Please reassure me that you are allowing the writer to choose whether to have a bot text-to-voice audio narration of their work.
This is extremely important. Medium has this text-to-voice technology but it is mandatory. It is horrible. It can’t pronounce my name, butchers intonation and rhythm, changes the tone and meaning.
If you force it on us writers, you will be no better than Medium.
If you give us a choice to opt out, then you are keeping to your mission and showing you value the writer.
Hi, I still have questions and would appreciate a more detailed response. From a writer’s standpoint, there are important considerations to this new feature as it directly effects the quality of our work.
First, is the AI bot-generated audio narration (eventually) going to be on everyone’s post? Or is this a feature that a writer opts to have?
Or can a writer opt out of having a bot narration? How? And is this on a post-by-post basis? Or is it all or none?
And if a writer opts out of the bot narration can the writer still embed their own audio and will that audio have the same functionality on the app? i.e., will the author’s embedded audio play when clicking on the headphones icon on the app?
And, as a test, I embedded audio on an older post and I got the “No audio” message. Is this because it was an older post? Or is it because you haven’t installed it for all users yet?
I want to reiterate that this is an enormous change. I want to fully understand how it works and be assured that I, as a writer, have complete control. I fled Medium because they do NOT give writers control. I need to be assured that you are giving writers the ability to opt out because these narrations, while convenient, greatly alter the meaning, tone and rhythm that we intend with our writing.
And I honestly think this feature warrants a much more detailed post than this one.
Thanks in advance. And thanks, Hannah, for answering my earlier questions elsewhere in these comments.
"Substack posts are also listenable via text-to-speech technology in the Substack app, allowing you to listen to posts that don’t have a custom voiceover..."
Q: If the Substack writer chooses this option over uploading a custom VO, is there only one default text-to-speech voice available in the app, or will the Substack writer be able to choose from different text-to-speech voices in post settings prior to publishing?
Is the text to speech option now available? I was trying it last night and you can’t listen unless someone has uploaded an audio file. I also signed up to become part of the beta for text to speech.
I appreciate the work you guys do. I’m absolutely in love with Substack!
This is a great idea. I was wondering the other day why more reading sites (like Amazon's Kindle) don't provide this feature.
I just love Substack
Please reassure me that you are allowing the writer to choose whether to have a bot text-to-voice audio narration of their work.
This is extremely important. Medium has this text-to-voice technology but it is mandatory. It is horrible. It can’t pronounce my name, butchers intonation and rhythm, changes the tone and meaning.
If you force it on us writers, you will be no better than Medium.
If you give us a choice to opt out, then you are keeping to your mission and showing you value the writer.
Thanks, in advance, for responding.
When will an Android app be available to download?? Looking forward to these new tools
We greatly need the app for Android phones. How soon? Need beta testers?
Great idea. I often use Instapaper to listen to articles, as well as Voice Dream Reader, but this will be even more convenient.
Thank you! I’d rather listen than read! Appreciate it.
Great new features
No
Hi, I still have questions and would appreciate a more detailed response. From a writer’s standpoint, there are important considerations to this new feature as it directly effects the quality of our work.
First, is the AI bot-generated audio narration (eventually) going to be on everyone’s post? Or is this a feature that a writer opts to have?
Or can a writer opt out of having a bot narration? How? And is this on a post-by-post basis? Or is it all or none?
And if a writer opts out of the bot narration can the writer still embed their own audio and will that audio have the same functionality on the app? i.e., will the author’s embedded audio play when clicking on the headphones icon on the app?
And, as a test, I embedded audio on an older post and I got the “No audio” message. Is this because it was an older post? Or is it because you haven’t installed it for all users yet?
I want to reiterate that this is an enormous change. I want to fully understand how it works and be assured that I, as a writer, have complete control. I fled Medium because they do NOT give writers control. I need to be assured that you are giving writers the ability to opt out because these narrations, while convenient, greatly alter the meaning, tone and rhythm that we intend with our writing.
And I honestly think this feature warrants a much more detailed post than this one.
Thanks in advance. And thanks, Hannah, for answering my earlier questions elsewhere in these comments.
G
Will older articles be available in audio?
"Substack posts are also listenable via text-to-speech technology in the Substack app, allowing you to listen to posts that don’t have a custom voiceover..."
Q: If the Substack writer chooses this option over uploading a custom VO, is there only one default text-to-speech voice available in the app, or will the Substack writer be able to choose from different text-to-speech voices in post settings prior to publishing?
It should be substack.com/android-waitlist?
Is the text to speech option now available? I was trying it last night and you can’t listen unless someone has uploaded an audio file. I also signed up to become part of the beta for text to speech.