Did you know you can turn any text into a podcast? Whether it’s your thoughts, a lecture, a pdf, a website, or even a book you can turn them into audio to listen to at any time.
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. You don’t have to listen to them live. And they can be serialized, thematically segmented, short-lived, and multi-platform access.
With text-to-speech you don’t necessarily need other people to create podcasts for you, you can make them on your own! Whether it’s just for you or other people too this is the perfect option for multitasking.
You can be on public transport, cooking, and walking your dog, while being productive listening to your podcasts. With these tools, you can even turn your book into audiobook.
Now, what’s text to speech?
Text-to-speech is a very popular assistive technology in which a computer or tablet reads the words on the screen out loud to a person (it’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology). This device is used by people of all ages and it also opens doors to anyone else looking for easier ways to access digital content.
Converting text to speech and using this technology to listen to a Podcast is definitely an advantage to be more productive. As a matter of fact, text to speech is expanding day by day with human-like voices.
But finding the perfect TTS tool isn’t easy, that’s why we recommend Woord.
Why Woord?
Woord is a free online TTS that has a number of useful features. It is available in over 50 languages, including several English dialects, Portuguese dialects, and Spanish dialects. You can also select a male, female, or gender-neutral voice. All of these features are available for free, allowing you to test the service before investing in the premium version.
The free edition includes premium voices, a Chrome plugin, an SSML editor, an MP3 download, and up to 20,000 characters per month. You can also change the speed and format of the voice with this software.
Woord´s vocal characteristics allow you to use it in a variety of situations. You can use Woord´s Text-to-Speech (TTS) functionality to create applications that assist people with reading difficulties, such as those used in E-learning and education.
Woord, as previously mentioned, can be used to assist the blind and visually impaired in consuming digital information such as eBooks and newspapers, but it can also be used in a variety of devices such as set-top boxes, smartwatches, tablets, and smartphones.
How to use it?
Woord‘s interface is designed in a simple way to be intuitive for the user. With these simple steps you will be able to generate quality audio:
1- In the format you prefer, write or upload the content you want to convert to speech (it can be an image, PDF, text file, blog, or a variety of other formats).
2- Select the language, voice gender (male or female), and pace. (From within the PDF, you can also choose where to begin playing.)
3- You can listen to or download your audio recording as an MP3 file online.