Reviews
“I have always subscribed to the Economist magazine, who have just launched an audio edition. Old news, I hear you say. Every media outlet in the known world is doing a podcast. True, but The Economist audio edition is different in a way that hints at a potentially seismic change, one that could work out to the benefit of newspapers if we're quick and smart.
The Economist audio edition is not a podcast. It is the complete version of the Economist read out aloud word for word by four or five posh sounding British newscasters. Subscribers to the print issue can download it as a folder of MP3 files from Talking Issues. You can then create an iTunes playlist, import the files there and sync it with your iPod.
So why is this so revolutionary? Because it means that I can press the forward button and skip any story I want and move to the next one. It's rather like reading a newspaper in your car - you start most of the stories but you skip quickly past the stuff that doesn't grab you in the first few seconds until you get to something that does………..
I read my printed Economist fitfully despite loving it…….. I would guess I give it a maximum of 30 minutes a week. The audio version? I listened to it in the car for eight hours in total last week. I listened to stories that I would have skipped instantly in print.
It made me realize that my reading habits are deeply affected by how much time I think I have at work and at home and that as time in both locations is increasingly squeezed, so is my desire to read newspapers and magazines, however much I enjoy them… How can we turn time that is currently unavailable for newspaper reading into newspaper time? This is what the Economist audio edition has done to my driving time.
Inksniffer – U.S http://blog.inksniffer.com
“I have just discovered the audio edition of The Economist. It is a great idea! Now I can appreciate by far, more articles from every issues of The Economist than I could ever find time to read”
D.P.Olszyna, M.D., Ph.D. - The Netherlands
“Thanks for making this option available, it provides an excellent way to keep reading while we’re on the road or doing other things”
Richard Goold
“I’m simply overwhelmed with the high quality (and sheer quantity) of the new Economist audio edition”
Jochen Schwartze – Germany
“To put up The Economist in and audio version is one of the best ideas ever! I love it!”
Tamas Nemeth