Alexa can now read Kindle books out loud from Amazon's Echo

Late last year, Amazon’s Alexa voice service developer preview was out for third-party users. Looks like, the company has decided to spruce it up further and add the reading ability. Yes, Alexa can now read out loud your Kindle books. Amazon’s Help and Customer Service now shows ‘Read Kindle Books with Alexa.’ This means you can ask Alexa to read eligible books from your library. This is a free service, unlike the previous Audible audio book service that paid. “Alexa reads Kindle books eligible for Text-to-Speech (an experimental reading technology that allows supported Amazon devices to read Kindle books aloud). To find eligible books in the Alexa app, open the left navigation panel and then select Kindle Books > Books Alexa can read,” the company writes. Once you ask Alexa to read a Kindle book, it picks up from where you left off in the book on another compatible Amazon device or reading app. Moreover, to go to different chapters in a Kindle book, one can select the Now Playing bar in the Alexa app and then select Queue, and then select a chapter from the list. “Alexa reads books purchased from the Kindle Store, borrowed from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library or Kindle Unlimited, or shared with you in your Family Library. Alexa reads your Kindle books with the same text-to-speech technology used for Wikipedia articles, news articles, and calendar events,” the company further explains.