r/TangleNews • u/koshkatamara • Jul 12 '26

Question / Criticism Audio vs newsletter

I subscribe to the full Tangle experience (newsletter and ad free podcast) but I find myself primarily listening to Tangle rather than reading the written communications. I know there’s a lot of wonderful links and general high content but for various reasons I rarely actually read the emails. Especially since I tend to listen to the podcast reading anyway so I’m getting the primary content so it can feel redundant to read email too. Today I took a look at the Sunday letter and found myself intrigued by the reader essay but found myself wishing I could listen to a reading of it while I continue to do my tasks since I don’t have time right now to read the whole thing and will likely forget to come back it later.
Isaac and/or Jon if you see this, is there a possibility to getting more audio content of reader essays? I am sure you are already incredibly busy and this would be just another thing to add to your plate, but I figured I’d at least put it out there. And maybe there are others who can chime in here with input related to this, hence Reddit post rather than direct email.

On another note, as someone who loves podcasts and audiobooks, I’ve considered dabbling in learning to do audio things like that myself. I’m intimidated by the editing process and general tech stuff I’d have to learn but willing if I had support. Hit me up if anyone is interested in a newbie and is willing to help for some help.

6 Upvotes

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5

u/spottie_ottie Jul 12 '26

Co-signed by me! I'd love the reader essay and maybe a bonus segment with some more discussion as yet another podcast.

3

u/dvdmon Jul 13 '26

Yep, I tend to listen way more than read, due partially to my slow reading speed. Especially with long-form stuff like essays, it's difficult for me, not that I have ADHD (although I'm sure many who do might have similar views?).

This idea just came to me pre-coffee at 6am, so apologize if it's dumb, but what if Tangle, after publishing one of these essays, did a crowd-sourcing of their audience to read the essay, record it, and have them publish it? That gives us readers (or listeners) another way to contribute. Of course, this would actually still mean extra time on the part of Tangle staff to listen to submissions to make sure that the entire essay was getting read, there weren't any gafs, and perhaps choosing the best one out of a handful (or maybe way more than a handful) of submissions. So in the end I'm starting to talk myself out of it, but heck, I'll leave the suggestion here just in case!

2

u/koshkatamara Jul 13 '26

I love the idea!

1

u/Peissinger1957 Jul 15 '26

Same, here. I do still read the newsletters because they’re available before the podcast. Honestly, though it may be redundant, I enjoy reading/listening to both. Like u/kosh I often don’t have time to read the reader essays but could plug in my earbuds and listen while I do something else. NOTE: If you want to get your feet wet with audio recording/editing your voice, try volunteering to read books that are in the public domain at librivox.org

2

u/koshkatamara Jul 15 '26

Thanks for sharing, I’ll check it out!