 102, in
main()
File "C:\Users\Brett\epub_to_audiobook\epub_to_audiobook.py", line 98, in main
AudiobookGenerator(config).run()
File "C:\Users\Brett\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\core\audiobook_generator.py", line 37, in run
book_parser = get_book_parser(self.config)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\Brett\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\book_parsers\base_book_parser.py", line 41, in get_book_parser
from audiobook_generator.book_parsers.epub_book_parser import EpubBookParser
File "C:\Users\Brett\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\book_parsers\epub_book_parser.py", line 5, in
import ebooklib
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ebooklib'
(venv)

Hi @hahahabote. Did you follow this step called 'Create a virtual environment and activate it' in the above guide? And your issue looks similar to this one https://gist.github.com/p0n1/cba98859cdb6331cc1aab835d62e4fba?permalink_comment_id=4767283#gistcomment-4767283. Besides, the epub_to_audiobook.py was renamed into main.py in a recent refactoring p0n1/epub_to_audiobook#27 (comment). You should use python3 main.py instead. Please feel free to leave a message if you have any questions.

Hi @hahahabote. Did you follow this step called 'Create a virtual environment and activate it' in the above guide? And your issue looks similar to this one https://gist.github.com/p0n1/cba98859cdb6331cc1aab835d62e4fba?permalink_comment_id=4767283#gistcomment-4767283. Besides, the epub_to_audiobook.py was renamed into main.py in a recent refactoring p0n1/epub_to_audiobook#27 (comment). You should use python3 main.py instead. Please feel free to leave a message if you have any questions.

I activated the virtual environment and ran the command, and still got the same error: "No module named 'ebooklib'."

Also, when I run pip install -r requirements.txt, I get this error:
ERROR: Failed building wheel for multidict Failed to build multidict ERROR: Could not build wheels for multidict, which is required to install pyproject.toml-based projects

I can't get the Docker instructions to work, either. I'm trying to use the OpenAI engine, and the commands on the main page are giving me errors.

Sorry to be so much trouble, this would be a huge huge helper if I can get it to work. Thanks!

EDIT: Got it to work by installing C++.

I activated the virtual environment and run the command and still getting following error"

eltor@DESKTOP-OC3752P MINGW64 ~/epub_to_audiobook (main)
$ python main.py --tts edge text/Empire_of_Storms.epub xx/  --log INFO
C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\venv\Lib\site-packages\ebooklib\epub.py:1423: FutureWarning: This search incorrectly ignores the root element, and will be fixed in a future version.  If you rely on the current behaviour, change it to './/xmlns:rootfile[@media-type]'
  for root_file in tree.findall('//xmlns:rootfile[@media-type]', namespaces={'xmlns': NAMESPACES['CONTAINERNS']}):
C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\venv\Lib\site-packages\pydub\utils.py:170: RuntimeWarning: Couldn't find ffmpeg or avconv - defaulting to ffmpeg, but may not work
  warn("Couldn't find ffmpeg or avconv - defaulting to ffmpeg, but may not work", RuntimeWarning)
2024-08-20 18:34:24 [INFO] Chapters count: 84.
2024-08-20 18:34:24 [INFO] Converting chapters from 1 to 84.
2024-08-20 18:34:24 [INFO] \u2728 Total characters in selected book: 1090685 \u2728
Estimate book voiceover would cost you roughly: $0.00

Do you want to continue? (y/n)
y
2024-08-20 18:34:26 [INFO] Converting chapter 1/84: For_Tamarmy_champion_fairy_godmother_and_knight_in_shinin, characters: 121
C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\venv\Lib\site-packages\pydub\utils.py:198: RuntimeWarning: Couldn't find ffprobe or avprobe - defaulting to ffprobe, but may not work
  warn("Couldn't find ffprobe or avprobe - defaulting to ffprobe, but may not work", RuntimeWarning)
2024-08-20 18:34:26 [WARNING] Failed to decode the chunk, reason: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified, returning a silent chunk.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\main.py", line 147, in <module>
    main()
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\main.py", line 143, in main
    AudiobookGenerator(config).run()
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\core\audiobook_generator.py", line 101, in run
    tts_provider.text_to_speech(
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\tts_providers\edge_tts_provider.py", line 170, in text_to_speech
    asyncio.run(communicate.save(output_file))
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.12_3.12.1520.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\Lib\asyncio\runners.py", line 194, in run
    return runner.run(main)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.12_3.12.1520.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\Lib\asyncio\runners.py", line 118, in run
    return self._loop.run_until_complete(task)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.12_3.12.1520.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\Lib\asyncio\base_events.py", line 687, in run_until_complete
    return future.result()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\audiobook_generator\tts_providers\edge_tts_provider.py", line 121, in save
    audio.export(audio_fname)
  File "C:\Users\eltor\epub_to_audiobook\venv\Lib\site-packages\pydub\audio_segment.py", line 963, in export
    p = subprocess.Popen(conversion_command, stdin=devnull, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.12_3.12.1520.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\Lib\subprocess.py", line 1026, in __init__
    self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
  File "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.12_3.12.1520.0_x64__qbz5n2kfra8p0\Lib\subprocess.py", line 1538, in _execute_child
    hp, ht, pid, tid = _winapi.CreateProcess(executable, args,
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified
(venv)

No matter what I do it. Unable to work on RaspberryPi also.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi @neetalshah. I see warn("Couldn't find ffmpeg or avconv - defaulting to ffmpeg, but may not work", RuntimeWarning). Could you try install ffmpeg first? Check this https://github.com/p0n1/epub_to_audiobook?tab=readme-ov-file#filenotfounderror-errno-2-no-such-file-or-directory-ffmpeg. On Windows, you may need to download the ffmpeg binary and add it to the system PATH.

hello, sorry i'm new to this, is there any way to do the voices with microsoft edge tts? It works great in tts azure but it seems like I have to pay?
thank you so much!

hello, sorry i'm new to this, is there any way to do the voices with microsoft edge tts? It works great in tts azure but it seems like I have to pay? thank you so much!

I managed to do it by adding --tts edge

after running it, it says:

which is exactly what I wanted! leaving it here in case it can be of help for someone.

kudos! thanks again for creating this awesome tool. I can finally cancel my audible subscription lol