Listen up! Spotify has announced exciting new audiobook features to make your listening life even better.
Spotify Is Rolling Out New Audiobook Features for an Even Better Reading Experience
Published on Dec. 04, 2024
It took me a long time to download Spotify, but once I did, I wondered why on earth I’d been so hesitant to sign up for the audio streamer. After all, it isn’t just a place to listen to my favorite music. Since September 2022, Spotify has been a hub for audiobook listeners. As a voracious reader, the company was speaking my language.
While the streaming giant has been in the audiobook game for years now, it’s recently made some exciting upgrades to improve the experience of listening to audiobooks on Spotify. Naturally, I was curious. Ahead, I’ll dive into the details, explaining new ways to use Spotify to listen to your favorite audiobooks. Then sit back, relax and get lost in a story.
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What are Spotify’s new audiobook features?
Did you know that you can find the best books on Spotify? The company is committed to constantly upping its game, and one way it’s done that is by improving the user experience for audiobook listeners. Check out the four new and exciting improvements that Spotify recently announced.
Author pages
If you love an author, it stands to reason that you’ll want to devour pretty much everything they write. This new feature, currently in the pilot stage, makes that easier.
Author pages on Spotify are a lot like musician profile pages. There, you’ll find biographical information and a list of the author’s published and even upcoming books. It’s worth noting that, because this feature is in the pilot stage, pages aren’t available for all of your favorite authors—only select authors have profiles at this time.
When it’s fully launched, the feature will be easy to use: While in the Spotify app, simply select the author’s name to navigate to the profile page. This is a great way to stay connected and learn about upcoming projects or previous projects you weren’t aware of.
Video clips
I personally dislike reading the jacket of a book. Half the time, I’m not sure what the book is really about, and it makes me want to read the story even less. Well, it looks like I’m in luck: Spotify is implementing a new and exciting feature that puts the jacket to shame.
Audiobook readers can now discover their next must-read audiobook by accessing short video clips related to specific books. They provide anything from a clip of an author interview to a backstage video of the audio recording session.
Follow-along feature
Spotify is testing out a unique audio-visual experience on select audiobook titles. The follow-along feature provides time-synched illustrations, photos and graphics that you’ll see while you listen to the book. You know how a paper book might have a photo, map or graphic within its pages? Well, now audiobook readers can enjoy a similar experience. You can access this feature by looking under the “extras” section of select audiobooks.
Audiobook playlists
If you’ve been hesitant to use Spotify as an audiobook platform because it lacked ways to keep your books organized, this update is for you. Spotify users can now create their own curated audiobook playlists.
Go ahead and collect classic books on a comforting playlist. Add those highly anticipated releases to a to-be-read list. Create playlists for your favorite fantasy reads or mystery novels—whatever your little literary heart desires. Or better yet, create playlists for each.
Spotify will even feature curated audiobook playlists based on different reading tastes and interests.
What other features are worth checking out?
Spotify always seems to have something up its sleeves—in recent months, it’s launched two other audiobook features for listeners.
Audiobook countdown pages
I don’t know about you, but I love an exciting countdown to a longed-for date. So I’m a big fan of this feature, which is available now. It allows you to select upcoming audiobooks and activate a countdown, increasing the excitement for the latest book releases.
With the countdown feature, you can preselect an audiobook before its release and count down the days—and even seconds—till it’s ready for you to buy and read. To access the countdown, search for a to-be-released book, then click “Pre-save” on the countdown page. Spotify will notify you when it’s available.
Sleep timer
It’s happened to the best of us: While listening to an audiobook, we drift into a blissful sleep … then wake up to realize we’ve missed much of the story. It doesn’t mean the book is a bore! It does mean we either need to stop snuggling under the covers to read late at night or try Spotify’s sleep timer feature.
Audiobook listeners already have access to the sleep timer feature, which makes it easy to schedule how long a book should play before it stops. Let’s say you’re planning to lie down while listening to a great mystery novel. Simply select one hour on the sleep timer, and the book will stop playing once it hits that mark.
FAQs
Who can listen to audiobooks on Spotify?
Anyone with a Spotify account can buy and listen to audiobooks on the streaming platform. However, there are definitely perks for Premium subscribers—in particular, access to free audiobooks on Spotify.
Here’s what you’ll get, based on your account type:
- Spotify Free: If you’re on a free account, you can purchase audiobooks to stream on Spotify. While you can find select titles for free, most books will cost you.
- Spotify Premium: If you pay for a premium plan, you’ll receive up to 15 hours of listening time per month, with more than 350,000 titles to choose from, for free. Beyond that, you can purchase audiobooks to stream.
How do you listen to audiobooks on Spotify?
Simply use the search button to find a specific audiobook. Not sure what you want to read? You can select “Audiobooks” in the Search tab, then browse the featured books or search by book genre, author, narrator and more.
What types of audiobooks will you find on Spotify?
You’ll find a wide range of books in dozens of genres on Spotify—everything from literary fiction to romance novels to memoirs and more. Chances are, all of your favorite books are on the platform.
In fact, there are now more great books on Spotify than ever. The company recently signed a deal with Bloomsbury, which allows a greater expansion and access to a more robust catalog of titles. Expect to see books from the publisher’s acclaimed authors, including:
- Sarah J. Maas
- William Dalrymple
- Alan Moore
- Madeline Miller
- Dan Jones
- Samantha Shannon
- Ann Patchett
So next time you’re settling in for a long car ride, skip the tunes and dive into a story instead.
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Sources:
- Spotify: “6 Spotify Audiobook Features That Level Up Your Listening Experience”
- Spotify: “Never Miss a New Release with Countdown Pages for Audiobooks”
- Spotify: “How to Make Spotify’s Sleep Timer Part of Any Bedtime Routine”
- Spotify: “Spotify Inks a New Partnership with Bloomsbury to Offer a Greater Assortment of Audiobooks”
