First Kellogg’s had us listen to our cereal snap, crackle, and pop.

Now Factiva wants us to listen to our newspapers.

That’s right. Factiva has created a new “listen” capability that allows users to have articles read to them. This feature is available for any article in the database, as long as it has less than 4,000 words. The mellifluous voice is obviously computer-generated and, while lovely to listen to, it certainly won’t win any awards for dramatic interpretation. That being said, it’s a cool feature, and I’ve been enjoying listening to the Wall Street Journal today.

Look for the “Listen to Article” link at the top of most articles, including alerts and newsletters as well.

Find Factiva
1. go to www.library.drexel.edu
2. Search for Factiva in the blue search box
3. Factiva is limited to 11 concurrent users. If you can’t get into the database, wait a few minutes and try again.

* Originally published on May 28, 2008. For business research tips & tricks in real-time, subscribe to LIB-BIZ-KIT .