Spotify’s next audiobook trick could make bookmarks obsolete

It looks like Spotify is prepping a genuinely clever feature that meets bibliophiles and audiobook fans in the middle. It’s something Amazon has already done with ebooks and audiobooks, but Spotify is taking it a step further by not leaving lovers of physical books behind.

While digging through the Spotify app version 9.1.18.282, we discovered code references to a new feature called Page Match. It’s essentially a tool that will allow users to seamlessly jump between a physical book (or an ebook) and its audiobook version on Spotify.

The idea is simple. You open Spotify, scan a page in a physical book using your phone’s camera, and Spotify will take you to that exact spot in the audiobook. The feature uses optical character recognition (OCR) to read the text, identify the passage, and match it to the correct timestamp in the audiobook.

Spotify’s own onboarding strings describe Page Match as a beta feature that lets you “match your progress from the book page to the audiobook — and back again.” This is where things get even more interesting.

Going from paper or ebook to audiobook makes sense. But Page Match also appears to work in reverse. Based on the string below, we think Spotify will tell you the exact physical page in a book that matches your current audiobook position.

That means you could pause your audiobook, grab your book, and flip to that page without having to spend time hunting for that exact page. We see this as a super useful feature for book clubs, where someone might be listening to an audiobook while others read the physical book.

Here’s a screenshot we managed to surface from the Spotify app, showing just how Page Match would work with a physical book.

There’s more…

It looks like Page Match will only work if you own or unlock the audiobook on Spotify first. If you don’t, you’ll be prompted to purchase it before using the feature. Once matched, you can save your progress to your library and come back to it later. Spotify also seems to be aware that OCR isn’t perfect. If it can’t identify your page, you’ll be asked to scan a nearby one instead.

Page Match support should be limited to markets where Spotify already offers audiobooks, including the US, UK, Canada, much of Europe, Australia, and a few other countries.

While the feature feels like Spotify’s answer to Amazon’s Whispersync for Voice, Amazon’s solution only works between Kindle ebooks and Audible audiobooks. Spotify’s Page Match would also work with actual paper books, which is something Amazon’s version doesn’t do.

There’s no word yet on when or if Page Match will roll out publicly, but if Spotify pulls this off, it could be one of the most thoughtful audiobook features we’ve seen in a long time.