What in My Bag? Read it Later with Text to Speech
One of the things in this day and age is trying to keep up with the daily flow of information. On a typical day, I will find articles I’m interested in reading from the New York Times or TIME Magazine or even a video game website. The question is how to store the article and have it converted from text to speech either right now or later. One of my favorite tools is Instapaper. It allows me to keep up with all the different things that I'm interested in. this is another one of those programs that are definitely in "my bag." I am primarily using this program on my phone and tablet. This is great for everybody because it is accessible on iPad, iPhone, Android devices, and Windows devices.
How does it work?
- Instapaper is a free application and can be downloaded from The Apple Store or the Play Store.
- It can be used to save articles that are found as you surf the web for reading now or later
What makes it Great?
- It is a free app. It was recently acquired by Pinterest which makes it more likely to last and continue to evolve.
- It can be used on all popular platforms including Kindle. For those of us that use multiple platforms that is a great advantage.
- It can be used when you are connected to the network or articles can be downloaded for use when not network connected
- The text to speech works very well with font controls, speech speed control and highlighting of words as they are read.
Where does it fall short?
- Articles can be stored in folders. Unfortunately, they can be stored in only one folder at a time. Some articles make sense for inclusion in more than one folder.
How do I get started?
- Visit the website at www.instapaper.com
- Sign up for a subscription.
- Download the software to your preferred device or devices.
- Follow the simple instructions and give it a try.
Some tips from Paul:
- “Check out the article management features like article ranking by size and reading time for each article.”
Dad’s two cents:
- “Great way to save articles of interest for later”
- “I like to consume long articles on my kindle’
