Storyteller
Ebook audiobook sync tool
Free, self-hosted tool that aligns ebooks with audiobooks so you can read and listen in sync, with your position synced across devices.
9 people recommended Storyteller in Hacker News comments and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 21 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 19 of those comments still count.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 2
The record
Recommended in 6 of 12 months
In 9 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 9 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 44% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 19 of the 20 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Syncs reading position across devices
“Storyteller works great for this. It even syncs your position across devices.”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Automating Immersive Reading” “I run Storyteller on it and it syncs position to my storyteller server”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “Freeink: Open Ecosystem for E-Readers” “sync your progress to a Storyteller server”
Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “KOReader” Switch between reading and listening
“it's really nice to be able to switch back & forth from reading to listening”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Automating Immersive Reading” “You can even set different playback speeds for readaloud vs listening”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage” “being able to see the text usually makes it easier to listen faster!”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Automating Immersive Reading” Creates EPUB3 read-along audio files
“It aligns ebooks with audiobooks to create EPUB3s with media overlays so you can do immersive reading.”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage” “there’s some great existing software to create EPUB3 files with the audiobook aligned with text”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Free audiobooks with synchronized text for language learning” “That is actually the exact use case that I originally built Storyteller for!”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Automating Immersive Reading” Runs on e-readers like Boox
“I contribute to Storyteller in my free time and I absolutely love using my Boox with it”
Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Freeink: Open Ecosystem for E-Readers” “I run Storyteller on it instead of the native e-reader.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Your ePub Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe”
What people said
19 of the 20 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which now has a defunct hero video, but apparently still 10 mio users (at $12+ monthly”
“does the whispersync thing where you get the audiobook and ebook together”
“I want an e-reader that can handle narration. Actually immersive reading”
“it's really nice to be able to switch back & forth from reading to listening”
“it works great with plain EPUBs”
“being able to see the text usually makes it easier to listen faster!”
“Storyteller works great for this. It even syncs your position across devices.”
“That is actually the exact use case that I originally built Storyteller for!”
“This is excellent! I wanted this.”
“I am really pleased with how the new algorithm turned out!”
“You can even set different playback speeds for readaloud vs listening”
“It aligns ebooks with audiobooks to create EPUB3s with media overlays so you can do immersive reading.”
“sync your progress to a Storyteller server”
“I contribute to Storyteller in my free time and I absolutely love using my Boox with it”
“I run Storyteller on it and it syncs position to my storyteller server”
“I run Storyteller on it instead of the native e-reader.”
“there’s some great existing software to create EPUB3 files with the audiobook aligned with text”
“then prop up my phone/ereader and have it navigate automatically while reading/listening. very comfy”
“It was really crude and a lot of work to produce simple outputs”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.