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Show HN: To Listen to Any Article, Just Add Playthis.link to the URL

10 points by soheil 6y ago

I was tired of having to constantly scramble to find a podcast I want to listen to when going for a walk or just running on the treadmill. I, however, usually have an abundance of blog posts or articles around the web that I'd like to read. The problem is walking is not very conducive to reading. So I made this quick and dirty site that pretty much works anywhere, no app install, no copy paste, no nothing. Just add the domain playthis.link before any URL in your browser and hit enter. It will redirect to an audio file that automatically starts playing. You don't need to click a 2nd button to play the file either. It just starts reading the text right away. You can do this on your phone and just pick it up and go for a hike. Example: Amazing blog post: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/24/startup-seo/ Audio version: https://playthis.link/https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/01/24/startup-seo/ Github repo: https://github.com/soheil/playthis.link

laurex 6y ago
Wow, this is amazing. I would love a widget or a function that would let me "share" from a sharesheet on mobile to this and have it play, if you want to add 100% more complexity :-)
FemmeAndroid 6y ago
This is really neat. It looks like you're using google cloud's text to speech -- are you footing the bill for this, or do you have a plan to monetize? I run ListenLater.fm, which does something similar (You add articles to a podcast feed via a bookmarklet or browser extension, then listen to them with a personalized podcast feed.) Your implementation is incredibly clean, but I'm curious what's to stop people from using it a lot and you ending up with a huge bill. One thing I'd immediately recommend you look out for is people using it to turn free online books into audio versions. This is the use case for a few of my customers, and because google charges per character, it can be difficult to make money even when charging a few dollars a month. Good luck, and please consider shooting me a message on Twitter or via email (in my profile.)

10 points by soheil 6y ago

laurex 6y ago

Wow, this is amazing. I would love a widget or a function that would let me "share" from a sharesheet on mobile to this and have it play, if you want to add 100% more complexity :-)

FemmeAndroid 6y ago

This is really neat. It looks like you're using google cloud's text to speech -- are you footing the bill for this, or do you have a plan to monetize? I run ListenLater.fm, which does something similar (You add articles to a podcast feed via a bookmarklet or browser extension, then listen to them with a personalized podcast feed.) Your implementation is incredibly clean, but I'm curious what's to stop people from using it a lot and you ending up with a huge bill. One thing I'd immediately recommend you look out for is people using it to turn free online books into audio versions. This is the use case for a few of my customers, and because google charges per character, it can be difficult to make money even when charging a few dollars a month. Good luck, and please consider shooting me a message on Twitter or via email (in my profile.)