Questions, answered.

A macOS app that turns text (files, URLs, or pasted text) into a two-voice podcast, through a six-stage pipeline: ingest → normalize → script → voice → mix → export.

NotebookLM helps you understand sources; Aludel helps you publish an episode. You edit the script before synthesis, choose voices and models, and can run entirely offline. See the full comparison.

macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon (M-series). About 26 MB. The current beta build is Apple Silicon only.

No. Aludel works without any registration.

Once it's set up, no — a local model (Ollama or Osaurus) plus Piper voices run the whole pipeline offline. You do need a connection the first time, to download a local model and the Piper voices, and whenever you choose a cloud provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, ElevenLabs).

Yes — aludel-cli, an early release. Same pipeline, config, and license as the app, no GUI. Install via Homebrew (macOS Apple Silicon, bundles ffmpeg + Piper) or build from source (you'll need your own ffmpeg and TTS setup); a license key still has to come from the app or pricing page, the CLI can only activate one.

.txt, .md, .html and .pdf files, a URL, or pasted text. Long books are split into chapters automatically.

Not yet — Aludel works on one source at a time. Multi-source synthesis is NotebookLM's territory.

Yes — it's the core of the product. Read and fix the full two-voice dialogue before anything is synthesized. It's the cheapest place to control quality.

Yes. Output language is decoupled from the input: give it English, get Italian (or one of 9 languages), written directly in the target language in one pass.

Local, free and offline: Ollama or Osaurus (Apple-Silicon, MLX) for text, and Piper for voices. Cloud, with your own API keys: OpenRouter for text and voices, free on every tier; OpenAI, Anthropic (text) and ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS (voices) on Pro.

You pay actual usage directly to the provider with your own keys. Aludel adds no fee or markup, and shows a cost estimate before cloud synthesis.

Locally, in ~/.config/podcastgen/config.json. They never pass through any Aludel server — only the provider you use. They're currently kept in plain text there (protected by your OS user account); moving them to the macOS Keychain is planned.

No. There are no analytics, trackers, or crash reporters, and no servers of ours. Aludel collects nothing and doesn't phone home for normal use.

Only in explicit cases: cloud providers you choose; Pro license activation (key + a device ID to Lemon Squeezy, the payments provider, with a background revalidation ~every 30 days — Pro only); on-demand downloads of a Piper voice, an Ollama model, or a URL you import; and a once-a-day update check (fetches only a version number from aludel.matteobalocco.it, off-switchable in Settings). Nothing else leaves the app.

No.

Yes — Distribution Channels (Pro) upload your episodes to a server you control and generate valid podcast RSS feeds. You submit the feed URL once to Apple Podcasts Connect or Spotify for Podcasters, and every Sync after that updates your show automatically.

No. Any server you can reach over SFTP, rsync, or FTPS — with a public HTTPS address for listeners — works. Aludel doesn't host anything and doesn't sit between your server and your audience.

Audio and feeds live on your server. Your server credentials are stored in the macOS Keychain, and nothing about your show ever passes through servers of ours — we don't have any.

MP3 (128 kbps by default), plus WAV and OGG on Pro, with ID3 metadata.

Completely. No watermark, no restriction. The audio is mixed with natural pauses and normalized to a consistent −16 LUFS, ready to publish.

The full local pipeline is free, forever. Aludel Pro is pay-what-you-want during the beta — including free — a perpetual license, no subscription. See Free & Pro.

Download the free version, then unlock Pro anytime from Settings → License — pay whatever you'd like, including nothing. A fixed price takes effect at launch, and beta supporters get a launch discount.

Email aludel@matteobalocco.it, or use 'Send feedback or report a bug' on the app's Settings → License page. Every report helps shape the launch.

Make sure the Ollama app is running (it lives in the background), then press Re-check. On a non-standard host/port, use the custom host field.

Make sure the Osaurus app is running, then press Retry. Osaurus manages its own models — if the list is empty, download one in the Osaurus app and Retry. On a non-default port, edit the URL field.

The Piper catalog is multilingual; pick voices filtered by your output language. For the best quality, the cloud voices (Pro) are stronger.