Read-aloud that explains the page — like a tutor, not a summary

Hey all — solo maker here, just shipped the feature I'm most excited about.

You know the problem with most TTS tools: they free up your eyes, but your brain still can't keep up. Hit a dense doc or a hardcore explainer and the voice just drones on word for word — by the end your head's mush and you're rereading it yourself anyway. Slow and exhausting.

That's the part I wanted to fix, so CastReader now has a Read & Explain mode. Instead of reading verbatim, it explains as it goes — all in sync with the audio. Three things I'm proud of:

• It explains, not just narrates — it breaks down the convoluted bits and says them in plain language, so dense or obscure writing clicks by ear.

• It marks up the page as it talks (my favorite part) — a virtual pen moves across the original text in sync with the voice, circling and highlighting the key info, like taking notes by hand. Light touch, never covers the text; your eyes follow the pen, so you stop drifting off mid-listen.

• Synced subtitles — every line of explanation shows up word-by-word, so you read and listen at once.

The way I think about it: it's not an AI summary that hands you a detached block of text — it's more like a tutor sitting next to you with a pen, circling things and explaining while you both stay on the same page. You're anchored to the source, not a summary that floats off on its own.

The open question I keep chewing on while building it: when something's dense, do people actually want it explained inline like this — or do they just want a clean summary and move on? Curious where you land, and what you'd want a mode like this to handle.