A Review of Audible
The app I will be reviewing is Audible, an Amazon company. Audible is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling. Like most Amazon apps, Audible is very simple to use. There are a few tabs that do not take up much space on the home page. This space conservation allows for the maximum amount of information and product to be visible immediately. When a user opens the app, the first things they see are the books they have listened to recently and the book to which they are currently listening. If I were to suggest an improvement on the home tab, it would be to make the icons of the books smaller to allow for more rows to show without scrolling.
If the user were to click on the book they are currently listening to, the box would expand to allow for more functions such as viewing chapters, setting a sleep timer, or even transitioning to car mode. These functions, amongst many others, allow for an individualized experience. There is also a menu tab in the top right corner that allows users to customize their experience further and view details about the book. This listening window is very well designed, and it is hard for me to find something to improve upon, but if I had to nitpick, I would add a volume option on the button-free mode.
When returning to the home page, the user can scroll down to see suggested material and other books in a series already read. This feature keeps the user from searching to find the next book in their series, which allows for more listening time.
The second tab opens the user’s personal library, which shows all purchased books or can be filtered by things such as in progress or downloaded. This feature is excellent for people who want to search for a book they have not read yet or a book they wish to recommend to a friend. As one can see, the current book the user is reading is still visible on this tab, making switching to the listening window quick and easy. A menu button next to each title allows the user to do many things, like add to favorites. A simple change I would recommend would be to enable the user to change the list to titles only so that more books can be viewed at the same time without scrolling.
The third tab allows the user to explore Audible’s entire catalog based on category; they can view lists such as popular listens, new releases, Audible originals, and podcasts. The categories range from genres such as fantasy to topics like neurodiversity. The grid-like format of this tab makes finding a category simplistic and enjoyable. However, the blocks could be smaller to allow more categories to be viewed at once, and the colors could contrast more to allow for easier separation.
The fourth and final tab is the user’s profile which shows their account information and stats, such as badges earned and listening level. This tab is where one would find the settings menu and the help center. The links are basic and laid out in a bullet format, allowing easy location and use. I would change this tab to allow for more achievements to keep the user interested in this particular app.
