I completely agree with you. Listening to someone read a book is not the same as actually "reading" a book.

They are desperately trying to expand the appeal of the site. There's money in audio-books and podcasts. Perhaps they see Medium as having the potential of being a mashup of the two.

I think they are grooming the site to improve its appeal to investors. This has all the earmarks of pre-IPO or "sale of the platform" maneuvering. I can hear the pitch, "We think that with the addition of multimedia Medium can become another Facebook. A Facebook for smart people who don't like Facebook".

Sigh, life is change.