Want to read more, but don’t have the time? Audiobooks are the obvious solution. Lots of people today use the time spent cooking or working out to enhance their knowledge by loading up an audiobook on their smartphone (or another device).
Aware of the trend, Google too wants to encourage people to expand their horizons, so as of this week it has started selling audiobooks through its Play Store. Customers in 45 countries are invited to browse through a collection of audiobooks in 9 languages. Many of the audiobooks available right now are under $10 and Google is offering a 50% off kind of deal for your first audiobook purchase.
But for those who prefer a more classic experience, Google is also selling digital copies of books in the Play Store.
The search giant makes a point in highlighting the fact that you don’t need a subscription to listen to audiobooks from the Play Store. We’re also told, you can use an Android/iOS device, web browser or a smart speaker/device with Google Assistant on board to listen to the titles you’ve purchased.
Users can say “Ok Google, read my book” or “Ok Google, stop playing for 20 minutes” when you need a break. But keep in mind that such deep Assistant integration with audiobooks is only available on Android phones and smart speakers set to English at this time. The good news is that the feature will start rolling out for the Assistant in Android Auto in the US soon enough.
To conclude, we should note that playing audiobooks can be done across multiple devices, so users will be able to resume their reading from the exact point they left off no matter which device they choose to use.
