Summary

The website content introduces Medium's text-to-speech feature that allows users to listen to articles, which can be beneficial for busy readers and contributes to earnings for writers in the Medium Partnership Program.

Abstract

The article titled "Have Medium read to you!" explains how Medium's text-to-speech functionality enables users who are too busy to read to still consume content by listening to it. The feature is activated through a "Listen" button at the top of each story, providing a monotone and robotic audio version of the text. This function is particularly useful for multitasking scenarios, such as walking or cooking, and can be enhanced with the use of earbuds or headphones. Additionally, for writers enrolled in the Medium Partnership Program, listening time counts towards their monthly earnings, although there is a limit of two full listens per member. The author encourages readers to engage with the article by scrolling to the bottom to ensure the writer gets credit and expresses hope that this feature will be helpful, especially for those who prefer listening over reading due to time constraints.

Opinions

The author finds the text-to-speech voice somewhat monotone and robotic but acknowledges the feature's utility.
The author appreciates the convenience of the "Listen" button for consuming content on the go or while engaged in other activities.
There is a positive view of the feature's contribution to a writer's earnings within the Medium Partnership Program.
The author notes a limitation in the listening time calculation, considering "a maximum of two full listens per member" as not very much.
The author expresses gratitude towards readers for supporting their work by interacting with the articles and ensuring they receive proper credit.
The author suggests that listening to articles could be a preferred alternative for those who are too busy to read.

Have Medium read to you!

Are you too busy to read my articles? Well, have Medium read them to you!

(Thank you for viewing this article. Please go ahead & scroll down to the very bottom of this article, so Medium can give me credit for you reading this article. Afterwards come back to the top and enjoy the rest of this article. Thanks for helping me out with this. It’s much appreciated!)

Sometimes, I get so buys I don’t even have a few minutes to stop & read the articles that I want to read…BUMMER!

I noticed that Medium has a way for me to get the information without having to stop & read. They have this cool little “Listen” button at the top of each story (I call them articles).

Screenshot of the top of one of my articles showing the listen button

(By the way, you can read/listen to the article above by clicking here.)

If you press this little listen button, then it will read to you. It sounds monotone & robotic (kind of annoying) but it works.

Now, let’s suppose that you want to read an article I wrote but can’t hold the phone (walking, cooking, etc.). Now you can listen to them while doing all those cool things.

This would be great with earbuds or headphones!

But wait there’s more…

If you are part of the Medium Partnership Program then the listening time goes towards your Medium earnings as well!

Screenshot from Calculating earnings page

You can find more info here:

Calculating earnings in the Partner Program

Partner Program writers are paid monthly based on Medium member activity. In this guide you can learn more about your…

help.medium.com

Listen in moderation

The only down side is that they will only calculate “a maximum of two full listens per member”, which is not very much in the grand scheme of things.

So read if you can…or listen if you can’t.

Hopefully, this will help some of ya’ll (yes, I’m from the south…).

Anyways, thanks again for reading, or listening!

Now following anybody that interacts with my articles…

God Speed!