As an academic who prides myself on doing all things academic-like, I read a lot of books. Well, if I’m being honest, I listen to a lot of books. While my shelves are filled with older paperbacks I’ve actually read, my entire library for the last few years has shifted to my phone.

If I’m in the house making dinner, doing the laundry, or driving, the chances are pretty high that I have my latest audiobook obsession going on in my ears. Lately, that obsession has been the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. Yes, the hit Amazon Prime show, like most good series, was a book before Alan Ritchson graced your screens. I started that series on Audible, a platform that I’ve praised here on Pocket-lint ​​​​​​before. However, for the last two books in the series (which I highly recommend), I’ve been using Apple Books, and I must admit — I’ve been converted.

So, why the switch-up

The simple answer is the path of least resistance

If you’ve ever used Audible, you know that you still have to pay a subscription fee, even if you’re a member of Amazon Prime. Therefore, I still had to pay for the audiobooks I acquired through Audible. That usually required logging back in, which sometimes worked via FaceScan and sometimes didn’t. Then I had to click through the cards linked to my Amazon account, select the right one, etc., etc. This all came to a head when I tried to buy the 7th book in the Reacher series and simply could not get Audible to cooperate.

What did I do then? I simply opened Apple Books on a whim, searched for my desired title, tapped to confirm, and, with two presses of my power button, paid for my book with Apple Pay, then went about my listening. It was easy, breezy, beautiful, all of those things, and I was genuinely surprised. Then, I started exploring the Book Store a bit.

The experience is far deeper with Apple

I could scroll the Book Store like it was my own personal feed

Between my listens, I like to break up whatever series I’m working on so that I don’t get tired of the same narrators. It’s not a new practice by any stretch of the imagination, but it does mean that I’m constantly on the lookout for new titles, and Apple’s suggestion algorithm interested me far more than Audible’s ever has.

I found myself scrolling for nearly half an hour between nonfiction, mystery & thrillers, graphic novels, and the like. I could see how some could feel overstimulated by the sheer amount of options being pushed their way, but for me, I was in audiobook-worm heaven. Not to mention, it even got me thinking about turning the pages of a graphic novel on my iPhone or iPad, since they, of course, sync across all my devices. I guess it does pay off to be this deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem from time to time.

It’s the smarter of the two platforms

Place-holding is a game-changer for students

The neatest feature for students, by far, is the AI narration Apple Books uses. Not to get too technical here, but it engages something called dual-channel comprehension, meaning that you’re getting the information from two different channels (auditory and visual), which is directly linked to improved retention and reduces that mind-wandering effect we can all get during a pretty dense read.

Speechify, another app I’ve praised, does the same thing, so I use it to read all of my academic journals that can’t make their way to Apple’s BookStore. AI Narration has completely changed the way that I study, and is one of the areas in which I think AI can be used to its fullest effect, and create real benefits.

My next step? Using annotations

The all-in-one book app flexes its muscles

When I said I was an academic, I didn’t say specifically what kind of academic. I’m a PhD student when I’m not firing up our CMS here at Pocket-lint, and that means I have to take a lot of notes. No, seriously — a lot of notes. My textbooks usually look like coloring books when I’m finished with them, with the amount of annotations that I make. Thus, I usually have to buy the book itself, which, if you’ve dabbled in academic publishing, you know is never cheap.

I haven’t had a chance to play around with it yet, but my next step is to purchase some textbooks via the Apple Books Store and try out the annotation feature. This semester, I’m dealing with a lot of statistical processes, and if I can keep good notes in the Books app, it will save me time, money, and shelf space. That being said, I just remembered I have a lecture to prep for. Dueces.