In a move to make podcasts more user-friendly and accessible, Spotify announced it will soon roll out auto-generated text transcripts for a wide range of podcast creators. The new feature will be time-synced to podcast audio, allowing listeners to read along in real time as the episode unfolds.
Users can access these transcripts by scrolling down below the podcast player and tapping into a “read along” section. This new addition not only improves accessibility for users but also provides the convenience of skimming through episodes without having to listen to the entire content.
Spotify is also taking steps to make navigating podcast episodes easier by adding a feature that allows podcasters to include time-stamped chapters. These chapters briefly describe a segment of the show, giving listeners the option to preview topics or directly jump to specific points in an episode.
These updates follow Spotify’s recent introduction of an AI-generated voice cloning tool, which employs OpenAI’s Whisper technology to translate English-language podcasts into Spanish. More languages, such as French and German, are expected to be supported in the coming weeks.
