Google Play Audiobooks Updated To Better Compete With Audible
If you have never listened to an audiobook, you are missing out on one of the better types of entertainment for long trips or people who drive a lot. The biggest name in audiobooks right now is Audible and it has been for a long time. However, Google wants people to think first of Google Play when they want a new audiobook and to facilitate that Google Play Audiobooks has some new updates to help better compete.
These new features are things that some might think Google should have added to its audiobooks service at launch and include things such as
The smart resume feature is probably the feature that users of the service will appreciate most. This feature backs up the playback of your book to the beginning of the previous word or sentence. The idea is to help you remember what is going on if you must suddenly stop listening to a book and come back to it far enough down the road that you might not remember where you were.
Google Play has also added a new
This means if you have an hour commute to work when you get in your car and Google Maps has been actioned by your "Hey Google, tell me about my day" command your audiobook will start playing. Google has also opened the Family Library allowing you to share content with up to five other people to 13 more markets including Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Mexico, Japan (audiobooks only), and South Africa. These new features started rolling out yesterday on Android, iOS, and Google Assistant.