Audible Announces 'Clips' Sharing Functionality

Audible app users can now download, save, and share favorite passages and excerpts from Audible audio content via iOS and Windows (with Android to follow soon) using a new tool called Clips.

The Clips feature was largely inspired by what Audible has learned about its members over time, according to Audible executive v-p and publisher Beth Anderson. “We know that people love to share what they are listening to with friends,” she said in an email exchange. “Whether it is passing along a funny line, an interesting fact, or a moment of a poignant performance, we wanted to make it easy for our members to share those experiences." With Clips, Anderson said, these things can be "easily and seamlessly revisited within the Audible app.”

Anderson noted that several top engineers and developers at the company came up with the idea for the new functionality independently, believing it would be something listeners would enjoy. The tool was then further refined with work from Audible’s User Experience team and designers.

With Clips, up to 45 seconds of audio content can be downloaded, edited, saved, and shared via numerous channels including Facebook, Twitter, SMS, and e-mail. Recipients of a shared sound clip can listen to it without having to create an account or download an app. But Clips does offer recipients the opportunity to purchase the full audiobook, or to share the audio segment they received with someone else.

Asked about why Clips has generated so much enthusiasm in-house, Anderson said she thinks the tool will drive sales. She went on: "It is also a way to put more books into people’s conversations and easily demonstrate how dynamic and entertaining a book can be when performed.”

In addition to the Clips functionality’s role as an enhancement for listeners, Audible founder and CEO Don Katz pointed to the marketing potential of the feature. “We are also excited to launch this new, easy-to-use tool that authors and narrators can use to raise awareness of their audiobooks,” he said in a statement.

Audible has created a commercial that showcases some possible uses of Clips, and has also posted a video tutorial for users showing what the tool looks like on iOS.