Amazon-owned Audible has responded to Spotify’s new Page Match feature with a new ‘Read and Listen’ experience that promises to unite the two ways of consuming books.
The update announced on February 18 is designed to assist audiobook lovers by offering synchronised and highlighted text within the Audible app. The idea is to create a “seamless multi-format experience” between ebooks and audiobooks.
Spotify’s new feature is designed for users with the physical book to pick-up where they left off on the audiobook (and vice versa), while Audible already offered a means of switching between Kindle ebooks and the Audible audiobooks (known as Whispersync for Voice).
However, this update unites the multiformat experience and, for the first time, won’t require users to leave the Audible app. Users will still need to own the ebook, but can get discounts on audiobooks if they’ve already purchased the Kindle title.
There’s one-tap switching so readers can go from listen to read and listen instantly. The synchronisation is real-time, meaning you’ll be reading the words precisely as you hear them. Audible will also make it easier to find compatible titles by matching the eligible content with books already in the user’s Kindle library.
Audible is pitching this as an educational tool for those who may be learning languages, but also those who’re also torn between the two formats and would simply like to find more time to read more books. Audible says that those who’ve engaged in the multi-format Read & Listen option between Audible and Kindle get through twice as much content as those who just listen to audiobooks.
“Audiobooks count as reading,” said Andy Tsao, Chief Product Officer at Audible. “But now at Audible, you can read with your eyes too. Read & Listen gives book lovers the best of both worlds. Whether you’re learning a new language, studying for school, or lost in a story’s world, you no longer have to choose one format over the other.”
