vBookz PDF Voice Reader App Reviews

This app is grievously overpriced. At $14.99 you would expect so much more, but the app does not even include any editing or highlighting options and it doesnt read all PDFs! Wasted $15 on this app. Do not buy!

I loved the idea of this app, but unfortunately it just doesnt work. Its suppose to highlight text while its narrating. So that you can read along. Ive never had the narration sync with the text. If you pause the app, the text selected will jump several pages ahead. Making it a nightmare to find your place. I hope that an update would be able to fix its problems.

I have tried several pdf text to speech programs, and this one is by far the best so far. vBookz has an equivelant program for iPad, iPod, and iPhone, and while they have more issues relating to memory (pausing at the end of each page, slow loads for pages starting at a random place in a book etc.), they still beat the competition hands down in functionality in my opinion. Since I used vBookz first on an iPod and iPad, I guessed that the issues related to the iPad and iPod might be resolved with the Mac version, so decided to gamble the $14.99 to try it out. It turned out my hunch was correct, and this software is very straightforward and simple to use. One of the biggest problems I have found with other software is the requirement of having to select the text you want to read before the software will work. A couple of programs I have tried then only allows you to select a few pages at a time. I like to listen to books while doing other things, so the idea of pre-selecting text every 2-4 pages is almost useless. vBookz is a REAL book reader. I opened a pdf book I had been reading immediately after downloading the software, and within 5 seconds or so was at the right page and reading at double speed. No pauses at the end of a page, and if you wish to follow along, it highlights each word as it reads. You can also let it continue reading while you browse smoothly to another part of the book you are listening to. I was slow to order vBookz because of posts from others in the past year or so saying the software randomly starts reading sometimes pages away from where you wish to start. I have not had that experience at all. Either a bug has been fixed or perhaps someone doesnt have much RAM on their computer or are trying to run too many programs at the same time. For me, this software is a dream to use, and although I didnt try a couple of more expensive programs that claimed to do the same thing, its definitely the best I have found so far. Im running this on a Macbook Pro, version 10.7.4 with 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM.

I would like a refund based on the fact that i am not able to unlock my pdf files from my school in this app. There for i cannot read it at all utilizing this app.

It reads the text time but you are unable to specify exactly what you want read. Also, there is no magnifine glass and it doesnt hilight exactly what you read. Definately not worth $15. I could find a program that does the exact same for free. It would be neet if it would work but as of now, dont buy this app.

Thank God for this app. I am a full time MBA student, Navy reservist, part time intern, and a father. I am BUSY and now I can listen to assigned school readings when I drive to drill weekend (3 hours each way), during afternoon traffic (so I dont go insane). The highlighter thing follows the words, it doesnt screw up when I pause it, and if it starts reading the text of a figure or exhibit, you can move the highlighted window to the new relevant part of the article. Is sounds a liiiiiittle robotic, but not enough to bother me. Overall great app. As for the guy that gave it 1 start because your pdf files are locked… that your issue, not the software developers (allow Id give you a refund if I were them). Happy reading… or listening

I use this application for almost all of my PDF reading. It works really well for PDFs that have been converted from a text program like word, but not as well from scans. I am a dyslexic undergraduate student doing a significant amount of scientific resarch and it really helps me get through scientific papers. The only thing that I would like to see them add is the ability to annotae the PDFs while it reads- ie if it had a sticky note function so you could insert notes, that would be excelent. Im planning on using this for most of my reading needs next year in medical school as well.

Im dyslexic and this is a tremendous help to me. I have this version and the iPad version, too, and use them both alot. The negative reviews about the word highlighting are a bit unfair. The way that the original layout software created the PDF determines if highlighting will work perfectly. $15 is an amazing price for this software. My thanks to the developers!

I have used this program to read PDF files for one full day and it works great. I wish it would skip over figures and exhibits, but you can’t have everything. I like the different voice function, so I can choose who I like and sounds the clearest to me. I wish I had something like this for my iBooks. Great job to the developers!!

don’t buy it, i wish i read the date when it was updated (the developer has not udpated the App since 2011). i have email them mulitple times to see if there were any soultion to why the app kept crashing, but it looks like they dont answer and they dont care. also i asked for my money back and did not hear anything. so do even bother buying it all what you doing is giving them $15 for a worthless app. apple should remove it

I purchased various developors PDF reader apps, and vBooks has been consistently the reader app that I prefer to use because of its simplicy, consistency, and effectiveness. The determining factor that makes this app make #1 my choice (actually two) is the ability to adjust the reading speek. This allows the calculation of time needed to read the entire the pdf— because of this, my study times improved drastically, by which I became a better learner (dramatically). Secondly, on an important personal note, in addition to calculating my reading times, it was absolutely important that I was actually reading the PDF material, while simultaneously listening and following along to its reader form. From personal experience, reading the PDF (visual learning) while listening (auditory learning) to it, proved to be an overall more effective learning experience. Finally, I purchased this app for my desktop and iPad(or iPhone), which required seperate purchases, and I found that I need both. However, I used the iPad version the most, and it offered a higher reading rate than the desktop.