Google Play Books Launches Audiobooks Store

Google Play Books has launched an audiobook store offering dozens of bestselling audiobook titles that can be played on Android or iOS phones and tablets as well as on devices supporting the voice-controlled Google Assistant.

To mark the launch of the new audiobook store,  Google Play Books is offering dozens of titles for $10 and site is also offering a 50% discount on first purchases. Google Play audiobooks will give the consumer a free preview of the content, single titles can be purchased without a subscription and consumers can share their audiobook purchases with family on different devices (up to five family members) using Google’s Family Library feature without additional fees.

The service is launching in 45 countries and in nine languages, with more titles to come. Among the titles available at launch are works on politics such as Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, sci-if titles such as Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (narrated by Will Wheaton), autobiography such as Why Not Me by Mindy Kaling and acclaimed literary works such as George Saunders Lincoln in the Bardo.

Google Play audiobooks allow consumers to begin reading on a Google Assistant device (“Ok Google, read my book”), switch to the Google Play app on a Pixel Google smart phone, or switch yet again to an iPhone, Chromecast or laptop device.