Kindle Oasis, Amazon's flagship e-reader that's waterproof and supports Audible, costs a pretty penny — $250 — especially for a bookworm who just wants to try out if reading e-books will work for them. But what if they'd also want to try audiobooks on top of it? Are they forced to buy the Oasis? Such a shame the basic $80 Kindle doesn't support Audible, huh?
Well, not for long. According to a listing on Amazon, it seems that functionality is coming to the company's cheapest and most basic current-generation Kindle.
Cheapest Kindle Gets Audible Support
Per its product page, the device will get Audible support "in the coming months." There's one problem, though: it doesn't come with built-in speakers, so users will presumably need to have Bluetooth speakers or headphones on hand if they want to listen to some audiobooks. The ability to play Audible books will come as an over-the-air update at some point in the near future.
Will Kindle Voyage And Paperwhite Get Audible Support As Well?
Right now, it seems only the Oasis and the basic Kindle model will get the feature; the Paperwhite and Voyage variants don't appear to support Audible. It's entirely possible Amazon could include those two down the line, of course. If that happens, all Kindle models will have audiobook playback functionality, which frankly should've been added ages ago.
Adding the feature to all its Kindle models seems even more sensical and obvious if one considers Amazon owns Audible, and not doing so would be equivalent to a situation where Apple doesn't make its own music service available to all its proprietary devices, just some.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks have garnered considerable popularity in recent years, and it's easy to see why: some people don't really have time to read anymore, and although reading books is faster than when they're narrated, it's easier to multitask with audiobooks playing in the background. Of course, one loses this special intimacy that goes with reading physical books, not to mention the tactile feeling of being able to handle a paperback or a hardcover. But hey, different strokes for different folks.
Amazon has failed to confirm when precisely the feature arrives on the basic Kindle, but at least owners of the e-reader can be sure that it's on its way. In the meantime, while waiting, those who don't already own Bluetooth speakers or headphones should plan on investing in a pair if they'd like to enjoy Audible on their Kindle device when the functionality finally rolls out.
