Would you like to give your students the ability to listen to some text-based content on their iPods? Perhaps you are going to be driving and you want to read a large text-based article but can't read while driving? Why not convert that article to a podcast? What you need is a simple Automator script that can do just that. Here are the steps (see link to video below): 
 
We'll use Spotlight to open Automator. 
 
Next we need to create a custom workflow in Automator. 
 
Now we'll choose the Automator command "Get contents of Clipboard." 
 
The next Automator command we need is "Text to Audio File." 
 
The last command we need is "Import Audio File." 
 
Now we'll save that command as a Plug-In for the scripts menu. "File-Save As Plugin." 
 
Now that the script is created, we can copy some text and run the script. 
 
This will create an audio file on the desktop and it will then import into iTunes. 
 
Select the file in iTunes by single clicking on it. From the "File" menu choose, Get Info. 
 
Click on the Lyrics tab and paste the text inside. Click OK. 
 
Rename your file. 
 
Sync this file to an iPod Touch or iPhone and you will be able to listen to the podcast as well as read along with it. 
 
Enjoy. 
Chris