Apple to debut 'Spoken Editions' iTunes category, turn written news into audio podcasts

According to a report on Friday, Apple is preparing to launch a new iTunes category which features audio podcast content transformed from articles, stories and other written word content from major publications.

Spotted by TechCrunch, a number of podcasts labeled "Spoken Edition" recently popped up in iTunes' Podcasts section. The upcoming format might best be described as audiobooks for news, as the short segments for the most part appear to be easily digestible audio versions of recently published content.

Scouring through podcasts offerings from big-name publications revealed Spoken Edition content from Wired, TIME, Forbes, .Mic, Bustle, Playboy, OZY and TechCrunch, the report said. Links to the respective episodes have since been pulled, suggesting the feature is on the verge of release.

Helping bring at least some Spoken Editions content to iTunes is SpokenLayer, a specialist in transforming text into monetizable streaming audio and podcast content. Though the company's name showed up in multiple Spoken Edition podcast descriptions, SpokenLayer is most likely working with individual publishers on the project, not as an official Apple partner. For example, at the top of TIME's latest edition of "The Brief" — whose podcast icon still bears a "Spoken Edition" graphic — a plug notes the day's episode is "brought to you by SpokenLayer."

As described on the company's website, the SpokenLayer workflow automatically ingests client text, sends it out to a distributed network of voice talent and prepares the resulting audio for playback on a variety of platforms and streaming networks. The process allows customers to monetize their product with advertisements and sponsorships, as well as monitor engagement through tracked listening metrics.

While an exact launch timeline has yet to be announced, TechCrunch expects Spoken Editions to hit iTunes in early October.

7 Comments

williamlondon 1423 comments · 14 Years

About 8 years ago

Interesting, as a big podcast listener and avid lover of audio books, anything Apple can do to promote more non-music audio content is fantastic!

mobius 378 comments · 18 Years

I'm really excited by this news.

I used to listen to Umamo content all the time. I was saddened and annoyed when Dropbox acquired them last year and promptly shut them down! They don't seem to have released anything comparable since. I don't really understand why they did that.

There are many blind and partially sighted people who also used Umano for obvious reasons. So I think they will find this new Apple service very very useful.

Also, listening to a real person read aloud is far superior to a synthetic speech-to-text voice. Having the appropriate inflections, timbre and emphases greatly helps with comprehention and maintains my interest for much longer.

mobius said:

I'm really excited by this news.

I used to listen to Umamo content all the time. I was saddened and annoyed when Dropbox acquired them last year and promptly shut them down! They don't seem to have released anything comparable since. I don't really understand why they did that.

There are many blind and partially sighted people who also used Umano for obvious reasons. So I think they will find this new Apple service very very useful.

Also, listening to a real person read aloud is far superior to a synthetic speech-to-text voice. Having the appropriate inflections, timbre and emphases greatly helps with comprehention and maintains my interest for much longer.

I remember in college a friend who was partially blind and would listen to tapes (back in the day before iPods and all our modern day fun devices) and I remember something else interesting about listening vs. reading, he would listen to them at an increased speed and he claimed that when you do you learn better or retain more or something like that, not sure it's true, but I do listen to quite a lot of spoken word at an increased speed (the iBooks app allows this and also the Podcasts app). Even if it's not true, the increased speed with the audio version allows you to consume it in nearly the same amount of time that reading the words on the page take, and you get to read at times you can't hold a book, plus sometimes listening to the audio version is a great way to consume something that may not quite hold your attention in the same way as reading the print version.

And yes I agree with you, I've tried the speech-to-text synthesis and it's just too robotic, I lost interest after just a few minutes, a real person is much, much better. Wonder if Siri might ever be provided with this functionality and whether it would actually be good and work?

christopher126 4366 comments · 16 Years

Sounds good...as an avid trail runner out on the trails for hours at a time, I'd love to listen to podcasts of News Articles. I get Time magazine every week and struggle to read the main article. Mainly cuz of time constraints and also reading is overrated! :)

Best

r00fus1 65 comments · 8 Years

Big deal - I think when Jobs said Americans don't read, people thought he was elitist or out of touch. Maybe he was just ahead of his time - I love reading, and now love audiobooks even more. I can drive, cook, anything while "reading a book". Also sometimes narrators make the book even more interesting than I remember (i tend to gloss over descriptions, audiobooks make skimming harder).