Your Notes, But Make It a Podcast: NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews

Reported & fact‑checked by Editorial Team · September 19, 2025 Editor: Staff · Fact‑checker: Staff · Copydesk: Staff

NotebookLM can talk through your sources like two friendly experts. Here’s how to get useful, accurate overviews that actually stick.

What It Does (and Doesn’t)

• Does: Generate a two‑voice discussion grounded in the files/links you upload.
• Doesn’t: Read every word verbatim or replace close reading for complex research.

Setup in Minutes

1. Create a new Notebook and add sources (Docs, PDFs, Slides, URLs, YouTube transcripts).
2. Click Generate Audio Overview.
3. Listen in the browser or download for on‑the‑go.

Getting Great Output (Best Practices)

• Curate your sources: remove duplicates and low‑quality links.
• Guide the model: add a short brief—“Focus on pros/cons and next steps for X.”
• Structure matters: clean headings and bullets lead to clearer audio.
• Check grounding: sample claims and verify with the source cards.
• Use for comprehension, not final quotes (pull quotes from the original).

Use-Cases

• Student: Turn a week of readings into a 10‑minute summary for review.
• Analyst: Synthesize market notes into takeaways + action items.
• Product team: Summarize customer interviews into themes you can listen to in transit.

Limitations & Workarounds

• Two voices only: If you need multi‑voice scenes, switch to a studio tool.
• Customization: Limited fine‑tuning; overcome by writing a stronger brief.
• Long transcripts: Split sources by topic to keep episodes tight.

Make It Discoverable (Study & Briefings)

• Phrase your H2s like questions students actually ask.
• Include downloadable notes or checklists—they earn shares and links.
• Add a “How we validated this” section to build trust.

FAQ

Is it private?
Review Google’s data policies for NotebookLM before using sensitive materials.

Can I cite the audio?
Use the source cards/links in the Notebook for precise citations; the audio is a summary layer.

Can I export to a podcast feed?
NotebookLM is best for internal listening. For public feeds, move the script/audio into a studio tool.

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Keep going: See our “Listen‑Later” decision guide → Build Your Listen‑Later Life.

Sources & Further Reading

• ArticleCast
• Google’s overview of NotebookLM1 Audio Overviews
• Wondercraft²’s Article-to-Podcast generator
• Listnr
• Speechify
• Audioread³ explainer on AIToolhouse: https://blog.aitoolhouse.com/listen-to-articles-and-pdf-with-audioread/
• Directory entry: https://dang.ai/tool/articles-to-audio-ai-tool-audioread

Fact‑Check & Sources

• ArticleCast (iPhone + Chrome extension) — see ⁴.
• NotebookLM Audio Overviews (feature + language expansion) — see ¹ and ⁵.
• Wondercraft Article‑to‑Podcast + studio workflow — see ².
• Listnr (1,000+ voices; 140+ languages) — see ⁶.
• Audioread (private RSS feed) — see ³.
• Speechify (natural TTS, multi‑language) — see ⁷.

Footnotes

1. Google announced NotebookLM's Audio Overview feature on Sept 11, 2024. Source: https://blog.google/technology/ai/notebooklm-audio-overviews/ ↩ ↩²

2. Wondercraft provides an Article‑to‑Podcast generator and studio features. Source: https://www.wondercraft.ai/tools/article-to-podcast-generator ↩ ↩²

3. Audioread generates a private podcast RSS feed for listening in any podcast app. Source: https://audioread.com/ ↩ ↩²

4. ArticleCast advertises iPhone availability and a Chrome extension for converting web articles to natural audio. Source: https://www.articlecast.ai/ ↩

5. In 2025, Google expanded NotebookLM’s Audio/Video Overviews and languages. Sources: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2025/04/language-expansion-audio-overviews-notebooklm.html and https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebook-lm-audio-video-overviews-more-languages-longer-content/ ↩

6. Listnr promotes 1000+ voices in 140+ languages. Source: https://listnr.ai/ ↩

7. Speechify markets natural‑sounding TTS with many languages/voices. Examples: https://speechify.com/ and https://speechify.com/text-to-speech-online/ ↩