Curio - Audio Journalism Reviews

Having used the application for a few months, I can say it is somewhat slanted. A limited political spectrum gets picked. Of course, not everything is political in this application, hence review is not lower.

I suspect the editors of the application are politically homogeneous. Many of the takes included in the spectrum are only from one side of the political aisle. It could be that they are catering to the audience. Personally, I would prefer a wider exposure to different publications.

My eternal struggle to balance staying well read is an ongoing journey... podcasts are good but it's hit & miss, then Blinkist but 15 mins on a book is not deep enough, I sometimes buy a newspaper but the quality is variable and the time investment high.

Anyway, tried this app for a week after being incessantly targeted on insta and I am loving it. Basically they select top articles from a range of publications and read them out. It gives you a variety of writing styles, subjects and political balance. It's not just the news but slower journalism too. I'd recommend it.

Sex, money, mental health, war, peace, plants, gender identity etc. For example I enjoyed an article today on desire. Def worth the trial and just signed up for a subscription

If you listen to audiobooks, you know that narrators sometimes fail to give voice to the characters. In this app it feels like the narrators have no idea what they are talking about and place emphasis in a way that feels totally untethered to the significant facts in the articles.

That aside, the articles themselves are often extremely anecdotal opinion pieces. They’re basically pieces where the author is just trying to sound smart without doing serious research. A lot of men are featured disproportionately to women, and there is a shortage of black and brown voices.

Instead of making listeners smarter, this app makes listeners more pedantic. So far, non of the news “curators” are really optimizing for quality, they are optimizing for ideas that validate perspectives of the target audience.

I give three stars because it is fundamentally a good idea and a good platform with decent execution, it just needs to make more of an effort to pick serious journalism from a more diverse set of voices (and not just some “star” authors and publications) with more facts and less speculation.

I went into this expecting to not even use my free trial and then cancel. By some odd coincidence I ended up driving for longer during the day than I normally would. I figured let’s use that free trial. I listened to one and then another and then another. It has been about a month and i’ve listened to the readings at least once every time I drive but it has extended to when I’m in the house. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on all of these articles and this app has made it so accessible to me.I love this and I have no intention of removing my subscription.

There are times when I am bored or doing something that leaves me wanting additional mental stimulation, and this app is always there for me. It is great for falling asleep, too.

The best part about this app is that it is always a learning experience. The articles may not always be entertaining or accessible, but they are almost always profound, with new ideas to chew on.

The excellent voice actors (except maybe a few) really bring the articles to life and immerse you in the story. I do wish that they hired their voice actors more diversely though.

Curio UX has improved dramatically in the past year or so, and I hope they keep making improvements—the interactions work well and are ok, but definitely not on par with major streaming apps.

this app has an excellent selection of articles, but the people who read them are terrible in terms of their pronunciation. Either they don’t look up pronunciations or they think they know the correct way to pronounce even common words such as “interlocutor” “teleological,” “Anaxagoras,” and “correlative.” I find this very distracting. I’m thinking about cancelling for this reason. Also the readers seem to treat all sentences as worthy of equal emphasis. Slightly better than a version read by a computer. The value to me right now is that I can find out whether I want to read the text myself.

It’s beneficial for anyone interested in expanding their horizons to invest in App like this one in question. You will be put in a trance, which in return learn new matters from many different discourse, and through enjoyable fashion.

Learning doesn’t have to be boredom, or a remedial task at hand. Limitless potential here on Curio for all education levels. You come to listen to articles, yet a impetus for a appetite to reach the stars in knowledge appears.

I adore the psychology portions in the beginning primarily, then I got drawn to totally out my spectrums categories like art, history, and feminist articles. It’s like a Pandora box of massive enlightenment potential ready for the mortal to grasp, and attain absolute wisdom.

Stay thirsty my friends, Curio will quench your thirst!

Not interested in having short fluff articles read to me.

Dear this app Designers,

Is it remotely possible to develop a category focused on serious long form journalism? Looking thru the current /categories takes too much time and proves frustrating because most offerings don’t fit... perhaps a category called ‘long form journalism?

Thank you,
-Dan

///////////////////////

Dear this app Designers,

I was caught off-guard by your responsiveness. Of limited budget yet let my NYT subscription lapse... to witness your evolution. Happy 4th of July... Bang!

Yours, in support of a ‘Long Form Journalism’ Option-
Dan

I am surprisingly satisfied with Curio. Curio makes it easy to find topics that you are interested in. I like that I can build an library to my liking and go back in to listen to it again. Curio will definitely keep the curious mind informed of new discoveries, current events, and new topics from IT to psychology to history and much more.

1. PLEASE let me pay per article. I listen to 1 every once in a while, I don’t want to subscribe. Give me a per article option.

2. Curio, just like the beta, makes it hard to find a specific article. I spot one online, jump to Curio , use search but nothing comes up, search through the publication and sometimes find it, often not (even though it’s embedded in the site so I know it exists). Add an open in app links to your embedded web player please.

Excellent important articles/information written by first class brainy writers, and read aloud by particularly well spoken/talented English accented readers.

I enjoy this app, while trying to “read along” is not easy especially for non nerds.

Therefore, don’t be shocked by how difficult/ complicated it is to control and read along

I love the idea of Curio. However, the library isn’t quite as big as I was hoping. It can’t yet serve as the primary way to consume your favorite media sources. I feel like I would run out of interesting content within a month.

Also, as much as I appreciate accents as a part of someone’s character, I don’t want interesting accents in all of my recorded content. Even consistency of a single accent other than my own would be preferable.

I have been using this app every single day for the past month and it’s a fantastic app for getting the important news for me. I really enjoy the application despite some bugs here and there. I really would enjoy if they have a beta program as they could squash bugs even faster.

It’s amazing that I can access articles from so many news sources in one app! And I love that I can just listen to stories on the go. And the fact that content on Curio is curated means I don’t have to search through dozens of news articles on the web to find just what I’m looking for. Bravo!

The well of knowledge, wealth of information. Exactly what I’ve been looking for to satisfy my thirst for self-education. But $11/month or $80/year is just far too expensive for me. It is a shame that during the unprecedented times we live in, information come so high-priced. Hence 4 stars, otherwise I wouldn’t hesitate giving 5-star review.

really love it. It’s like I finally started to read much more without spending additional time. Just listening to it while walking or driving. Good selection of articles, so pleasant voices and Curio is made really well. Thank you guys!!!

Hi, I’ve asked to have this fix, customer service said something would be done about it. Every time I open Curio I have to click *no* on not wanting notifications. Please fix this this app. No mean no.

Also, how about a way to prevent these new blogger types from showing up in the feed? I signed up for this for the audio versions of traditional media. If I wanted a podcast I would’ve gone somewhere else.

Great app! I love listening to stories while I do mindless chores like walking place, doing laundry, drying dishes etc. Definitely recommend for anyone who struggles to find time to stay informed and is looking for a way to fit quality journalism into a tight schedule.

I have a hard time forcing myself to sit down and read but have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. this app is the solution- keeping me up to date while I am traveling, going to work, or just laying in bed. Glad it exists and am looking forward to its expansion and growth!

The stories seem pretty good, but after I finished my free tokens I can’t view any more.

I’d probably convert if there was a free tier where I could listen to a couple stories a week and be sure the value is there for me.

But instead I deleted Curio from being annoyed at notifications for stories I can’t listen to.

I am a long-time lover of audio books and podcasts and I have long thought it would be wonderful if there were an app that would do for magazine articles what Audible does for books. And now I have it! I am still learning how to use Curio most efficiently but I love what it offers. I recommend it to all my friends.

1. PLEASE let me pay per article. I listen to 1 every once in a while, I don’t want to subscribe. Give me a per article option.

2. Curio, just like the beta, makes it hard to find a specific article. I spot one online, jump to Curio , use search but nothing comes up, search through the publication and sometimes find it, often not (even though it’s embedded in the site so I know it exists). Add an open in app links to your embedded web player please.

Interesting idea and this is also a very promising concept. With a great customizable options for creating playlists, sharing articles to friends and listening anywhere,anytime. I find it's very convenient and well-made to provide reliable knowledge

Some of the other apps would eventually crash after a month or two but I've had Curio for about 5 months now and I haven't had any problems with it. It's also very simple and easy to use.

I get a lot of information in when reading is impossible. Simple to use and easy to cancel the subscription if you are no longer interested in listening to audio articles

My go to app for listening to most curated articles from more than a dozen of publications and I'm able to download the article I love for listening without having an internet connection. That's so great

It will read the news. I've only had it read weird breaks once so far. It needs a playlist feature so that you can add stories you want and have them read back.

This is wonderful and absolutely convenient. Easy to use. I’m not a genius when it comes to technology however I was hoping Curio would allow the option to add more less famous publications

This format is innovative and interesting.. The content is very relevant and latest.. The background music makes the listening experience much better than other podcasts which sound like 90s..

I love Curio, it’s a great for a daily dose of interesting information. It’s simple and easy to use. I just wish there was an easier way to look up specific things/topics you’re interested in.