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Spotify, which started as a music streaming service, then expanded to podcasts, is now venturing into audiobooks. The company announced last week that its catalog now includes 300,000 audiobook titles in the United States.
But if you’re thinking that your Spotify subscription includes listening to audiobooks, or that you can buy these audiobooks in the Spotify app, you’d be wrong. Listening to audiobooks on Spotify isn’t quite as simple as that, but you still may find audiobooks on Spotify worth exploring.
About Audiobooks on Spotify
Spotify announced last week that it’s expanding into audiobooks. Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s Vice President and Global Head of Audiobooks and Gated Content explained, “what we’re really excited about is providing a great new experience for listeners—introducing audiobooks to an audience of people who may never have tried them otherwise. By bringing audiobooks to Spotify, we have the opportunity to both grow the space as a whole and enrich listeners’ lives.”
Audiobooks are not included in a Spotify subscription. You must purchase each title individually. Once you purchase a title, it’s added to your Spotify Library. Then you can listen to it on any device, even offline.
Buying Audiobooks on Spotify
Spotify is beginning by offering 300,000 audiobook titles. You can search for and listen to audiobooks in the Spotify app, but to purchase an audiobook you must head to the Spotify website. If you search for an audiobook in the Spotify app, you’ll see a lock icon on the title if you haven’t purchased it yet.
On the Spotify website, click Browse in the menu bar, then click Audiobooks. Or, just search for “audiobooks.”
On the audiobooks page, you’ll see a list of suggested audiobooks for sale. Audiobook listings are divided into sections such as:
- Great first audiobooks
- What’s new
- Buzzworthy books
- Our picks
- From podcast to audiobook
and many more.
You can also search for audiobooks by title or author. Audiobooks that you purchase will appear in your Spotify library.
Spotify’s listings for audiobooks include an audio sample, so you can listen to the narrator reading the text. You can also see the star ratings Spotify listeners have given the title.
The price of the title is also listed. Prices of most titles have been discounted from the list price.
Listening to Audiobooks on Spotify
After you’ve purchased an audiobook on Spotify, if will appear in your Spotify library. You can download an audiobook to a device to listen to it offline. If you stop listening, you can pick up where you left off even if you switch devices.
Spotify has added helpful controls to audiobooks in the app, similar to its podcast controls. You can adjust your listening speed, fast-forward or rewind 15 seconds at a time, and use a sleep timer.
When you’re done listening, you can rate an audiobook and share that you’ve listened to it on social media from within the app.
What’s Ahead for Spotify Audiobooks
In its announcement, Spotify indicated that it’s just getting started with audiobooks. The company plans to expand its offerings of titles and into other markets.
In Spotify’s announcement, Mr. Zicherman stated, “This is just the beginning of Spotify’s audiobooks journey. We’ve been working to create a seamless audiobooks experience, and we’ll continue to build and innovate on this in the future. The offering available today in the U.S. is just the first iteration of audiobooks on Spotify. We’ll learn a lot through this launch and leverage those learnings as we enhance the experience with new features, plan for launches in additional markets, and innovate on the format to benefit listeners, authors, and publishers.”
Your Thoughts
Are you a fan of audiobooks? Are you interested in listening to audiobooks on Spotify? Do you wish you could buy audiobooks from Spotify in the app instead of the website? What would you like to see ahead for Spotify with audiobooks?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
