Audible rolls out text captions feature to read while you listen

A new Audible Captions feature launching in September, allowing people to read along to their audiobooks, will only be available to US customers, the firm has said.

Captions will show text on screen as the book is narrated and will be available to US customers who pay a $14.95 monthly subscription.

It will also have a dictionary function and a feature for accessing Wikipedia. Books being played in one language could also be translated into the text of another, the publisher said.

However, the Authors Guild has expressed concern about whether the new feature breaks existing agreements and could be a copyright infringement.

Audible c.e.o. Donald Katz told USA Today the feature was mainly aimed at helping children to learn reading.

He said: “We know from years and years of work, that parents and educators, in particular, understand that an audio experience of well-composed words is really important in developing learners.”