Read4me · a reading buddy for researchers

Read the chapter you need. Footnotes skipped.

A desktop app that reads your PDFs and EPUBs aloud in a natural voice. Pick a chapter or page range, and it leaves out the citations, footnotes and page headers that break your flow.

Notify me at launch See what it does
Coming soon to the Mac App Store · Works offline
01

Three things other readers get wrong

🎯

Read exactly what you choose

Textbooks are long. Pick a chapter from the book’s own contents, or type a page range, and it starts there.

  • Chapter & section picker
  • Page ranges for PDFs (PDF or printed numbers)
  • Click or highlight any sentence to continue from it
🤫

Skips the side-notes

No more “open parenthesis Smith comma 2019”. Each of these can be switched on or off:

  • Inline citations: (Smith, 2020) and [1, 3]
  • Footnotes and endnotes
  • Figure captions, reference lists, running headers and page numbers
🎙️

Doesn’t sound robotic

Uses a modern neural voice that runs on your own computer, so your papers never leave it.

  • 7 natural voices (US & UK)
  • Longer pauses at paragraphs and headings
  • Speed 0.7×–2× without chipmunk pitch
PDF + EPUBOpen either kind of book in the same app.
Notes sidebarType notes, or add a highlighted quote with its page. Download as .txt.
Easy on the eyesLight, dark, yellow, green and blue themes, plus font and size choices.
Pause & resumeA real player bar: pause mid-sentence and pick up exactly there.
02

How it works

Open a book

Choose a PDF or EPUB. Read4me finds the chapters and spots footnotes, citations and headers.

Choose what to hear

Select a chapter, or enter pages. Tick or untick what to skip.

Listen, and take notes

Follow along as the current sentence is highlighted. Jot notes as you go and download them when you’re done.

Honest limits (it’s an early version)

  • Citation and footnote detection is rule-based. It works well on typical journal articles and ebooks, but unusual layouts can slip through. Every skip can be switched off.
  • Scanned PDFs (pictures of pages) aren’t supported yet; text-based PDFs and EPUBs are.
  • Mac first: I’m preparing it for the Mac App Store. A Windows version depends on how many people ask for it.
  • Copy-protected (DRM) ebooks can’t be opened.

Coming soon to the Mac App Store

Read4me is almost ready. Want to know the day it’s available? Send me a quick email. One email, no spam.

Works offline · your papers stay on your computer

Get notified

Send me a quick email and I’ll tell you the day Read4me is on the App Store.

Email me at launch →

On Windows? Tell me so I know how many people want it.