Spotify to auto-transcribe podcasts over coming weeks
Swedish music streaming giant Spotify on Tuesday announced multiple updates to make its app more accessible across iOS and Android, including a beta version of a podcast transcription feature.
The company said it will start auto-transcribing certain exclusive and original shows over the coming weeks as part of a beta rollout.
People will be able to read the transcript with or without audio and can tap on the text to jump to that point in the audio.
The company said the goal is to eventually “enable transcripts across all podcasts on Spotify”.
This is an especially helpful feature for people who want to scan and move around a podcast, possibly to hear a specific segment, and for people who would rather read than listen to a show, The Verge reported.
Along with transcriptions, the app will undergo visual changes, too in terms of button colours, text formatting, and size.
The idea is to make it easier for people with low vision and visual impairments to navigate and use the app, the company said.
This should also help with low lighting situations or high screen reflections, it added.
Additionally, iOS users can also make the text size much larger through their settings.
To do so, they have to navigate to Settings > Accessibility and then tap “Display and Text Size.” From there, they can tap on “Larger Text” to make the text as large as they want.
