Can I convert academic papers and PDFs?

speakeasy works with any URL. If your reading is available online — course materials, arXiv papers, JSTOR articles you have institutional access to — just paste the link or use the Share Sheet from your browser. For PDFs, share the URL to the hosted document. Local files need to be uploaded to a cloud service first.

Not at all. Listening to your assigned readings is the same as reading them — you are consuming the same content through a different sensory channel. Research shows that auditory and visual comprehension are comparable for most content types. Many professors and learning specialists actively encourage multimodal study approaches.

Can I slow down for difficult material?

Yes. speakeasy supports speeds from 0.5x to 4x. Slow the playback to 0.75x for dense theory or technical content, keep it at 1x for standard readings, or speed up to 1.5x-2x for review material you have already covered in class.

How much does it cost for students?

speakeasy offers 3 free articles per week with no account required — enough for many students' weekly reading loads. For heavier course loads or research, unlimited access is $9.99/month or $89.99/year. No student discount yet, but the free tier lets you try it without commitment.

For Students

Study Without Staring at a Screen

Convert your reading assignments and research to audio so you can study anywhere

You're drowning in assigned readings, supplementary articles, and research papers — all competing for the same screen time as lectures, homework, and, let's be honest, your social life. speakeasy lets you convert those readings to audio so you can study while walking to class, working out, or doing laundry. Same material, zero screen fatigue. speakeasy is designed to fit seamlessly into the daily routine of students, turning articles, newsletters, and blog posts into high-quality audio that you can listen to anywhere. No more letting your reading list grow while your schedule gets busier — audio lets you stay informed during time that was previously unproductive.

The problem

Hours of assigned readings pile up every week across multiple classes

Screen fatigue from Zoom lectures, homework, and social media

Hard to focus on dense text after a full day of classes

No time to sit and read when you're juggling school, work, and life

How speakeasy helps

Convert course readings and articles to audio in seconds

Study during your commute, gym time, or between classes

Reduce screen fatigue by switching from reading to listening

Replay difficult sections to reinforce understanding

"I convert my weekly readings on Sunday and listen to them throughout the week. I went from skimming everything to actually absorbing the material."

A day in the life: students + speakeasy

Picture your typical day as tudents. You wake up to a notification about an important article someone shared. During breakfast, you share it to speakeasy. On your commute, you listen to it — along with two newsletters that arrived overnight — at 1.3x speed.

By the time you arrive at your destination, you've already consumed more quality content than most people read all day. And you did it without any extra screen time. This is the fundamental shift that audio content enables for students: it transforms dead time into productive time, without requiring any changes to your existing schedule.

The reading backlog problem for students

One of the biggest challenges students face is hours of assigned readings pile up every week across multiple classes. The volume of relevant content published daily is simply too large to consume through reading alone. Browser tabs pile up, newsletter emails go unread, and important articles get lost in the noise.

speakeasy solves this not by requiring you to find more reading time, but by converting reading time into listening time. The average person has 1-2 hours of potential listening time per day — commuting, walking, exercising, doing chores — that can be reclaimed for content consumption. For students, this can mean the difference between feeling constantly behind and feeling genuinely well-informed.

How students get the most from speakeasy

The most successful students on speakeasy share a few habits in common. First, they use the iOS share sheet to capture articles in real-time — when they see something worth reading on Twitter, in a newsletter, or on a blog, they share it to speakeasy immediately rather than bookmarking it for later.

Second, they set up a daily listening window. Whether it's the morning commute, a lunch walk, or an evening run, having a predictable listening time ensures the queue gets cleared regularly. Third, they experiment with playback speed — most students find that 1.2-1.5x is the sweet spot for staying engaged without missing important details.

Why audio matters for students in 2026

The information landscape in 2026 is overwhelming. Students need efficient ways to consume quality content without surrendering more screen time. Audio is the answer — it's the only content format that lets you learn while doing other things.

speakeasy is purpose-built for this use case. Unlike general-purpose TTS tools that require manual text input, speakeasy works directly with URLs. Share a link, get audio. It's that simple. Combined with iCloud sync, natural AI voices, and adjustable playback speed, it's the most efficient way for students to stay on top of the content that matters most to them.