Listening to Audiobooks on Google Play is a relatively new thing, but Google is committed to the format and has today announced new features for Audiobook playback which include smart resume, bookmarks, speed controls and the ability to add Audiobooks to your Google Home routine (at least in the US).
Smart Resume is a nifty feature that takes into account that people listening to audiobooks get interruptions. With Smart Resume, after you get interrupted by a phone call, Google Maps direction or something else, Google will rewind to the beginning of the word or sentence when you start playing your audiobook again.
Google is also letting you bookmark a place or moment easily in audiobooks by simply tapping the bookmark icon, allowing you an easy way to return to a point in an audiobook. If you’re in the US and have access to the new Routines on Google Assistant, you can now tell Google to begin playing an audiobook.
Fans of podcasting apps like Pocket Casts will also be pleased to see that Google has added in speed controls for audiobooks, allowing you to get Google to slow down audiobooks to 0.5x or speed up to 3x speed to get through your book even faster.
Google says that these new features are rolling out starting today on Android, iOS, and on devices with the Google Assistant. You can check out Audiobooks on Google Play right here.
