Around the Net
Flipboard Keeps Edge With Audio
- BBC, Wednesday, May 16, 2012 11:18 AM
Fighting for its title as a top tablet application, Flipboard debuted several new features, this week, including audio. Regarding multimedia-enabling capability, BBC News notes: “The move makes it the first mobile reader of its kind to do so.” Other social reading apps, including Google Currents, Pulse and CNN-owned Zite feature audio elements, but mainly through video links and YouTube clips tied to news stories.
The Daily, the paid social reading app from News Corp., offers spoken audio versions of select news stories, but Flipboard is the first to make sound ubiquitous. Flipboard readers will now be able to "flip" through content, while listening to music or radio programs in the background. "This is really going to change the entertainment experience of Flipboard," Marci McCue, head of marketing, told the BBC.
Audio launch-partners include SoundCloud, National Public Radio, and Public Radio International (PRI). Editorial selections include interview programs like Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Science Friday; songs from the Atlantic Records catalogue or original beats from rapper Snoop Dogg.
