Obi4.2 (4.2.0 Build 24402)

Obi is a software tool that provides users with a simple means of creating their own DTBs, with support for bookmark managing and audio recording.

Hassle-free setup and clear-cut environment

The installation process is a piece of cake, as it does not take too long and it does not offer to download any kind of products that are not actually necessary for the proper functioning of this utility. Once you wrap it up, you come face to face with a GUI which can only be described as being well-organized, as it contains a menu bar, several buttons, a folder structure and a pane to display containing items.Furthermore, extensive Help contents are provided both online and offline thus ensuring that anybody can learn how to find their way around it, regardless of their experience level.

Import and export capabilities and managing sections

This application enables you to save your projects in the proprietary format, OBI, as well as in others, such as WAV, MP3 or DAISY, while import is only available using a WAV or MP3 extension.It is possible to add sections and subsections, as well as merge sections or split sections, increase or decrease their level, and bring up properties such as section title, ancestor section(s), duration and number of phrases.

Generate speech and start recording

You can view a peak meter, add a blank phrase, as well as merge, split and assign certain roles to them (e.g. footnote, sidebar, note, annotation, endnote etc.), insert empty pages, check for corrupted audio and crop items. Audio recording is available, along with generating speech in all empty pages, adding and managing bookmarks and zooming and out of tracks.

Conclusion and performance

All in all, Obi proves to be a pretty efficient piece of software when it comes to creating DTBs and saving them to the HDD. The interface is user-friendly, all tasks are performed quite fast, CPU and memory usage is minimal and there are sufficient options to keep you busy for quite a while.