Spotify is testing a voice translation feature that will reproduce English-language podcasts in Spanish, French, and German, using OpenAI’s Whisper model. The company has partnered with several podcasters to translate their English-language episodes into Spanish, with plans to roll out French and German translations in the coming weeks. The move has been met with criticism due to the potential for errors in AI translation.
Key takeaways:
- Google Podcasts will be discontinued next year as YouTube Music increases its focus on becoming a podcast destination. YouTube will introduce a migration tool for Google Podcasts users.
- Apple Podcasts is aiming to become an all-in-one destination for all premium non-music audio content. It will now link third-party subscriptions to a variety of lifestyle and news apps, and subscribers to Apple Music, Apple News Plus, Calm, and Lingokids will be able to listen to their original audio through the Apple Podcasts app.
- Apple's shift into other types of audio programming indicates a different view of podcast consumers, suggesting that the biggest companies controlling the space either don't share the view that listeners prefer a standalone app for podcasts, or don't think it matters.
- Spotify is testing a voice translation feature that will reproduce English-language podcasts in Spanish, French, and German, using OpenAI’s Whisper model. The company has partnered with a handful of podcasters to translate their English-language episodes into Spanish with its new tool.