Austin American Statesman

As an auditory learner, I find the electronic version of the Austin American-Statesman lacking in a crucial feature: the ability to listen to articles seamlessly. Due to conditions that make prolonged reading challenging, I rely on audio options to stay informed. This feature is vital not only for me but also for visually impaired individuals. I subscribe to three other major publications—The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times—all of which offer comprehensive audio capabilities, allowing readers to listen to entire articles. This functionality is a game-changer, enabling multitasking, such as walking, running, exercising, driving, bathing, conducting chores at home, or any number of additional tasks while staying up-to-date with the news. To compound the issue, the Statesman app only permits users to select and listen to one paragraph at a time. This piecemeal approach is extremely frustrating and counterproductive. It defeats the purpose of combining reading and listening, making it difficult to fully engage with the content while on the go. For the Austin American-Statesman to truly meet the needs of all its readers in 2024 and beyond, it is essential to incorporate a feature that allows entire articles to be read aloud seamlessly.

Had to use this app today as the American Statesmen did not deliver my paper today. What a waste of my time. The app is extremely slow and does not contain the latest news. There is NO news on this app for the local Longhorn football game for tomorrow. Or any Longhorn sports for that matter. After over 30 years of being a loyal subscriber I am finally at the point of canceling. The customer service for this news organization is poor and seemingly non-existent. I will have better luck getting my news from other local sources, at no cost, and no frustrations with something that is so simple by today’s standards. Advertisers are foolish to spend their ad dollars with this organization as they are not dependable.

Yes, that’s right—the Austin “American” Statesman uses an overseas call center to manage their subscriptions! After using this subscription for over 4 months, I decided it wasn’t worth my time. To cancel my subscription was an exercise in frustration. When I finally found the well-buried and hidden “cancel subscription” link, I got a “this feature not available at this time” message, with a telephone number to call for assistance. That number connected me to the overseas call center. It took several minutes to cancel the subscription, but only after insisting I did not want to transfer it to another family member or friend. Typical of this subscription, to be expected of a news feed filled with ads disguised as news stories, video news links that lock you into 15-second ads you can’t skip or back up from, old, repeated news articles, and those irritating links that trick you into accidentally linking into other ads. This is a BAD news ap!