This is How the Audio on Medium is Working

Summary

Medium's new audio feature is praised for its seamless integration, offering high-quality narration and easy switching between voices, positioning Medium as a potential competitor to Amazon's audio content services.

Abstract

The article discusses the recent implementation of audio on Medium, which allows users to listen to stories in a flawless, high-quality audio format. The feature includes automatic narrator changes and is comparable in convenience to switching dubbing on Netflix. Accessible through a "Listen" button on stories, it offers both male and female voice options and continues playing audio even when the mobile screen is locked. The author commends Medium's acquisition of Knowable, suggesting it signifies a broader vision of revolutionizing written content consumption and potentially competing with Amazon's ACX audiobook platform. The new audio feature on Medium is seen as a significant advancement for creators, enabling them to release content in an audio format and monetize it through Medium's audio store. The article concludes with the author's positive impression of the feature, noting its proper functionality and suggesting that both creators and readers will appreciate this new option.

Opinions

The audio quality on Medium is described as impeccable, with seamless narrator transitions.
The author believes Medium's acquisition of Knowable and the integration of audio content represents a strategic move towards competing with Amazon in the audio content market.
The article suggests that the new audio feature could revolutionize content consumption and creation on Medium, offering a new avenue for creators to monetize their work.
The author praises the Medium team for the successful implementation of the audio feature, noting that it functions without issues and enhances the storytelling experience.
The only critique offered is that the narrator should not read the author's name at the start of each story, indicating a minor area for improvement in the audio broadcast action.

The Audio on Medium is Flawless

The audio on my Medium account has been released for testing and now I can hear all the stories of any creator in audio. And let me be honest, there is nothing to complain about, the audio is impeccable and the changes of narrators are very simple and automatic, it is even faster than changing the Netflix dubbing when watching a movie or series with multiple languages.

How is the Audio on Medium working?

There is not much secret, for the accounts where audio has been released, as soon as you open a story, you can see in front of the star that symbolizes that story has been monetized, a button with a standard color of the page or publication where that story has been published with the saying of: “Listen.” When you click to listen, the narrative voice starts and you can set it on the top right side of the computer or in the App in the central menu, the narrator switch, where you can hear a female or male voice. There is nothing to complain about if you have been looking for this feature, and another thing, as soon as you click on listen, you can lock the mobile screen and keep listening and on the iPhone for example will appear the Player option, and you can go changing stories randomly or you can enter the App and manually select the stories you want to hear.

I want to congratulate the Medium team right away, they did well to acquire Knowable, I believe that now the vision is not simply to listen to audios on Medium, but for those who have a broader vision, they are facing an industrial revolution through written content. Through Knowable’s implementation of Medium, Medium directly confronts Amazon. Perhaps the question is, how so? Amazon has the famous ACX audiobook listening option, and for those who don’t have the ability to make their book available on Amazon, now they can take reading lovers through audio through Medium.

If you thought I am implying that Medium is competing with Amazon audio, yes, that is exactly what I am trying to say. Back in 2019, there was a plugin or extension that allowed creators to create their stories in audio form, now this joining of Knowable, is a real implementation, now things have gotten spicier and more effective.

Now I can say yes, now creators of eBooks and series can start releasing their episodes through Medium and make money from the audio store that is now possible and is monetized. I believe this Streaming option of Medium in audio, is going to revolutionize a lot in the coming years. Now let’s wait for the critics to know how they will receive this option. Because according to Medium the test was only for a small number of restricted accounts randomly chosen by the system and I am among them, now let’s go.

What do I think of this new feature?

Well, for me I don’t have much to say yet but to admit that everything is great, the feature is working properly and there is not even a way to question, they thought correctly in the implementation of audio in the storytelling. Perhaps one of the things that need to be reviewed is the narrator not having the need to read the author’s name every time a story is started; that was the only thing I noticed different within the action of the audio broadcast, the rest is perfectly fitting.

Congratulations Medium and the entire internal team, and I can advance that both readers and creators will not be disappointed with this option. The audio on Medium is looking very good, and you will be able to experience it so soon.