Audio Player Widget vs AkaVoice – AI Article to Podcast

AkaVoice turns the articles you already publish on WordPress into audio podcast episodes, and uploads them to your Spreaker show — which in turn distributes them to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and other podcast platforms. Each conversion runs two steps with OpenAI: the article text is first rewritten into a natural spoken-word script (GPT-4o-mini), then synthesized into a studio-quality MP3 voice track (TTS-1-HD). The finished episode is uploaded to Spreaker and a listenable player is embedded back into the post. You use your own OpenAI and Spreaker API keys (this is a “bring your own keys” plugin). AkaVoice never charges for conversions and never acts as a middleman for your keys or your billing — you pay OpenAI and Spreaker directly, at their own rates. Free and unlimited This plugin is completely free and has no usage limit. There is no monthly quota, no per-conversion fee, no subscription and no account to create with AkaVoice. You can convert as many articles as you like; the only cost is your own OpenAI API usage (typically a few cents per podcast). How it works Create a free Spreaker account and a show, and get an OpenAI API key. In AkaVoice → Settings, paste your Spreaker access token and show ID, and your OpenAI API key. Run the built-in connection tests. Pick the narration language and a default voice (Alloy, Echo, Fable, Onyx, Nova or Shimmer). From the Dashboard, fill the queue with your published posts and start the conversion — or let the background processor work through the queue automatically. Each converted post gets a podcast player embedded automatically, and the episode appears on Spreaker and the connected platforms. What you need An OpenAI API account (https://platform.openai.com). You pay OpenAI directly for the AI usage — usually only a few cents per podcast. A free Spreaker account (https://www.spreaker.com) with a show already created. AkaVoice Pro AkaVoice Pro is a separate, optional paid plugin for publishers who want more. It is not required — this free plugin is fully functional on its own. Pro adds podcasts narrated with your own cloned voice, extra text-to-speech engines (Microsoft Azure and Google Gemini), Google Search Console integration, an SEO-optimised lazy-loaded player, and priority support. Learn more at https://akavoice.ai. Your API keys stay yours Your OpenAI key and Spreaker token are encrypted with AES-256-CBC before being stored in the WordPress database, using a key derived from your site’s own AUTH_KEY and SECURE_AUTH_KEY salts. They are decrypted only at the moment a request is made to OpenAI or Spreaker. The plugin does not register your site, does not send usage statistics, and does not phone home. External Services This plugin connects to two third-party services in order to produce and publish podcasts. It connects only when you actively use it, and only with the API credentials you enter yourself. No data is sent to the plugin author, and the plugin does not track your site. OpenAI When you convert an article, the article’s title and text are sent to the OpenAI API. OpenAI is used for two steps: rewriting the article into a spoken-word script (GPT-4o-mini model) and synthesizing that script into an MP3 audio file (TTS-1-HD model). The request is authenticated with the OpenAI API key you enter in the plugin settings, and usage is billed to your own OpenAI account. Data sent: the article title and body text, the chosen narration voice, and the target language. When: each time an article is converted, either manually or by the background queue. OpenAI is a service provided by OpenAI, L.L.C. — Terms: https://openai.com/policies/ — Privacy policy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/ Spreaker The generated MP3 file is uploaded to the Spreaker API as a new episode of your Spreaker show. Spreaker hosts the audio file and distributes the podcast to platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. The request is authenticated with the Spreaker access token and show ID you enter in the plugin settings, and the episode is created under your own Spreaker account. Data sent: the generated audio file, the episode title and description, and (if you enable it) the auto-share settings. When: each time an article is converted. The plugin also embeds Spreaker’s public episode player — an iframe loaded from widget.spreaker.com — into converted posts so visitors can listen. This loads only on posts that have an associated episode. Spreaker is a service provided by Spreaker Inc. (an iHeartMedia company) — Terms: https://www.spreaker.com/terms — Privacy policy: https://www.spreaker.com/privacy

Audio Player Widget is a small plugin that provides support for using the Audio-Player plugin in WordPress sidebars. The Audio Player Widget requires Martin Laine’s WordPress Audio Player plugin. Homepage for Audio Player: http://wpaudioplayer.com/. WordPress Plugin Page for Audio Player: https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/audio-player/ Using the Audio Player Widget is simple. If your theme supports widgets and you have the Audio Player plugin installed, you can drag the widget to the sidebar and specify a label and URL for an MP3 file. The widget will render the Audio Player in the sidebar when the page is loaded by dynamically generating the [audio:URL] tag the Audio Player plugin requires.