Show HN: Turn technical PDFs into audiobooks with simplified text (pdftomp3.com)
I wanted to get back on track with the current machine learning literature. When I found the free book "Understanding Deep Learning," I had the idea to listen to the book instead of reading it on a screen.
So I've built a tool to turn PDFs into MP3s so I can listen to it. I'm now almost done with the book; I listen to the audio chapters every day on my commute to work.
For regular text, you can simply use any text-to-speech API, but for technical text containing formulas, it's more contrived. I'm using ChatGPT to simplify the text for a better audio experience. Listening to formulas while driving in the car just doesn't work for me. When there is a formula in the text, I try to describe it like "... a linear combination of the terms ...". It's work in progress.
I've just launched the MVP, so let me know what you think. Do you like the simplification of the text? https://www.pdftomp3.com/pdfs
P.S. the pricing is due to the API calls.
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