Abstract: Apparati, methods, and computer-readable media for creation of a text to audio chronological mapping. Apparati, methods, and computer-readable media for animation of the text with the playing of the audio. A Mapper (10) takes as inputs text (12) and an audio recording (11) corresponding to that text (12), and with user assistance assigns beginning and ending times (14) to textual elements (15). A Player (50) takes the text (15), audio (17), and mapping (16) as inputs, and animates and displays the text (15) in synchrony with the playing of the audio (17). The invention can be useful to animate text during playback of an audio recording, to control audio playback as an alternative to traditional playback controls, to play and display annotations of recorded speech, and to implement characteristics of streaming audio without using an underlying streaming protocol.