The audiobook app on Android owned by Amazon

If you do not understand what Audible is or what it can offer you, we will describe everything that consists of both the service and the operation of the app on a mobile device.

How the Audible service works

Its arrival in Spain was delayed, since the service has been operating since 1995, although since 2008 it belongs to the Amazon corporation. That is why it is not a new service or one that has been active for a short time, quite the opposite. Hence, Audible is Amazon’s quintessential audiobook and podcast platform, with around 90 thousand titles to his credit.

Among the audiobooks available in Audible we will find from those that are on multiple platforms to books that are part of Audible Originals, which are only on this Amazon service. For its arrival in Spain, Audible has reached agreements with several renowned storytellers for the development of the Spanish version of classic works. Some of the most recognized Spanish storytellers can be Michelle Jenner, José Coronado or Miguel Bernadeau, among others.

Together with publishers such as Planeta, with whom they claim to have “a fantastic relationship,” they have developed more than 500 audiobooks and some exclusive titles such as the works of Megan Maxwell, Miguel Delibes, Eduardo Mendoza and Ray Bradbury. Other publishers with which they have also reached agreements to offer content exclusively are Literatura SM España or RBA.

In addition to audiobooks, Audible has a collection of approximately 25 podcasts, all of them original and exclusive. Some podcasts release new episodes periodically while others publish the chapters from the first day of their release. The topics covered in this section are diverse, with programs such as politics, science, crime, and talks by different celebrities.

What does the Audible app offer?

It is designed so that any user, regardless of their level with the technologies, can easily handle it. It has a simple and direct interface, without eccentricities and everything well compartmentalized. In the app we will see all the content that Audible has and that we have mentioned above. We will also see a series of Audible recommendations, news, favorites … And on the left, a drop-down menu.

From the application we can filter searches by language, including Spanish, English, as well as Catalan, Basque, Galician, German, French, Italian and Portuguese. Being multiplatform, the Audible account will save the listens to be able to resume from the same point, even if we change the device. Audible will allow you to search by content type, genre and will have a section for downloaded content, which can be listened to offline.

Among the additions of the Audible app, and more specifically from the player, there is an hour and minute counter, to be able to find

out how much we have listened and set goals. The Audible player will allow you to go forward and backward, activate “car mode”, set a timer, create bookmarks to highlight audio snippets and choose narration speed.

We also have a sleep timer. This allows the audiobook or episode to turn off after a while. For example, if we are going to go to sleep and we want you to not stay up all night playing the book until the next morning if it lasts several hours. We found it from the playback screen.

In addition, this interface to be able to create such calls as «Clips» is quite simple to use. Basically you can choose 30 seconds or less in time for an audio track, you share it through an Amazon link from your email or text message. Perhaps the editing capacity could be improved, but the moment you try it several times, you will do it. What may be missing is that there was some way to share those audio files on the web.

Another of the changes that have been included after its launch is a layer for Audible Channels, a mix between a style to podcasts that is exclusive to the service. Another detail of this update has to do with when a user finishes playing one completely or has been as “marked”. When this happens, it will be synchronized with the rest of the user’s Android devices, referring to the multiplatform function that we mentioned before.

Waze car compatibility

As if that were not enough, and thanks to its growing popularity, Audible is getting collaborations with other platforms. The best known is the one with Waze, which thanks to this integration you can listen to podcasts or audiobooks while driving. To do this, we have to install both applications on our Android terminal.

The integration works in the same way as with the other applications. Inside Waze you have to go to the music icon and in the list of options, select Audible as the application to use. When it has been activated, it will be possible to drive while listening to the contents of this application, be it your audiobooks or podcasts.