Editing Openai/696ee667-0f5c-800f-bff4-40d6fcaaafa7 (section)

=== Assistant: You absolutely can turn your own physical book into audio that you can listen to while driving without rebuying it — yo… ===
You absolutely can turn your own physical book into audio that you can listen to while driving without rebuying it — you just need a way to convert the pages into spoken text. The key is optical character recognition (OCR) plus text-to-speech (TTS). That’s the tech combo that lets your phone look at printed pages and then read them out loud. Speechify<ref>{{cite web|title=Speechify|url=https://speechify.com/blog/scan-printed-text/|publisher=speechify.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

For your situation here’s a practical, legal path that does not require buying another audiobook:

Use a text-to-speech scanning app on your phone. Many apps let you point your camera at printed pages, scan them, and have them read aloud in real time or later. Big names in this space include Speechify, Audeus, and Speak4Me — all can take a photo of book pages and convert them to audio you listen to while commuting. Speechify<ref>{{cite web|title=Speechify|url=https://speechify.com/blog/scan-printed-text/|publisher=speechify.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

Speechify is one of the most straightforward: you open the app, use the camera to scan pages you want, and once processed, it reads them out loud in a human-like voice you control (speed, tone, etc.). You can save the scans and listen later or while you drive (hands free). Speechify<ref>{{cite web|title=Speechify|url=https://speechify.com/blog/scan-printed-text/|publisher=speechify.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

Audeus and Speak4Me offer similar abilities to scan printed text and read it aloud, turning physical pages into an audio experience without rebuying the book. Audeus<ref>{{cite web|title=Audeus|url=https://www.audeus.com/|publisher=audeus.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

If you’re on a tight budget or want something free and simple, your phone’s built-in features can help too. On iPhone, you can use the camera + Notes app to scan pages, then enable Speak Screen in Accessibility so the phone reads whatever text is on screen. Android has text-to-speech in Accessibility and apps like Microsoft Lens that can scan and read text aloud as well. TechRadar<ref>{{cite web|title=TechRadar|url=https://www.techradar.com/best/best-ocr-software|publisher=techradar.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

One underlying detail worth noting: this method is fine for personal use with a book you own. It doesn’t create a shareable audiobook file for distribution or resale, but it does give you the audio access you need while you’re driving.

If you want voices that sound more natural or support for long scans without constantly photographing every page, trying a few of these apps to see which works best with your book’s layout and your listening style is useful. Accuracy varies with fonts and lighting, but for most printed texts it will get you a listenable audio version. reddit.com<ref>{{cite web|title=reddit.com|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Dyslexia/comments/17vy55o|publisher=reddit.com|access-date=2026-01-20}}</ref>

That gives you your book as audio on your commute without paying again.