While you might think Spotify is just for your favorite music, the streaming service continues to go all-in as the place for book lovers.

Even though the newly announced Page Match feature seems relatively small, it’s a unique way to bridge the gap between physical and audiobooks.

Spotify also unveiled a new partnership with bookshop.org where book lovers can soon order novels directly from the Spotify app.

Page Match brings together physical and audiobooks

Credit: Spotify

Juggling between a physical or e-book and its audiobook counterpart is usually an exercise in frustration. If you go for a run or want to listen to a few chapters of an audiobook while on the go in the car, finding the right spot in the book afterward takes time and some patience.

But Page Match makes that problem a thing of the past. The feature will be available for audiobook fans on the iOS and Android Spotify app. It should be available for most English-language titles by the end of February.

Here’s a quick rundown of how the feature works.

1. Open the Spotify app and select the book you’re currently reading.
2. Select the Page Match button and then Scan to listen.
3. Scan the page in your physical book using the smartphone camera.
4. Spotify will then automatically find the correct spot in the audiobook. You can choose Play from here or Save for later.
5. When you want to return to the print version, just use the same scanning method to find the right page where you left off. Select Scan to read and Spotify will guide you to the right spot in your book.

I’m a big book lover, but have always been forced to choose between an audiobook or the physical or e-book version of titles I want to read. Spotify’s new Page Match feature makes that choice obsolete. I’m excited to try it out and be able to switch easily between the two versions.

A new partnership with Bookshop.org to order physical books

Along with the Page Match announcement, Spotify will soon make it easier for you to purchase books directly from the Spotify app. Later this spring, Spotify users in the United States and United Kingdom will be able to make purchases through Bookshop.org. That’s an organization that connects book lovers to independent sellers.

While Spotify continues to roll out the red carpet for book lovers, the service continues to come up with new ways for listeners to enjoy their music. Earlier this year, the service unveiled a new Prompted Playlist tool that allows you to create a specific playlist using your listening history. And in 2024, Spotify finally unveiled a high-fidelity, lossless audio tier.