US: Washington Times converts text articles into audio
All of the paper’s staff-written content and some AP content are automatically translated into audio, which amounts to about 90% of the Washington Times’ site.
The text-to-audio technology, Click-2-Listen, was developed by NewsWorthy Audio.
"We all rush every morning to get everything done," said David Eldridge, managing editor of WashingtonTimes.com.
"With this you can plug in your iPod and download the files, and you can listen to them anytime and anywhere, even while you are driving or multi-tasking. For a town as full of busy people and news-junkies as [Washington D.C.] it's very useful."
As readers seek content on new platforms, the automated Click-2-Listen feature will undoubtedly prove a valuable service for newspapers.
Source: Editor & Publisher through European Journalism Centre
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Actually, this service has been available for almost one year.
This Newsworthy press release
http://tinyurl.com/2m6key
introduced the service on October 4, 2006.
Another page on the Newsworthy site offers links to several other newspapers using the service:
http://www.newsworthyaudio.com/news-podcasts/
+ Austin American Statesman
+ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
+ The Daily Advance
+ The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction
+ The Marshall News Messenger
+ The Reflector
+ The Rocky Mount Telegram
+ Waco Tribune-Herald
+ Washington Technology
Here are two services that use synthesized voice.
XFruits Voice (Vocal Fruits).
Enter an RSS URL and have the feed read to you. One of the many services XFruits offers to make RSS even more useful. Overview here:
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/03/29/more-mashup-fun-with-xfruits/
The post also has links to Speegle (several news sources, synthesized voice)
and the ability to have any page read using one several synthesized voices at this URL.
http://www.speegle.co.uk/summary.php
Speegle (you probably remember these guys from years ago) will also read your google results to you. http://www.speegle.co.uk/