Amazon’s Alexa can read your Kindle ebooks aloud, replacing the need for a separate audiobook. As an audiobook lover, I was ecstatic to use this feature when I checked out ebooks from my local library. Unfortunately, Alexa falls short of delivering an enjoyable audiobook experience.
How to Get Amazon’s Alexa to Read Kindle Books
There are a variety of different ways you can prompt Alexa to narrate your Kindle books. If you have an Alexa device in your home, you can simply ask Alexa to read a specific ebook from your catalog aloud.
If you only have the Alexa app on your phone, you can either say or type the same request in the app. Alexa will begin reading your Kindle ebook on the page you were on when you used your Kindle. You can also ask Alexa to increase or decrease the reading speed to find a pace that’s perfect for you.
The Pros of Alexa Reading Your Kindle Books
Audiobooks are expensive (though there are some places you can get audiobooks for free or cheaper). While I check them out from my local library when I can, sometimes the wait lists are nearly six months. If I’m already reading an ebook and want to continue reading while I do chores or play a cozy game, I love the option to continue listening to the book.
This makes Alexa’s reading feature a game-changer, especially with the ability to adjust Alexa’s reading speed.
Why I Wouldn’t Recommend This Method for Audiobooks
While Alexa’s reading feature is a great go-to in a pinch, I wouldn’t recommend it as a long-term replacement for audiobooks. I typically listen to audiobooks with human narrators at anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times the pace of the narrator. Alexa now has the option to adjust the pace of the playback, which is great, but I find Alexa’s voice is too robotic.
I miss the human quality of voice actors doing different voices for characters in typical audiobooks. Alexa also overemphasizes commas and periods which makes some sentences hard to follow. If you prefer audiobooks to ebooks, the quality of narration is often a major factor.
Additionally, I’ve found that Alexa will randomly repeat entire pages while I’m listening. I often wasn’t sure how far I got into a book before the repetition started. This meant that I had to manually go into my Kindle to figure out where I was in the book and where I got to while listening. Alexa’s repetition added an extra step of figuring out where I was in the book when I wanted to switch back to reading on my Kindle.
Alexa has a great read-aloud feature to save users money on audiobooks. However, I find the overall execution of this idea falls short in many respects, with frequent repetition and lacking a natural, human cadence.
