Terms of Service

Last updated: July 28, 2026 · Draft for launch — final version ships with paid access

Plain-English summary: Upload only text you have the rights to use. We turn it into AI-generated audio for your personal listening. All audio is marked as AI-generated. Don't do anything illegal with it. That's the deal.

1. The Service

CastTale ("we", "the Service") converts text files you upload (EPUB, PDF, TXT) into AI-generated audio readings with multiple synthesized voices ("Generations"), and provides a web player with synchronized text highlighting. The Service is operated by an independent developer. These Terms govern your use of the website and any paid products.

2. Your Content & Rights Warranty

You retain all rights to the text you upload ("Source Text").
By uploading, you warrant that you own the Source Text, or possess the legal right to use it (e.g. public domain works, your own writing, properly licensed or purchased content for personal use).
You grant us a limited license to process the Source Text solely to produce your Generations.
We do not review uploads proactively, but we may refuse or delete content that violates law or these Terms.

3. AI-Generated Content & Marking

All Generations are AI-generated synthetic audio. No human narrators, no voice cloning of real persons; all voices are synthetic.
Generations carry AI-generation markers in their metadata, consistent with EU AI Act Article 50 transparency requirements (in force August 2, 2026). You must keep these markers intact when you share or distribute Generations.
If you publish a Generation publicly, you must clearly disclose that it is AI-generated.

4. License to Your Generations

Free tier: personal, non-commercial listening license.
Paid Generations: personal listening license plus the right to share with friends and use in your own non-competing promotional contexts, subject to Section 3 disclosure. You may not resell raw Generations as a competing audiobook production service.
Distribution platform rules vary: Audible/ACX currently restricts third-party AI narration; Google Play Books, Kobo and others accept it with disclosure. Compliance with each platform's rules is your responsibility.

5. Payments, Credits & Refunds

Prices are listed at checkout and processed by our Merchant of Record (Creem or Dodo Payments), which is the seller of record for tax purposes.
Credits are non-transferable and have no cash value. Unused free-tier quota may change at any time.
Refunds: because GPU compute is consumed at generation time, completed Generations are non-refundable. If a Generation fails or is materially defective (e.g. corrupted audio), contact us within 14 days for regeneration or a refund of the affected credits.

6. Acceptable Use

No uploading content that is illegal, infringing, or that you lack rights to.
No attempting to extract, clone, or imitate any real person's voice; no uploading real-person voice samples.
No automated scraping of the Service, no abuse of the free tier, no reselling access.
No generating content intended to deceive listeners into believing audio is human-recorded where such disclosure is legally required.

7. DMCA & Copyright Complaints

If you believe content on CastTale infringes your copyright, email hello@casttale.com with: (a) identification of the copyrighted work, (b) the allegedly infringing material and its location, (c) your contact information, (d) a good-faith statement, and (e) a statement under penalty of perjury that you are authorized to act, with your physical or electronic signature. We will remove or disable access to reported material and terminate accounts of repeat infringers. Counter-notices may be sent to the same address.

8. Disclaimers & Limitation of Liability

The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. AI output may contain errors, mispronunciations, or artifacts. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 3 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential damages.

9. Changes & Contact

We may update these Terms; material changes will be announced on this page. Questions: hello@casttale.com.