You can now buy audiobooks from the Google Play store
You can now buy audiobooks from the Google Play store
Besides apps, movies and e-books, you can now also get audiobooks on Google Play. Audiobooks are rolling out in 45 countries and nine languages, and are on Android, iOS, as well as the web.
Like Amazon’s Audible service, Google Play sells single audiobooks. Unlike Audible, you can share audiobooks with family members for no extra fees.
Google Play’s audiobooks also work with Google Assistant. If you have a smart speaker with Google Assistant, like Google Home, you can tell it to play your audiobooks.
A quick glance at some bestsellers shows that Google Play audiobooks are competitively priced against Audible’s.
Ray Dalio’s Principles, for example, is S$32.57 on Google Play, while it’s US$27.99 (approx. S$36.49) on Audible. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is S$18.99 on Google Play and US$31.50 (approx. S$41.07) on Audible. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is S$19.99 on Google Play and US$23.95 (approx. S$31.22) on Audible.
On the other hand, you can sign up for a monthly Audible subscription for US$14.95 (approx. S$19.49) per month, and get one audiobook a month. That monthly subscription costs less than most bestsellers. Google Play doesn’t have a similar subscription service for audiobooks.