Apple has launched an audiobook feature on their Apple Books app that is read by artificial intelligence. It was reportedly supposed to launch in November last year but was delayed due to several issues. Through this feature, all ebooks offered on Apple Books can be automatically converted into audiobooks without having to go through the time-consuming and expensive human voice recording process.
To support this digital narrative feature, Apple has invited several book publishers to secretly join their program. Independent publishers can also participate in the program as long as they hold the audiobook publishing rights for the original book.
Some examples of narrator voices have been shared by Apple on their site for different book genres. Books that support this feature will display the Narrated By Apple Books logo when viewed in the Apple Books app.
The market for audio books has grown by 25% in the past year with it becoming a higher income for publishers than regular ebooks. The appeal of audio books is the more lively narration, no need to read the book yourself and the use of celebrity voices to read.
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APPS & GAMES