Apple to start offering ‘Spoken Editions’ of news articles via iTunes

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You’ll soon be able to listen to news articles in iTunes, reports TechCrunch. The outlet says that in the near future, you’ll be able to browse through a new category of podcasts that will allow you to listen to news stories from your favorite publishers.

These new podcasts will be labeled “Spoken Edition” in iTunes, and the format will be short-form programs that offer listeners an audio version of a publisher’s articles. So you could essentially listen to the news while commuting or working out.

During early tests on iTunes, Spoken Editions for several media brands showed up.

Wired, for example, will launch Spoken Editions for “Business,” “Science” and its homepage. TIME will offer a Spoken Edition called “The Brief.” Forbes, .Mic, Bustle, Playboy, OZY, and — yep — TechCrunch (which I discovered while browsing our iTunes page, of all things) will have Spoken Editions, it seems, as all popped up for a time on iTunes.

The links to all the publishers’ Spoken Editions have since been pulled, after our discovery and outreach.

Spoken Editions podcasts are expected to launch in October, and yes there will be ads—with revenue split between publishers and SpokenLayer. The text-to-voice company powering the platform prides itself in its ability to become “the voice” of brands.

Source: TechCrunch