Google Assistant Smart Speakers Can Now Directly Play Audiobook Samples

If you own a Google Nest or Google Home smart speaker and use it to listen to audiobooks while at home, you'll find the product's latest support particularly useful: samples. As of now, Google Nest and Home speakers can be used to download and listen to audiobook samples before the user purchases the product, giving them a chance to hear the audio and decide if they want the entire book.

The new feature, which was first spied by Android Police, doesn't require the user to pull out their phone or laptop in order to find and download the sample. Rather, and as explained on Google's Support website, anyone who owns a Google Assistant smart display or smart speaker can use their voice to download and play an audiobook sample.

In order to take advantage of this feature, you must first have a payment method set up on your Google account. Assuming you do, you can simply tell Google using the chosen device to read the audiobook — though you'll need to use its title, of course. "Hey Google, Read [audiobook title]" is the full, simple command.

The speaker or smart display will play the audiobook's sample track in response to this command. Once the sample is finished, the user can then choose to purchase the entire audiobook simply by responding to the purchasing question with "Yes." The purchased audiobook will be linked to the Google account associated with the smart speaker.

Once the audiobook is purchased, the user can control the playback using only voice commands, such as telling Google to pause and play the content, skip a certain amount of time or to a different chapter, play the audio faster or slower, find out how much time remains in the audiobook, play the content over a related Chromecast device, and more.