The one problem that I have had with text-to-speech software is that it often doesn’t sound quite right. I am one of those people who enjoys the audio format. So I sometimes like to use programs that turn text to speech just to mix things up. The extension I use from time to time, Read Aloud is good and all but after some time it can begin to sound a little weird because the speech isn’t anywhere near natural. This is where Podcastle comes in, I have been playing around with it for a little bit and it has impressed me.
So.. what sets Podcastle apart?
The biggest difference I noticed when I started using Podcastle is that it reads aloud a lot better than I expected. I wouldn’t say it sounds natural but it’s a lot better than a number of other text-to-speech extensions and apps I have tried.
What truly sets Podcastle apart, in my opinion, is the queuing or playlist feature.
With this feature, you can add articles from your favourite publications. I found this feature particularly useful because I can queue up articles as the day wears on to catch up on later.
Podcastle also allows you to download the audio of the article if you are going to be offline. On top of that, the extension allows you to track your listening history if you ever want to go back and listen to a particular article.
You can can try out Podcastle with the link below:
Podcastle
The setup is similar to any other Google Chrome extension. After installation is complete, all you’ll have to do is sign up and you are all set.
