Link: Spotify is testing a feature that syncs audiobooks with paper editions

Spotify is developing a "Page Match" feature that synchronizes audiobooks with their physical or ebook versions. This capability is found in the beta section of the Spotify app, as per Android Authority.

The service requires users to have the audiobook on Spotify and the corresponding physical or digital text. Using optical character recognition (OCR), the feature identifies text and matches it to the audiobook's timestamp.

Page Match not only assists in syncing but also helps users switch seamlessly between audio and reading formats. It shows the physical book's page number aligned with the audiobook's playback position.

However, challenges arise as page numbers can vary between different editions of the same book. Also, the OCR technology may prompt for re-scans if it fails to recognize the text initially.

Despite similarities with Amazon's Whispersync, which only aligns Audible and Kindle formats, Spotify's Page Match also supports paper books. This broad compatibility potentially enhances the user experience during activities like driving or cooking.

Spotify has not yet officially announced the public release of Page Match, making its future availability uncertain. The reliability of the OCR technology used in this feature is also under scrutiny by reviewers. #

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