Medium now lets you listen to its best content with audio stories

When Medium first debuted its paid subscription option in March, it wasn’t entirely clear what perks members would get for $5 a month. Sure, it promised early access, exclusive content, and an offline reading queue, but by and large, it didn’t seem as though there was anything truly unique about the paid version of Medium that you couldn’t get with the free version. But now, there might be a feature that will convince you to shell out those $60 a year. Medium has now launched audio stories — audio versions of stories that were written exclusively for their members, as well as some of the most popular content on the blogging site.

Don’t worry — this won’t sound like Siri or Alexa attempting to read you a bedtime story. Rather, Medium notes that these audio stories will be professional recordings from real voice artists. Or, if appropriate, the author him or herself could be the one delivering the spoken word.

“Listen to audio versions of every member-exclusive story, as well as other top stories on Medium selected by our editors,” Medium urges on its membership page. “Our audio content is designed to give you a direct, emotional version of each story with professionally recorded narrations — no automated voices allowed.”