Amazon Prime and Audible

If you have an Amazon Prime membership, then you’ll have access to over 700,000 audiobooks from the Audible library. Amazon Prime members have unlimited access to these audiobooks. In addition, there are over 70 radio channels associated with Audible that are accessible to Audible and Amazon Prime customers.

Read More: Top Android News Apps for an Unbiased Newsfeed

The Perks of Audible

But, is Audible worth it? Are you cheating on your physical book copies? Well, sort of. Audible enables you to multitask while you listen to your book. However, if you are reading a standard novel, then you are certainly limited to the tasks you can perform while multitasking.

Moreover, Audible is compatible with your Kindle, so you can synchronize the two using the “Whispersync For Voice” feature. So, if you are out shopping and listening to an audiobook through your phone, you can pick up your Kindle later that night and pick up exactly where you left off. You can also adjust the speed that a reader speaks on Audible. So if you want your Harry Potter novels to be read with a higher sense of urgency, then you can adjust the speed accordingly.

Audible will also refund any audiobook you are displeased with. While you probably can’t abuse this perk to get automatic refunds, you will certainly be able to get refunded for a few books you didn’t care for.

Listening to Your Favorite Authors

Sometimes, authors will read their own books. This can be an exciting practice if you really love a particular author, or even if you’re reading the biography of a comedian or other performer. On Writing by Stephen King, for example, is narrated by King himself. Likewise, Writing Down the Bones is narrated by author Natalie Goldberg.

Try Out Audible

Your first two audiobooks are free. If you are not sure whether you want to commit to Audible, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial that lets you listen to two complimentary books. If you do not like Audible, you can cancel your service and maintain possession of the two audiobooks you received, free of charge.

While Amazon and Barnes & Noble have spent years and fortunes on ad campaigns trying to convince tv-watchers to read more, their main selling point is something you already have in your pocket. The best part is that no extra purchases are necessary whatsoever – just the books you already own and want to hear read to you.

Read More: The Best Way to Read Comics on Your Phone

Making media accessible on multiple platforms simultaneously was a bigger dream than many tech companies had the power to accomplish, until more recently when cloud-based technology proved how much better our devices can be managed with our apps. Initially this was done with music, then photos and videos, and then books.

As publishing companies desperately continue to push the paperback, tech companies do all they can to perfect the mobile product platforms, and that doesn’t stop with just owning the books. It doesn’t matter which authors you favor, or how you like to read their material. Having already purchased a book should mean that you have access to it no matter what, and with such advances that Google Play Books offers, now all of your books can travel with you too.

So How Does it Work?

For books and Google Newsstand media, TalkBack is the recommended app for using text-to-speech capabilities, and it’s how you’ll have your ebooks read aloud (and which all smartphones have – do your research and find out how to use this option on your phone) is you have an Android device. Check your existing apps and you’ll find it’s already downloaded with the rest of your app features.

As Google Play clarifies for users, Google Books already has the tools you need to hear your books aloud. Read Aloud, which is the feature on Google Books used to accompany all of the account holder’s media storage, can be used on any Android device and to read any kind of text, including PDFs.All you have to do to hear your book is touch the center of the page once your book is open, and on the Menu there will be an option called ‘read aloud.’ It’s that simple.

We at PSafe recommend some great PDF reading apps here, if you need a place to get started.

Once your text-to-speech feature is set up, you’re ready to hear your books! You’ll want to fish around for different voice modules, the same way you would with the voice settings on a GPS. You can read reviews to find the recommended voices for natural-sounding American accents, or find a different one that works for you.

Now whenever you buy an ebook, you get the benefits that come with it: being able to read in the dark, from anywhere, and with just about any book and edition you can think of. Now Google Play Books can turn your ebooks into audiobooks, further allowing your phone to be a convenient and educational tool that caters to your needs. It’s just one more reason to love your phone, and a great way to even convince not-so-avid readers that the habit is worth picking up again.