Creating a Self-Hosted Private Podcast Feed from a PDF or Text Source

This document explains how to turn text into a set of audio files delivered through a self-hosted podcast feed using GitHub Pages.

The workflow:

1. Extract text from a PDF
2. Convert text → speech using macOS say
3. Convert AIFF → M4A
4. Split audio into chapters or segments
5. Repair timing/index issues in the audio container
6. Build an RSS feed
7. Host on GitHub Pages
8. Subscribe with any podcast app

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1. Extract Text from a PDF

If the PDF is selectable text:

pdftotext input.pdf output.txt

If the PDF contains scanned images:

ocrmypdf input.pdf ocr_output.pdf
pdftotext ocr_output.pdf output.txt

---

2. Convert Text to AIFF Using macOS say

say -v "jamie" -o full.aiff -f output.txt

List voices:

say -v '?'

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3. Convert AIFF → M4A

afconvert -f m4af -d aac full.aiff full.m4a

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4. Split the Audio into Segments

Even time segments:

ffmpeg -i full.m4a -f segment -segment_time 1200 -c copy part_%03d.m4a

Specific timestamps:

ffmpeg -i full.m4a -ss 00:00:00 -to 00:25:00 -c copy seg_000.m4a
ffmpeg -i full.m4a -ss 00:25:00 -to 00:50:00 -c copy seg_001.m4a
ffmpeg -i full.m4a -ss 00:50:00 -c copy seg_002.m4a

---

5. Fix Audio Timing / Seeking Issues

Lossless remux:

ffmpeg -i seg_000.m4a -c copy -movflags +faststart fixed_000.m4a

Batch:

mkdir fixed
for f in seg_*.m4a; do
    ffmpeg -i "$f" -c copy -movflags +faststart "fixed/$f"
done

If broken, re-encode:

ffmpeg -i seg_000.m4a -c:a aac -b:a 96k -movflags +faststart fixed_000.m4a

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6. Create a Minimal Podcast RSS Feed

Example structure:

podcast/
  <obfuscated-id>/
      seg_000.m4a
      seg_001.m4a
      rss.xml

RSS template:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>My Private Audio Feed</title>
    <link>https://USERNAME.github.io/REPO/podcast/<id>/</link>
    <description>Private feed</description>
    <language>en-us</language>

    <item>
      <title>Segment 000</title>
      <enclosure url="https://USERNAME.github.io/REPO/podcast/<id>/seg_000.m4a"
                 type="audio/x-m4a"
                 length="12345678" />
      <guid>unique-guid-here</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2030 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>

  </channel>
</rss>

Use MIME type audio/x-m4a.

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7. Host the Files with GitHub Pages

git init
git add .
git commit -m "initial"
git remote add origin git@github.com:USERNAME/REPO.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Enable Pages:

Settings → Pages

• Source: Deploy from a branch
• Branch: main
• Folder: /

Feed URL:

https://USERNAME.github.io/REPO/podcast/<id>/rss.xml

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8. Subscribe in a Podcast App

Add podcast by URL → paste RSS feed.

If audio doesn’t play:

• Ensure enclosure MIME type is audio/x-m4a
• Verify file loads in a browser
• Fix timing using ffmpeg (Section 5)

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Summary

This README covers:

• Extracting text from PDFs
• Converting text → audio
• Splitting audio
• Repairing timing issues
• Generating an RSS feed
• Publishing via GitHub Pages
• Subscribing through a podcast app

Automatable via scripts or Makefiles as needed.