Did you ever felt boring to read an article? I would not surprise if the answer is YES.
Don’t worry! It is common in today’s world.
But what if I turn the article into a Podcast?
Recently Google Assistant introduced a feature, that can read any web article for you. It has some additional features like reading speed controller, different accent. The most interesting one is we can even listen to the audio in a translated language. If the article is in English, the assistant can read that in another language.
Trust me, It takes less than 5 seconds to get started. The process is so simple. You just need to say “Read Aloud”.
Yes, just connect the Headphone and start listening to the audio version of the article. Most probably it is the last article you would ever read on the web.
Don’t know about Google Assistant yet? Read this tutorial to learn this smart mate:
[2021] What is Google Assistant and How to Use this smart mate
Although, officially google assistant is not available for PC. Still, there are some other ways to get a Screen reader for PC. You can find that at the end of this article.
How Start Listening to Articles in 2 Steps
This amazing ‘Read Aloud’ command only works on web articles. As of now, it does not work on Apps, PDF, and other documents.
We can only do this on Browsers. No matter if it’s Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, it works perfectly with any browser.
Hope, soon it will be possible with everything.
1. So, to start Google Assistant read your article first, we have to open the web article on a browser.
[ Article opened image]
As you can see I have opened one of our previous post 5 amazing use of google assistant.
But you don’t need to do anything, as you are already reading an article.
[ Google Assistant appeared]
2. Now say ‘Ok Google’ or ‘Hey Google’. Once the Google assistant appears on the screen, give a command ‘READ ALOUD’.
Then it takes 2-4 seconds to analyze the article. Then starts reading…
[Assistant reading, with player]
Cheers!
Finally, you can listen to the podcast version of the audio.
Hey Bud, Do you like this Feature?
Comment Below.
TYPE instead saying OK GOOGLE
Sometimes you may be at a crowded place or you don’t wanna say OK GOOGLE, I have a solution for you.
[assistant activated, also indicating keyboard icon]
Still, you can active Google Assistant. You don’t need to say anything. Just hold pressing the HOME button on your phone. For most devices, the middle button is home.
Now to give a command press on the keyboard icon given at the bottom right corner. Here you can type the command then send it.
This feature works the same as voice commend. But this time your assistant wouldn’t reply in voice.
How to Stop Read Aloud
It was so easy to start Assistant read for you. But to stop this player could be a struggle for you.
The best way to do this, pause the player.
But the problem arises when you directly close the app from Recent Task. Still, the reading will keep going. Unlike other music players, we can’t control this from notification.
Now to stop further reading, start google assistant then say ‘STOP READING’.
That’s it.
Features of Read Aloud Player
Read Aloud player of google assistant has all the basic functions. Listeners can control the experience very easily.
[Music player: indicating all its buttons]
< put this in a table
- Play / Pause button: Yes
- A timeline Bar ( to see how much of the audio has been played): Yes
- Forward and back forward ( 30 per click): Yes
- Reading Speed control: Yes
- Change Accent: Yes
- Translation: Yes
- Share option: Yes
- Play Next: No
- Offline/Downloadable: No
>
- Play button and Timeline Bar
Alike music players this screen reader has a button for play or pause the audio. Some articles are so long for that kind of situation this pause button can give you a break. Also, there is a timeline bar to show the remaining part.
Unfortunately, if you left to listening in the middle, it can’t remember that. So when you will replay that article in the future, it will play from the beginning.
- Forward and Back Forward
Although we can skip the audio from the Timeline bar but Forward and back forward buttons give us a more precise result.
Using them you can Skip the listening by 30 Seconds. It would be better if we could change this fixed time like we can do on Youtube.
- Playback Speed Control
It’s a really good feature for fast listeners. There we have 0.5 to 3.0 playback speed.
The more the value is, the faster your assistant will start to read.
The default and most pleasing speed is ‘1’. And the good thing about this speed controller is, it’s well scalable.
- Changing the Accent of Screen Reader
Accent has a huge impact on our listening. Being able to change to own accent would be helpful for kids.
Google Assistant has 10 different accents, including male and female. Especially for Indian, American, British, and Australian users.
[ clicking on the 3 dot, drop down: clicking Read Aloud Voice, select your accent]
1. To change the voice, click on the 3 dots at the top-right corner. Now select the first option ‘Read Aloud Voice’.
2. Here you can see all the available voices for this screen reader. Once you find the appropriate voice for you, click on that Circle then come back from there.
Now the player will restart from the beginning.
- Listen in Translated Language
Being able to listen to articles in other languages is the most exciting feature. If the article is in Spanish you can listen that in English, Hindi, or other languages. Till now there we have 50+ language options to select.
By default, the screen reader will play in original language. To change it:
[clicking on the 3 dots, go-to translation, select language]
1. Click on the 3 dots on the top-right corner. There you can see Translation, open it.
2. Inside the translation you can see all the available languages to play the ScreenReader. Now just select your own, then the player will restart again.
This is how we can turn the screen reader into our own language.
This Read Aloud screen reader of Google assistant can be your best mate while traveling or maybe to complete a large documentary. Also, it can be helpful for children to improve their pronunciation, telling them a Story. Possibilities are endless, it depends on what you are looking for.
I hope this article changed your whole reading experience. Bud if you think so, share this with everyone who may don’t about this Screen Reader. Also, show your opinion in Comment Section.