What you need to know
- Spotify’s huge audiobook (and physical book) update is here, as the company announces “Page Match” for Android and iOS.
- Page Match lets users scan their physical book’s placement, which will help sync the audiobook version to that point.
- Spotify is also partnering with Bookshop.org, bringing the ability for users to purchase books off the platform later this spring to support local shops and authors.
Spotify’s been working on a major update to how users interact with audiobooks, and it’s completely changing how you’ll read moving forward.
In a press release, Spotify announced the launch of “Page Match,” a new feature that lets users sync the reading position of a physical book with its audiobook version. Officially, Spotify states Page Match lets users “move between physical books or e-books and their audiobook counterparts with just a quick scan.”
For a general understanding, the post says that, as this rolls out, users should first discover the title they’re reading (physically) after opening the app. Navigate to the Page Match button > scan your book’s placement with your phone’s camera. After that, Spotify will automatically jump to wherever that page is in the audiobook version. However, Page Match works in reverse, too.
Spotify says users can “scan again,” so they know where to hop to in their physical book. Page Match is currently rolling out on Android and iOS, with the claim that most English titles will be available for the feature by the end of February. More importantly, free Spotify users can use Page Match with the individual audiobooks they’ve purchased. Those on the Premium track (or Audiobook Plus) can “use the feature with their monthly allocation of audiobook listening hours.”
For more detailed instructions on how to get started with Page Match, Spotify has it detailed to get you going.
A Bookshop Partnership
That’s not all that Spotify has under its belt this week, as the company also announced a partnership with Bookshop.org.
The company states this partnership is the product of physical books remaining the number way most readers get their stories. Beginning later this spring, Spotify will roll out a way for its users to purchase physical books off its platform in the U.S. and the U.K. These purchases will be made through Bookshop, which is an organization that focuses on connecting “readers to independent bookshops.”
These purchases are also said to directly support the local bookshops that provided the product, as well as the authors who created them.
Android Central’s Take
For a reader such as myself, as well as many others, this update piques my interest. It gives users the option of deciding which form of reading they’d rather partake in seamlessly. Spotify even gave the example of someone needing to make a quick run, but still wanting to go through the story. They can use Page Match to scan it, pop their earbuds in, and get going. I also vibe with the Bookshop partnership. I’m a huge physical book lover, probably always will be. To be able to support local bookshops and the authors who created these stories, it feels like a packaged deal that I can get behind—and I probably will.
