I've heard rumors Medium was exploring the podcast space and while this isn't podcasting, it's in the audio space. I like this move, and makes it easier to justify paying $5/mo for a Medium Membership (which launched a few months ago) when people are so conditioned to read news/articles for free. Note: 8 months ago some clever guys hacked together a Chrome extension that robot reads every Medium article. This also reminds me of Umano, an app of professionally voice read blog posts and articles. Unfortunately, it couldn't hit the scale it needed and shut down. Perhaps they were too early as voice becomes more accessible through Alexa, Google Home, AirPods, connected cars, etc.

How soon before this content is available on Alexa-enabled devices?

Audio Stories are a great addition for members. 🙌 I wonder what the process is for selecting stories to make audio versions of. 🤔

Soon you could be hearing you read it back to yourself. Would be cool if you could highlight sections to review in the text or listen to later.

This is really cool. Does the writer of an article make a voice file too? Or is the voice recording done by someone at Medium?

Is there a story I can listen to for free? Before I decide to subscribe, I'd really like to hear an example.

This really creates some value to the membership. I'm currently a member because I believe that news & advertisement are contra-productive. The latest App Store update also says that "members can now listen audio versions of every member-only post"

This is great! This is what I envisioned long-term for https://www.producthunt.com/post... (RIP) to be, but didn't have the funds to support the idea. I'm super glad to see Medium have built it!

I like the idea and especially the fact that you need to be a member to use it (even if I don't currently pay for it 😅) because it will help Medium find a sustainable business model with their membership. I think Pocket could have also done that to help people reduce their Pocket queue. You can already listen to articles saved by using IOS and Android TTS but it's a robot voice, not a professional voice.

Finally, a solid justification for Medium membership! I'm disappointed they didn't include the ability to change playback speed...TTS wins there. Audm supports speed on narrated articles but it's $7/month.

Omg. I love Medium. Good job!

Beats the logic that one should be allowed to try this once before subscribing to Medium membership.

I'm actually rather happy with TTS used by Pocket to read out my saved articles. I listen at almost X2 speed and I find it to be an excellent use of my 'dead' commuting time. I'm kind of addicted ;-) I actually save most of my articles from Medium (which plays very nice with Pocket).

Awesome. Some similarities to Audm (https://www.producthunt.com/post...), though Audm is specifically about longform journalism.

I like it a lot. One day even machines will read Medium stories :)

I used to use an old app called GeckoVoice. It was Amazing. You all should try VoiceDream. While not the prettiest app... it's amazing and the voice is very pleasant though TTS. Just connect it to your Pocket Account and you are business. Doesn't matter if it's a medium Or NYT article. Voice Dream: Best Text to Speech App via @ProductHunt https://www.producthunt.com/post...

This, I would pay for.

Oh more "Stories". Wow.

Awesome update! Can't wait to test it.

:( what if i have a podcast on medium? check this out guys! http://neox.fm <- This is the podcast on medium O.o can i send you the audio to include or something?