Thorium Desktop supports audiobooks in the following formats:
- Readium Audiobooks
- Daisy
When you click on an audiobook, it opens the audiobook view and starts playing automatically.
The following information are displayed in this view:
- the current heading (this can be a track name, part, chapter or section)
- the cover
- and controls
The following controls are displayed below the cover:
- Play or Pause button (in the middle)
- Previous and Next buttons (on both sides, this can skip to the next track or section)
- Jump backward and Jump forward buttons to move 30 seconds backward or forward (displayed in the middle, surrounding the play/pause button)
A progression bar is also displayed below these controls:
- it shows the time elapsed and total time of the current track
- and can be clicked to jump to another position in the track
At the bottom of this view, a dropdown menu is displayed to change the reading speed, with the following options available:
- 0.25x
- 0.35x
- 0.5x
- 0.75x
- 1x (default)
- 1.25x
- 1.5x
- 1.75x
- 2x
Table of contents
Unlike ebooks, the presence of a table of contents is far less common for audiobooks. When it’s missing, Thorium Desktop will fallback to track numbers for navigation.
To access the table of contents:
-
click on Navigation in the upper right corner
-
and select Table of contents
Click on any entry in the table of contents to jump to it.
Entries that are included in the current track will be displayed with an outline around them.
Bookmarks
Audiobooks can be bookmarked at any time.
Please refer to the Bookmarks page if you want more information about this feature.
Highlights
Highlights are unavailable for audiobooks.
The Highlights button will remain disabled at all times while listening to an audiobook.
Search
Searching text in an audiobook is unavailable.
The Search button will remain disabled at all times while listening to an audiobook.
Listening to an ebook
Some ebooks provide the ability to listen to them as well, but this feature is not available on all publications.
Please refer to our dedicated page for this feature.
Keyboard shortcuts while listening
| Action | Key combination | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Play/Pause Audio | Ctrl + 2 | Toggle play/pause for current narration (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech read-aloud, or pre-recorded audiobook) |
| Stop Audio | Ctrl + 4 | Stop current audio (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech read-aloud, or pre-recorded audiobook) |
| Toggle Fullscreen | Ctrl + F11 | In the reader window, activate system fullscreen or restore normal window mode. Note that this is different from 'zen mode' which simplifies the user interface |
| Close Listening View | Ctrl + W | Close the reader window and return to the library |
| Open the Table of Contents | Ctrl + Shift + N | Open the table of contents and shift the keyboard focus to it |
| Display Publication Information | Ctrl + I | In the reader window, open the information dialog for the publication |
| Display Publication Information, Show Reading Location | Ctrl + Shift + I | In the reader window, open the popup dialog that display information about the publication, and focus the keyboard on the section that shows the context of the current reading location |
| Describe Reading Location (Speech) | Ctrl + Shift + K | In the reader window, describe the context of the current reading location, using speech text compatible with screen readers |
| Next Audio Segment | Ctrl + 3 | Move forward to the next audio segment in the narration (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech, or pre-recorded audiobook) |
| Next Audio Segment (escape) | Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 3 | Move forward to the next audio segment in the narration (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech read-aloud, or pre-recorded audiobook). This skips any currently escapable structure |
| Previous Audio Segment | Ctrl + 1 | Move back to the previous audio segment in the narration (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech read-aloud, or pre-recorded audiobook) |
| Previous Audio Segment (escape) | Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 1 | Move back to the previous audio segment in the narration (EPUB3 Media Overlays, Text To Speech read-aloud, or pre-recorded audiobook). This skips any currently escapable structure |
| Go to Next Chapter |
Ctrl + Shift + → Ctrl + PageDown |
In the reader window, navigate to the next document in the reading order of the publication (e.g. chapter in the book spine) |
| Go to Previous Chapter |
Ctrl + Shift + ← OR Ctrl + PageUp |
In the reader window, navigate to the previous document in the reading order of the publication (e.g. chapter in the book spine) |
| Go to Next History | Ctrl + Shift + Backspace | In the reader window, jump one step forward in the navigation history |
| Go to Previous History | Ctrl + Backspace | In the reader window, jump one step backwards in the navigation history |
| Go to Beginning | Ctrl + Home | In the reader window, go to the beginning of the publication |
| Go to End | Ctrl + End | In the reader window, go to the end of the publication. |