Terms of service

About ReadTheTalk

ReadTheTalk is independently operated by an individual. In these terms, “we” and “us” refer to the operator of ReadTheTalk.

For questions about the product or these terms, contact support@readthetalk.com. We usually reply within 1–2 business days.

What ReadTheTalk does

ReadTheTalk reads pages on supported sources and produces reading material from them: a transcript, an overview with chapters, and optionally a translation. It runs on the page you are already on and can send the original player back to a passage you select.

ReadTheTalk is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the platforms it works with. Platform names and logos are used only to identify where content comes from.

Your account

ReadTheTalk is a Google Chrome extension for desktop, with Google sign-in. You must be at least 13 years old, and old enough to enter into this agreement where you live. One person per account; do not share it or resell access.

You can request account deletion at support@readthetalk.com. See the privacy policy for how account data is handled.

What you may do with the service

You must have the right to process the material you point ReadTheTalk at. In particular, do not:

• use ReadTheTalk to build a copy of someone else's work for distribution, or to republish a transcript or translation you have no right to republish;
• resell, sublicense, or provide the service to others as your own;
• circumvent allowances, quotas, or any technical limit;
• probe, overload, or disrupt the service or the providers behind it;
• use the service for anything unlawful, or to process material you are not lawfully allowed to access.

We may suspend or close an account that breaks these rules.

Generated content can be wrong

Transcripts, translations, overviews, and chapters are produced by automated systems. Names, numbers, dates, and specialised terms can be misread, and meaning can shift in translation. Always check anything important against the original video or audio.

Do not rely on ReadTheTalk as your only source for legal, medical, financial, or safety-related decisions.

Plans, billing, and renewal

ReadTheTalk offers a Free plan and Pro at US$9.90 per month. Plan features and allowances are listed on the homepage.

• Pro is billed monthly in US dollars and renews automatically until cancelled. Any applicable tax is shown before payment.
• You can cancel by email. Access continues until the end of the paid period; see the cancellation and refund policy.
• We give at least 30 days’ notice of a price change, applying it from the next renewal after that notice.
• When payments open, card details will be collected through Stripe’s payment interface. Do not send card details by email.

Digital access and delivery

ReadTheTalk is a browser extension and online reading service. No physical goods are shipped.

For questions about account access or billing, contact support@readthetalk.com. Include your account email and payment reference if relevant; do not include a password or full card number.

Allowances

Pro includes 30 hours of processing per subscription month, of which up to 10 hours may be used for audio transcription when a complete transcript does not exist. A single episode may not exceed 4 hours.

Allowances reset on each subscription month and do not roll over. Reading a result you already have uses no allowance. When an allowance runs out, new processing of that kind stops until it resets.

Refunds and processing failures

You can request a full refund of your first Pro payment within 7 days of the charge if the total source duration of content you have successfully processed is less than 60 minutes. Renewals, requests after 7 days, and usage of 60 minutes or more are not refundable, except for duplicate charges, billing errors, or refunds required by law.

The 60-minute limit counts source content duration, not processing time or the sum of transcription and text-processing allowances. Failed attempts do not count; content that succeeds after a retry is counted once. We do not offer prorated refunds for unused days or allowance.

Allowance returned after failed processing is separate from a subscription refund. Full details are in the refund policy.

Intellectual property

ReadTheTalk’s software, branding, and original website materials belong to their respective owners and licensors. Videos, podcasts, transcripts, and other source materials remain subject to the rights of their creators and other rights holders. Making material publicly accessible does not transfer its copyright to ReadTheTalk.

We do not claim ownership of third-party source content or grant you permission to republish it. A generated transcript, summary, or translation does not remove the rights in the underlying material. Use and redistribution must respect those rights and applicable law.

Public library material must have an appropriate basis for publication. If you believe content shown by ReadTheTalk infringes your rights, email support@readthetalk.com with the content URL, the work concerned, and your contact information so we can investigate.

Availability and changes to the service

Supported sources change, and pages we read can stop working when those sites change. We may add, change, or discontinue sources and features. We aim for continuity but we do not promise uninterrupted or error-free service, and we may take the service down for maintenance.

If we discontinue the service entirely, we will give reasonable notice and a way to retrieve the results you have generated.

Suspension and termination

You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you break these terms, if we are required to by law, or if your use creates risk or legal exposure for us or for others. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will tell you why.

Disclaimers

The service is provided “as is”. To the extent the law allows, we make no warranty that generated content is accurate or complete, that any particular source will remain supported, or that the service will be available at any given time.

Limits on our liability

To the extent the law allows, our total liability arising out of or relating to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the three months before the event giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, and nothing removes consumer rights you have that cannot be waived.

Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This choice does not remove mandatory consumer protections that apply where you live.

For a complaint or dispute, contact support@readthetalk.com. You retain any rights available under applicable law and through your payment provider.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change is material, we will tell you in the product or by email before it takes effect, and we will change the update date above. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the new terms.

Contact

Email support@readthetalk.com. We usually reply to general enquiries within 1–2 business days. Refund requests are reviewed and answered within 3–5 business days.