Chapter 1: A Special Message from VP Warren Shaeffer

Today, I began sifting through 127 emails that flooded my inbox, and one immediately stood out: it was from “Medium Creators.”

This email bore the intriguing subject line: “You’ve received a bonus for listen time on Medium.” Naturally, my curiosity piqued, and I eagerly opened it to discover a brief note from Warren Shaeffer, as shown below.

So, what does this mean? Read on to delve deeper into Warren Shaeffer's message:

Imagine being able to savor the exceptional writing on Medium while walking, running errands, or doing household chores. This vision has propelled us to test a new audio feature on the Medium platform, utilizing text-to-speech technology. Currently, this experiment is available to a select group of readers, but we aim to gather feedback to potentially roll it out to everyone in the future. We envision this feature as the beginning of many innovative audio initiatives on Medium.

Having had the opportunity to use this feature several times, I find it keeps me connected to Medium while I’m on the move. It allows me to focus on valuable content instead of getting lost in social media scrolling, which often yields little benefit. With Medium, I gain access to enriching material that aids in my personal growth and keeps me engaged with the community that matters.

Robert — An Unmatched Interview Experience

Peeling back the layers...

Once fully implemented, you will notice a “listen” button located at the top of each article. By clicking this button (assuming your device has audio enabled), a computer-generated voice will narrate the article for you.

In the bottom right corner, a control box will appear, similar to the one depicted below.

As the voice reads the text, the words will highlight in real-time, following the narration as shown in the example below.

How thrilling is this? It has become an essential tool for me, and I absolutely love it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this feature and whether you've had a successful experience using it.

For more information and the full story, check out the article linked below.

We’re Testing Audio on Medium

What if you could enjoy the great writing on Medium while taking a walk, running errands, or doing dishes? This…