tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6285930287778705862.post4875347638836732675..comments2023-09-30T04:53:57.201-05:00Comments on Kenton's Infotainment Scan: "What's wrong with the newspaper?"Kenton Larsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10785680882442266009noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6285930287778705862.post-36190935998331843382012-09-26T22:28:29.550-05:002012-09-26T22:28:29.550-05:00There's already a service that reads the newsp...There's already a service that reads the newspaper for you - it's called Voiceprint! (I almost took a job there.) Their clients are primarily the visually-impaired, but anyone can subscribe. I think they also stream on MTS TV. They read all newspapers - local, national, international.<br />But I like my radio suggestion. It provides a more stable advertising revenue stream than the one the paper's already got, with very little additional cost. <br />I also think they need to stop printing actual newspapers as soon as possible. Maybe put together a weekly newsmagazine on Saturday or something, but farm out the production of that. They need to shut down the printing press and their distribution network to cut costs...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13898233279583486654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6285930287778705862.post-8980988831278797962012-09-26T13:22:19.219-05:002012-09-26T13:22:19.219-05:00That's an awesome suggestion. Thanks for takin...That's an awesome suggestion. Thanks for taking the time. It reminds me of Dan Vadeboncoeur's suggestion that the Free Press "go radio." He's on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danvadeboncoeurKenton Larsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10785680882442266009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6285930287778705862.post-19816912151898160132012-09-26T12:58:23.980-05:002012-09-26T12:58:23.980-05:00I've thought about this a bit myself, having s...I've thought about this a bit myself, having shamefully done my bit to weaken the industry by switching to a Saturday-only subscription. (A billing problem drew my attention to the cost of those weekday morning editions that I barely had time to give more than a quick scan; whereas finding time for a thorough read is seldom a problem on Saturdays.)<br /><br />One challenge for the newspaper is to get to the customer early in the day, before they've been exposed to the internet, talk-radio and all-news channel news hosepipes all day long. <br /><br />Yet, as in my case, many people would have to get up earlier to make time for a 15-minute appointment with the newspaper every morning.<br /><br />I've already taken up the odd habit of doing a quick scan for anything interesting in Google News, copying and pasting whatever comes up into a Word document, PDF'ing it, and turning on Acrobat's "read aloud" feature. It only takes a few minutes, and allows me to listen to articles (and blog posts) being read out loud while I make breakfast or brush my teeth.<br /><br />It works well despite little quirks such as "Winnipeg, MB" being pronounced as "Winnipeg, Megabytes" and a particular female name being misinterpreted by the software as "Missing in Action".<br /><br />But what if newspapers could provide that read-aloud service? I would love to be able to log in, quickly check off all the news stories I want to hear about, and have it read out loud as a playlist. <br /><br />I know -- it's far-fetched, and probably wouldn't even be economical until someone develops a Jessica Savitch or Lloyd Robertson automated voice that can be relied upon not to make mispronunciations like those above. <br /><br />But it's just a thought. The View from Sevenhttp://theviewfromseven.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com