Does Kobo eReader Support Text-to-Speech (TTS)? Kobo eReaders do not natively support text-to-speech (TTS) functionality due to hardware limitations, such as the lack of built-in speakers, and software restrictions. Can I use Kobo text to speech feature? How to listen to kobo books? Here are three different ways to listen to kobo books with or without text to speech.
Method 1: Kobo eReader TTS -- Kobo Models with Audiobook Support (Bluetooth Required)
However, some Kobo models support audiobooks via Bluetooth-enabled devices, allowing you to listen to purchase kobo audiobooks.
- Kobo Sage
- Kobo Elipsa
- Kobo Libra 2
- Kobo Clara 2E
- Kobo Clara Colour
- Kobo Clara BW
- Kobo Clara Colour
To listen to kobo audiobooks on your eReader, you can follow the steps below.
Step 1 Tap on the audiobook on your kobo ereader that you’d like to listen to download it.
Step 2 As your audiobook downloads, a 'Downloading' label and a progress icon will appear next to it. Once the download completes, opening the audiobook will display the audiobook player, which allows you to control playback speed, navigate through the audiobook and access the table of contents.
Step 3 If a 'No Bluetooth Connected' message appears, you'll need to pair your Bluetooth speaker or headphones. Tap 'No Bluetooth Connected' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the pairing process.
Method 2: Kobo App Text to Speech -- The Kobo App (iOS/Android) supports audiobooks but not TTS for ebooks
If you have purchased kobo audiobooks, you can listen to them via Kobo mobile App. Note: Kobo desktop application doesn't support kobo audiobooks listening.
On your Kobo for Android or iOS, tap the audiobook cover to download it first and then you can listen to your kobo audiobooks offline.
QUESTION: Can the Kobo app read aloud?
Answer: Kobo app doesn’t have a native read-aloud feature. So it is not possible to activate the text to speech feature on Kobo App. Still you can use the Kobo Books app on mobile device to listen to purchased kobo audiobooks.
Method 3: Kobo Text to Speech -- How to Use TTS Kobo eBooks
If you want to enable the text-to-speech feature of your kobo books, you need to convert your kobo books to text or epub format and then use apps like @Voice Aloud Reader (Android/iOS) or Google Text-to-Speech.
The key step is making the epub books can be read with the text to speech app. To do this, we need to convert kobo kepub to normal epub format with no drm protection.
With the assistance of Epubor Ultimate, we can easily remove drm from kobo books and convert kobo kepub to epub with no drm protection.
Step 1 Download Kobo books to your desktop via kobo desktop application.
Step 2 Run Epubor Ultimate to remove kobo drm and convert kobo kepub to epub format.
If you need to remove drm from kobo plus ebooks and audiobooks, please follow this guide: Kobo Plus DRM Removal: How to Remove DRM from Kobo Plus
Step 3 Once your books are in the DRM-free EPUB format, you can use TTS apps to listen to them.
Iris Yan Marketing Architect at Epubor since 2017, drives the brand’s product design, advertising, and all-channel strategy.
