PocketBook Era · Guides
Read aloud and play audiobooks on the PocketBook Era
The Era can read ebooks aloud with text-to-speech and play your own MP3 and M4B audiobook files — through its built-in speaker or over Bluetooth. Here is how to set up each.
Audio is the Era’s clearest advantage over a Kobo or Kindle, and even over the Verse Pro: it has a real speaker, so it will read your ebooks aloud and play audiobook files with nothing else attached. Headphones over Bluetooth are there for private listening. Both cost battery, and both are held back only by the synthetic voice quality and the lack of support for DRM-locked audio.
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Know what the Era can do that most readers cannot
It has two separate audio abilities and a real speaker. Text-to-speech reads a normal ebook aloud in a synthetic voice. Audiobook playback plays actual recorded audio files that you copy on yourself — MP3, M4A, M4B and OGG. Both can play out of the built-in speaker or over Bluetooth.
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Use the built-in speaker, or pair headphones
For the speaker, you do not need to set anything up — audio just plays. For private listening, put your headphones into pairing mode, then on the Era open Settings, then Bluetooth, turn it on, and select them from the list. They reconnect automatically afterwards when both are on and in range.
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Set up a text-to-speech voice
Text-to-speech needs a voice package. Go to Settings, then "Language" or "Text-to-Speech", and download a voice for the language you read in. Some firmware includes one or two voices already. The download is over Wi-Fi and is a one-time step per language.
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Read a book aloud
Open an ebook, tap the top centre for the reading menu, and choose the text-to-speech or "Voice" option. Playback controls and a reading-speed setting appear. The page turns itself as it reads, and it can keep going with the screen off.
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Play your own audiobook files
Copy MP3, M4B or M4A files to the Era by USB, into the "Music" or "Books" folder. They appear in the Library alongside your ebooks. Open one to get a player with chapter navigation, a sleep timer and a playback-speed control.
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Understand the limits
The synthetic text-to-speech voice is functional, not natural — it is for listening while doing something else, not a substitute for a produced audiobook. The speaker is small and mono, fine for spoken word but not music. And the Era cannot play DRM-protected audiobooks from Audible or a library app; only unprotected files.