Answers
Turn a document you already have into a show, compare Lissin with the tools people weigh it against, and see what a recurring show looks like.
Turn documents into audio
Turn a report, a deck, a set of notes or a paper into a show, starting with how to get the file out of the tool it lives in.
Turn a Notion page into an audio show
Export the Notion page with Export → PDF, include subpages if you want the whole tree, then upload the file to Lissin and describe the show you want from it. Lissin reads the text layer, writes a script, and narrates it. Toggles export collapsed, so open them first.
Turn Obsidian notes into an audio show
Obsidian’s Export to PDF turns one note into a file Lissin can read. For a folder, use the Pandoc or Webpage HTML plugin to produce a single HTML file first. Upload it, say what kind of show you want, and Lissin writes and narrates it.
Turn a Google Doc into an audio show
File → Download → PDF Document or Microsoft Word (.docx), then upload the file to Lissin and describe the show. Both formats carry the full text. Accept or reject tracked suggestions first: DOCX exports them as live revisions and the narration can end up reading both versions of a sentence.
PDF to audio: hear the file, or make it a podcast
PDF to audio here means you upload the file in the iPhone app and Lissin makes something you can listen to. Ask for a walk-through, or a podcast with one voice or two. Uploading needs Plus or Pro. A normal PDF is read from its text, and a scan goes through OCR. On a long file, name the chapters.
Turn a PDF into a podcast
PDF to podcast, in the Lissin iPhone app, starts with an upload on Plus or Pro. Say if you want one narrator or two people talking it through. A text PDF is read as text. A scan is read with OCR. For a long report, name the pages, or the episode skims.
Turn a PDF into an audiobook on your iPhone
Upload a PDF in the Lissin iPhone app. Ask for a straight read, or a short show on the part that matters. Uploading needs Plus or Pro. A normal PDF is read from its text, and a scan goes through OCR. The Free plan doesn't include document uploads.
Turn a PowerPoint deck into an audio show
Upload the .pptx and describe the show. Lissin reads slide text and speaker notes together. A deck is a set of headlines, and the argument connecting them usually lives only in the notes, so a deck without notes narrates as a list.
Turn a Word document into an audio show
Upload the .docx or .doc and say what the show should be. Lissin reads the document’s text and heading structure, writes a script, and narrates it. Accept or reject tracked changes first — an unresolved revision can be read as both the old and the new sentence.
Turn a spreadsheet into an audio briefing
Upload the .xlsx and ask for an interpretation, not a reading. Lissin reads the cell values and sheet names. A script that narrates rows is unusable. One that answers ‘what moved, by how much, and what is the likely reason’ makes a useful two-minute briefing.
Turn research papers into an audio show
Download the paper’s PDF and upload it, or paste the PDF link, then ask for the level you want: the result and why it matters, the method in detail, or the argument against it. Upload several papers together to get one episode that compares them.
Turn an SEC filing into an audio briefing
Paste the EDGAR link, or upload the filing as PDF, then name the sections you care about — risk factors, MD&A, the segment tables. A 10-K read start to finish is four hours of boilerplate; a briefing on the parts that changed is fifteen minutes.
Turn Markdown and HTML files into an audio show
Upload the .md or .html file on Plus or Pro, or paste a link to the published page on any plan, then describe the show you want. Lissin writes a spoken script from the text, so asterisks, backticks and link brackets are not read out. For a whole docs site, combine the pages you care about first.
Turn newsletter issues into an audio show
Paste the links to the issues you have not read, or save them out of your inbox as HTML or PDF, then ask for a round-up rather than a reading. Six unread issues become one twelve-minute episode about what happened across them.
Turn a reading backlog into an audio show
Export the saved articles or save them as HTML or PDF, upload them together, and ask what connects them. A read-later queue is often forty tabs on one recurring interest, and one episode about that interest is more useful than forty narrations.
Turn meeting notes into an audio catch-up
Export the notes or transcripts as DOCX or PDF, redact names and salaries, upload the week together, and ask for decisions and open questions rather than a summary. The episode catches you up on the meetings you missed. Lissin does not join or record meetings.
Turn textbook chapters into an audio study show
Upload the chapter PDF and ask for teaching rather than reading: the idea explained, then a worked example, then the questions an examiner would ask. Scanned chapters go through OCR automatically, so a photographed page works. Use it for a second pass on material you have already read.
An AI podcast generator for the show you want to hear
This AI podcast generator starts with what you want to hear, or with links, notes or a document. Lissin researches it, writes a script for one or two voices, and records 5 to 25 minutes. Keep that one episode, or have the show come back daily, on weekdays, weekly or every two weeks.
Turn an article or web page into a podcast
Copy the article's link, add it to a new request in the Lissin iPhone app and say what you want: a walk-through, a two-host discussion or only the parts that bear on your question. Lissin reads the page, writes a script and voices it. Pasted text works the same way, and one episode can take up to 20 links.
Turn text into a podcast
Text to podcast starts as a paste. In the iPhone app the request holds 8,000 characters, about 1,300 words, and your instructions count toward that. A longer piece should be a PDF, uploaded on Plus or Pro. Ask for one narrator or two speakers.
Turn your lecture notes into a revision podcast
Paste your notes into a new Lissin request, or upload them as a PDF or Word file on Plus or Pro, and say how to use them: "explain each topic from my notes, then quiz me". Handwritten notes work as a scanned PDF. Say whether it should stay inside your notes or fill gaps from the web.
Turn a YouTube video into a podcast episode
Copy the video's link from YouTube, paste it into a new request in the Lissin iPhone app and say what you want from it. When YouTube has English captions for the video, Lissin works from them and writes a spoken episode: a summary, a two-host discussion or only the parts you ask about.
Turn a YouTube link into a podcast episode
YouTube to podcast usually means saving the video's own audio. Lissin doesn't do that, and it won't follow a channel or publish an RSS feed of one. Paste one video link in the iPhone app. If YouTube has English captions, Lissin writes a new episode from what was said.
Turn an ebook into a podcast about the book
On Plus or Pro, upload a DRM-free EPUB to the Lissin iPhone app and say what the episode is for: one chapter explained, the book's argument tested by two voices, or its ideas set against another book. Lissin reads the chapters in order and writes a podcast from them. You get a discussion of the book, not an audiobook.
Compared with other tools
Lissin compared with read-aloud apps, summary apps and audio generators, including the jobs where the other tool is the better choice.
Speechify or Lissin: choosing by what you need to hear
Choose Speechify to hear a document read aloud as written with highlighted text, or if you already use it and want an AI podcast in dialogue, debate or lecture style on web or iOS. Choose Lissin for a personal show from a topic, question or sources that recurs daily, weekly or fortnightly, made on iPhones with iOS 26 or later.
Lissin as an ElevenReader alternative
ElevenReader narrates the text you give it, in very good voices. Lissin makes a show from your source: it decides what to say, puts it in order and then narrates it. Choose ElevenReader to hear your document read well, and Lissin to hear a new show made from it.
A NotebookLM (Gemini Notebook) alternative for a show that comes back
Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026. It's the same standalone product. We use both names below. NotebookLM's Audio Overview can run a Deep Dive, a Brief, a Critique or a Debate, and you can check a sentence against the file. Use Lissin on iPhone when you want a show that comes back.
Lissin as a Blinkist alternative
Blinkist offers a curated catalogue of non-fiction books, condensed by professionals and produced in advance. Lissin has no such catalogue. You describe what you want to hear about and Lissin makes the show, which suits subjects nobody has published a summary of.
Lissin as an alternative to book-summary services
Summary services such as Shortform, getAbstract and Headway condense a fixed catalogue of published books, edited by people. Lissin makes a show on a subject you describe or a document you upload. A catalogue is better for the titles it holds and cannot help with anything outside them.
Lissin as a NaturalReader alternative
NaturalReader is a text-to-speech app that reads your documents aloud on desktop and mobile, with control over voice and speed. Lissin takes the same documents and writes a structured show about them. Choose NaturalReader to hear the document read, and Lissin to hear it explained.
Lissin alongside a podcast app
Lissin does not replace your podcast player. It cannot subscribe to an RSS feed or play the shows you already follow. It makes new shows for one listener, on subjects too narrow for a general audience to keep a podcast going.
Lissin as a Snipd alternative
Snipd works with podcasts you already listen to: it finds the good parts, clips and transcribes them, and helps you keep them. Lissin makes new episodes. If you have too many podcasts to get through, use Snipd. If nobody makes the show you want, use Lissin.
Replacing Spotify's Daily Drive news
Listeners reported Daily Drive disappearing from Spotify in March 2026, and Spotify has not announced a replacement that mixes news into your music. Lissin can take over the news part: describe the stories you follow, pick a morning time, and a freshly researched briefing is waiting each weekday. It plays no music, so keep a Spotify playlist for that.
After Huxe: keeping a personal audio show
Huxe stopped working on 28 May 2026 and deleted user data the next day, so nothing can be moved across. Lissin covers the personal-podcast part: describe a subject or add your sources, and it makes an episode once or on a daily, weekday, weekly or fortnightly schedule. You cannot interrupt an episode to ask questions.
Google Daily Listen or Lissin: who picks the stories
Google's Daily Listen, a Search Labs experiment in the Google app since January 2025, plays about five minutes of stories picked from your Search and Discover activity, in English, in the US and India. Choose Lissin when you want to name the topics, the length, the delivery time and the language yourself. Creating a Lissin show needs an iPhone.
Wondercraft or Lissin: a production studio or a show made for you
Wondercraft is a web studio for marketing, HR and training teams. It turns a prompt, document or URL into audio or video you edit on a timeline, with cloned voices, comments and approvals, then download or publish. Choose Lissin when the podcast is for your own listening. Describe it on your iPhone and it arrives once or on a schedule.
Jellypod or Lissin: a podcast for an audience or for yourself
Jellypod is a web studio for publishing AI podcasts and videos to an audience: one to four hosts, cloned voices, a script editor, and automations that make an episode on a schedule or from a newsletter and post it to your RSS feed. Choose Lissin for a show made for you alone, set up on your iPhone.
Particle or Lissin: a news feed you read, or a briefing made to be heard
Particle is a free AI news reader for iPhone, Android and the web. It summarises each story from many outlets, lets you follow people and topics, and can read your feed aloud. Choose Lissin when you want a briefing written to be heard, on the subjects you name, ready at a set time each day.
Spotify Personal Podcasts or Lissin: private episodes in Spotify, or a show you can share
Spotify's Personal Podcasts, in beta for eligible US Premium subscribers, turns a prompt into short, private episodes in your Spotify library, daily or weekly if you like. Choose Lissin when you are outside the US or not on Premium, want episodes up to 25 minutes, or want to share one as a link. Creating a Lissin show needs an iPhone.
Gemini Daily Brief or Lissin: your day's to-dos, or the subjects you follow
Gemini's Daily Brief, launched in May 2026, is a morning list of to-dos and priorities drawn from your Gmail, Google Calendar and Gemini chats, in English, for personal accounts in the US. Lissin does a different job: a spoken episode on the subjects and sources you name, on the schedule you set. The two can sit side by side.
ChatGPT scheduled tasks or Lissin for a daily briefing
ChatGPT's scheduled tasks run a prompt once or on a schedule and post the result in ChatGPT, with a push or email notification. They suit reminders, checks and short written updates. For a briefing, Lissin does one narrower job: a researched, spoken episode on the subjects you name, made on your schedule for listening rather than reading.
Briefings and recurring shows
Set up a recurring Lissin show for your job, your interests or one story you are following.
A daily AI engineering briefing
Describe a recurring show on model releases, evaluation results and inference tooling, ask it to lead with anything that changes how you would build something this week, and set it to run each weekday morning. Lissin researches the open web on each run and produces a ten-minute episode.
A daily briefing for a startup founder
Describe a recurring show naming your market, your three closest competitors and the customer you sell to, and ask it to open with anything a customer or an investor might raise with you this week. It runs ten minutes on weekday mornings and researches fresh each time.
A daily briefing for a product manager
Describe a recurring show on your product category and the companies shipping into it, asking for what shipped and what it implies rather than what was announced. Pair it with a weekly upload of your customer-call transcripts, and ask what changed in what people want.
A daily briefing for a software engineer
Describe a recurring show naming the languages, frameworks and infrastructure you actually run, and ask for breaking changes, security advisories and migrations first. Scoped that way it fits in five minutes. Described as ‘software engineering news’, it becomes a survey too broad to listen to.
A daily briefing for an investor
Describe a recurring show naming the sectors and companies you follow, asking for what moved and the argument on both sides of why. Then upload two years of a company’s filings and ask ‘what changed in the language’. Nobody else writes that episode.
A daily briefing for a security analyst
Describe a recurring show naming your stack and the threat categories you care about, asking for exploited-in-the-wild issues first and background second. It gives you context, not alerts. Never rely on it to tell you about an active vulnerability; vendor advisories and your scanner stay your systems of record.
An AI news briefing app built around what you follow
Lissin is an iPhone app that makes a news briefing to your specification. Name the subjects, places and sources you follow, choose a length and a delivery time, and before each episode it searches for what changed, writes a spoken briefing and notifies you when it is ready. Every episode lists the sources it used.
A personalized podcast app that makes shows about what you're into
Lissin is an iPhone app that makes podcasts for one listener. Describe what you're into, such as Roman history, your football club or how sleep works, and it researches the subject, writes the script and voices it. Ask for one episode, or a show that comes back daily or weekly and picks up where the last episode stopped.
Follow a story over time with audio updates that start where the last one stopped
Lissin can follow one story or subject for you and send an audio update on a schedule. Name the story, add sources worth watching and choose daily, weekly or every two weeks. Each episode checks what changed since the last one and starts there, so you hear the new developments without the background retold every time.
A Hacker News podcast made from the front page and its comments
Ask Lissin for a recurring show that names Hacker News: "each weekday at 8, the front-page stories about databases and AI tooling, with what the comments disagree about". Before each episode it reads recent front-page stories that drew discussion, the articles they link to and a sample of comments, then writes a spoken digest that lists its sources.
A space news podcast about the missions you follow
Ask Lissin for a recurring show about the part of space you follow: "every Monday at 7, ten minutes on last week's launches, Artemis and Mars, then one astronomy result explained". Before each episode it searches the web for what changed and writes a spoken briefing with its sources. Launch dates slip, so it gives the latest date it found.
A Formula 1 news podcast for the morning after the race
Ask Lissin for a weekly Formula 1 show: "every Monday at 8, the weekend's qualifying and race, how the championship gaps moved, then the week's team and driver news, with extra on McLaren". Before each episode it searches published race reports and news, writes a spoken recap and lists its sources. It does not follow sessions live.
A local news podcast for your own town
Ask Lissin for a recurring show about your area: "every weekday at 7, eight minutes on news from Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts: city council, schools, housing and new restaurants, no national politics". Before each episode it searches what local outlets have published online, writes a spoken briefing and lists its sources. It cannot cover what nobody has reported.
A daily gaming news podcast on the games you play
Ask Lissin for a daily gaming show: "every weekday at 8, ten minutes on announcements, release dates and patch notes for PC and Switch, with extra on Nintendo and anything new on Hollow Knight: Silksong; skip rumours". Before each episode it searches published news, patch notes and studio posts, writes a spoken briefing and lists its sources.
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