Just days after Spotify announced its foray into physical book sales, which included an audiobook feature that lets you sync your listening and reading progress offline, Amazon-owned Audible has started a feature that combines ebooks with audiobooks.
The company was announced on Wednesday, an “immersion reading” feature in the Audible app that allows readers who have both the ebook and audiobook versions of a title in their Audible and Kindle libraries to read the ebook text while the audio plays. The feature also allows users to switch between different formats across devices. While in “Read & Listen” mode, the text of the book is highlighted in real time in sync with the narration.
The Kindle app a tool has already been offered which would allow readers to switch between the Audible version and the ebook when both versions had been purchased. This feature is now coming to the Audible app for the first time. Customers will need to have both versions of the book for this to work, but the discounted audiobooks will be available to customers who have the corresponding ebook, the company says.
At launch, hundreds of thousands of titles will be supported by the new ‘Read & Listen’ feature, including those in English, German, Spanish, Italian and French. Initially, the option will be offered in the US, with the UK, Australia and Germany gaining support in the coming months.
To discover suitable titles, Audible will automatically determine which Kindle ebooks have audiobook matches in its app.
Of course, many customers were already reading and listening to their books without purchasing two editions — by having Alexa narrate their ebooks from their Kindle library. Alexa isn’t a professional storyteller by any means, and the more monotonous delivery of the AI assistant might turn you off. By offering a way to add on the audiobook at a lower price when you’ve already purchased the ebook, Amazon hopes to boost sales of books in various formats.
The company also claims that combining reading and listening can improve focus and comprehension, according to industry research and its own internal data. Additionally, customers who read and listen are the most engaged, consuming nearly twice as much content per month as audiobook-only customers, Audible noted.
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The feature can make sense for students and those learning a new language, as well as those trying to get through more books quickly. It’s also useful for those who regularly switch between reading and listening, and for those who want the experience of narration — especially if a book is read by a favorite voice actor. Additionally, some may simply appreciate a narrator introducing all the characters by name so they can learn the pronunciation without having to guess (a particularly thorny issue in fantasy novels!)
“Audiobooks count as reading,” Andy Tsao, Audible’s Chief Product Officer, said in a statement about the launch. “But now on Audible, you can also read with your eyes. Read & Listen offers book lovers the best of both worlds. Whether you’re learning a new language, studying at school, or getting lost in the world of a story, you no longer have to choose one format over the other.”
Amazon notes that the new feature will not affect publishers’ royalty payments.
