Google joins audiobook race

Fancy learning Astrophysics For People in a Hurry or listening to Snugglepot and Cuddlepie? There’s a new way to do this.

Now you can listen to your favourite books via Google Home.

The competition between Google and Amazon is heating up on another front, with Google announcing that it will sell audiobooks, and make them available for listening through Google Home.

Audiobooks has been a mainstay of Amazon through its company Audible and Apple makes them available through iBooks.

But it’s the competition between Google and Amazon that’s worth looking out for. In 2018 the two companies are shaping up as fierce competitors in the consumer technology space on several fronts.

The battle between the Amazon Alexa and Google Home personal assistants to get past your front door is one front.

With Google audiobooks, you can say “OK Google, read my book” to listen to them through the Google Assistant on smartphones, and on Google Home devices.

Audiobooks are available from the Google Play Store.

Google in a statement says it is rolling out the audiobook service in Australia and around the world in nine languages.

Google is offering this service without a subscription by getting users to buy audiobooks. It offers a preview of the book, so you can sample the contents and see whether you like the narrator’s voice.

It says you can start listening to audiobooks on one device, and then continue listening on another. For example, you could start listening to an audiobook on a Google Home personal assistant, and when you leave home, continue listening to it on a mobile device via the Google Assistant.

This could be an Android or iOS device, one fitted with a Chromecast dongle, an Android Wear wearable, Android Auto in your car, or a laptop.

It gives examples of the commands you can use to access audiobooks. For example, you can say “OK Google, stop playing in 20 minutes” to set a timer for bedtime reading.

Google says you can listen to Australian classics such as May Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, learn Astrophysics For People In A Hurry from Neil Degrasse Tyson or listen to Love your Sister by Samuel and Connie Johnson.