Despite the fact that audiobooks and podcasts are not taking off in Spain, in many countries they are doing so and among companies as well.
If recently we saw how even the most basic kindle had the option of reading you ebooks and newsNow it is Apple that tries to offer a similar sound service. The service is integrated into iTunes and receives the name of iTunes Spoken Editions, a peculiar service that will not only work with the iPad but also with the iPhone or the macbook.
Apple's idea is not to offer its customers a podcast or audiobook service, but to make people who do not have free hours a day to listen to these materials if I can hear news read.
iTunes Spoken Editions will deal with news from important media such as the Times or Forbes
Thus, iTunes Spoken Editions collects news from the main media such as Times, Mic or Forbes among others. They will also read other types of materials such as audibooks but it will not be their main task.
But the most interesting thing is that the voice of these audio news will not be that of a standard narrator but an artificial intelligence voice. Something similar to Amazon Echo's Alexa, but we still don't know what kind of assistant it will be. But if Siri has now reached the desktop system, it would not be far-fetched to think that an updated Siri would be the narrator of this iTunes Spoken Editions.
And with this there is also talk of a possible competitor by Apple for the Amazon Echo, but it is something of which we still do not have confirmation. In any case, it is still interesting that Amazon Echo and Alexa have tough competitors to offer users an alternative to audiobooks and podcasts. Well, not everyone has time to read in front of an eReader Do not you think?