Spotify’s Page Match feature syncs your audiobooks and physical books

Spotify has launched a new feature called Page matching Allows you to quickly sync your place in a physical or e-book with an audiobook. Point your camera at the page, and Spotify uses computer vision to match text to audio. If you have to jump behind the wheel for a long distance, but you don’t want to stop Buffalo hunteryou can just take a photo to go to the point in the audio book where you left off in the paper book.

It’s no different from Amazon Whispersync for audiowhich lets you seamlessly move back and forth between Kindle books and Audible audiobooks. The difference is that Spotify’s version works with physical books and e-books on any e-reader (although an e-book on your phone won’t work because the app uses your camera and can’t read your screen). Page Match will be available on “most English-language titles” at launch, and the company plans to expand over time.

It also works in reverse. Spotify can’t tell you which page you want to go to, due to differences in editions (hardcover vs. paperback, for example). But you may be asked to turn the page until you find the exact sentence. Open any page, and it will tell you whether you want to go forward or go back, using the progress bar. It will even highlight the clip shown to you on the screen.

In brief hands-on practice, the feature seemed accurate, if a bit inconsistent with speed. Sometimes, it takes upwards of 10 seconds for the app to find its bearings and queue up the appropriate section of the audiobook. Other times, it jumped to the correct part in just one second. It was much slower in reverse, taking a few seconds with each page to know if you’d come to the right place. The progress bar at the bottom that tells you how close you are to the correct page was a bit too vague to be useful. Although with practice, I’m sure it will get easier to interpret.

The company has clearly identified audiobooks as an area with growth potential. This isn’t too surprising, given some of the stats the company dropped during its Turn the Page event in New York. A recent study found that only… 16% of American adults read for pleasure In 2023 – this leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Over the past two years, Spotify has grown in size Audio book library From 150,000 to more than 500,000. Owen Smith, the company’s global head of audiobooks, says he’s seen 36 percent year-over-year growth in the number of customers starting an audiobook on Spotify, and a 37 percent increase in listening hours.

Smith says the growth is largely driven by existing customers rather than new subscribers. Although I’m sure the company wants to drive users away from Audible, ultimately its goal is to keep people Listen as long as possible. Offering a variety of content types, especially long-form content, is one way to achieve this.

Just like it did with podcasts, it looks like Spotify has decided to focus on books now. She will expand her audiobook a summary The feature, which arrived on iOS late last year, is coming to Android in the spring. Rather, it is a partnership with Bookshop.orgso you can do it Purchase a physical copy From the audiobook you listen to through the Spotify app.