Even though we like to read, we don’t always have time to do so, or sometimes we are too tired to pay attention to the reading. Audiobooks are the perfect solution for such moments, but not all literary works have a version for listening. I recently discovered an app that converts any text into audio, which is very useful for such cases.
Since audiobooks became popular, we can find some of them on Spotify, iVoox or YouTube completely free. However, titles recorded in audio format are limited and, to find more options, we have to resort to paid platforms, such as Audible.
This paid service from Amazon has a 90-day free trial, and after that, it costs 9.99 euros per month. There are 90,000 books and podcasts available and it is a very good option if you are looking for a wide variety of audiobooks. However, not all of them are available and sometimes we are interested in converting other types of documents into audio, such as notes or articles from digital newspapers.
For this reason, if Audible doesn’t work for you, you can also turn to Speechify. This app is available on the Google Play Store for Android phones and on the App Store for iPhone. It also has an extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and a website. Although it has a premium plan, with a three-day free trial, the free option is enough to convert text into audio.
How to convert any text to audiobook?
When you install the Speechify app, a voice will ask you to personalize your experience. Although you don’t have to register, you will be asked for some basic information, such as your age, gender, or name, as well as the voice you want to use and the reading speed. You can change these settings later if you wish.
With the free option, the features are more limited, but there are voices in Spanish (and other languages) that you can opt for without being a premium. Simply upload a PDF document or copy and paste a link or text for Speechify to start working its magic.
While listening to an audiobook is not the same as listening to it, with sound effects, different voices, and voice acting, this app can get you out of a bind. If you don’t have much time to devote to reading or need to read a lot of documents for a work assignment, you can hit the ‘play’ button and do other things while having the Speechify audio playing in the background.
As we have already mentioned, the platform also has a premium plan with the first three days of trial being free. After that, if you want to continue using it, it costs 69.99 euros per year (which is equivalent to 5.83 euros per month). The advantages of the paid option are:
- The ability to choose from over 50 voices. Some are more natural, not so robotic. And others are from celebrities, like Snoop Dogg or Gwyneth Paltrow.
- Access to functions with artificial intelligence, which is capable of reading even images and providing more dynamism to the readings.
- Up to 5x listening speed, to reduce the time it takes to ‘read’ documents.
- Add documents from other platforms, such as Amazon Kindle.
Unless it’s convenient for your work, you’ll probably want to go for the free option. At ADSLZone, we’ve been testing it with a PDF document and newspaper articles and it gives very good results. Especially if you don’t mind having a robotic voice reading your texts, it’s a good application. However, remember that it’s not capable of reading images, so if you want to study from your notes with Speechify, it better not be a subject full of graphics and drawings.
