You don’t have to own a Kindle to have access to Amazon’s library of books, music and videos. Downloading the the Kindle App to your Android phone or tablet or iPhone or iPad will offer many of the same features. There have been some things you can’t do like watch Amazon Prime videos or sync your audio books with your eBooks. Those features were only available to those who had purchased Kindle tablets.
But that’s about to change, at least for those who enjoy switching between audio books and eBooks. Amazon is offering a free software update to the Android and iOS Kindle app that allows users to have a seamless experience between their audio books and eBooks. They can start reading an eBook on their tablet or Kindle and pick up the audio book in the exact same place on their phone. Or you can just switch between reading and listening on the same device. Say you were reading at home, you could hop in the car, plug in your phone and continue to listen to the book right where you left off while you drive.
With the advent of smartphones, audio books have been growing in popularity.
“We continue to hear from a growing number of Whispersync for Voice converts who tell us the innovation has profoundly changed the way they read—in fact, switching back and forth between reading and listening has become their preferred way of experiencing stories,” said Audible founder and CEO Donald Katz.
More than 45,000 Kindle books have professional narration available and people who have previously purchased eBooks can add the audio feature for as little as 99 cents, though best-selling books will cost more.
Those with the Kindle app should be notified that an update is available and the Kindle App is available in either the Google Play or iTunes stores.
~ Cynthia