Audible and Spotify haven’t had the best audiobook experiences in the past, but it looks like that’s starting to change. The streaming service just released a bunch of updates for people who listen to audiobooks. Some of these changes are really helpful.
Adding a sleep setting is probably the most important feature. People can fall asleep to audiobooks, but it’s annoying when you wake up after 100 pages and can’t remember where you left off. Users can set the sleep timer to play for a certain amount of time. There is already a sleep timer for music and apps.
People who use Spotify can now make playlists just for audiobooks. This makes it easier to remember what they want to read or listen to. Playlists “help you keep your library organized,” according to the site.
This tool will “help you keep your library organized.” The streamer will put out both regular playlists and playlists that were put together by the audiobook editing team.
There are new Countdown Pages, which are cover pages for podcasts that are coming out soon. These let people save a book before it comes out, which makes it easy to find when it does. It says that writers, publishers, and narrators can use this feature to “help promote their upcoming titles ahead of launch.”
When we talk about advertising, Spotify’s new Author Pages show biographical information about specific authors and let you listen to their whole back catalogs. For now, this is just a pilot program, and the tool can only be used by a “select number of authors.” Some writers and publishers can also submit a short video about a certain title to a new video player made just for audiobooks. The platform says this is like the jacket of a book because it lets you “taste of an audiobook before pressing play.”
Finally, you’ll be able to follow along with some podcasts. People have called this a “immersive visual experience” that looks like a music video and shows pictures, photos, and graphics while the podcast is being read. This can be found in the “extras” section of audiobooks that are qualified.