TTS readers are immediate
Use a TTS reader when you want to hear one page now and do not need a persistent podcast feed or podcast-app subscription.
Compare
Article to podcast vs text-to-speech reader.
TTS readers are useful for one page. Article-to-podcast feeds are better for repeatable listening queues.
Podcast feeds are repeatable
Use an article-to-podcast feed when long reads should land in the same listening queue as saved audio, direct URL imports, and generated episodes.
Castline combines both paths
Castline Pro can generate text-to-speech episodes from pasted text or article URLs, then deliver them through a private personal podcast feed.