Spotify needs to be your one-stop for all of your listening wants. It has music, podcasts, and most just lately, audiobooks. The audiobook expertise on Spotify is a bit completely different than you may anticipate. Let’s have a look.
Audiobooks a la Carte
Audiobooks launched on Spotify in September 2022 with over 300,000 titles to select from proper out of the gate. The corporate’s method to audiobooks is deliberately completely different from what Amazon is doing with Audible.
Audible is geared to be a subscription-based audiobook platform, although you should purchase books individually. The $7.95 “Plus” plan and a $14.95 “Premium Plus” plans each provide you with limitless entry to audiobooks within the “Plus” catalog, however you continue to have to buy “credit” for titles that aren’t included.
Spotify’s audiobooks are supplied a la carte, that means you solely buy what you need if you need it. There’s no month-to-month subscription or catalog of audiobooks you may hearken to free of charge, and there aren’t any reductions for Premium subscribers. It’s like strolling right into a guide retailer and shopping for a guide.
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How A lot do Spotify Audiobooks Value?
Spotify is actually not alone on the planet of audiobooks. In addition to Amazon’s Audible, there’s additionally Apple Books, Google Play, Audiobooks.com, and others to compete with. So how does Spotify stack up in pricing?
Let’s evaluate the worth of Stephen King’s The Gunslinger throughout Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and Audiobooks.com. These costs are with none subscriptions.
- Spotify: $15.49
- Audible: $15.22
- Apple: $14.99
- Google: $14.95
- Audiobooks.com: $19.99
Spotify’s a la carte pricing is aggressive with the opposite choices in the marketplace. In reality, Amazon dropped the worth of The Gunslinger on Audible from $18 to $15.22 quickly after the launch of Spotify Audiobooks.
In fact, issues get somewhat murkier once we take subscriptions into consideration. For instance, Audiobooks.com’s subscription prices $14.95 and contains one free guide monthly. So if you happen to’re solely studying one guide monthly, that knocks the worth down beneath Spotify.
Usually, you’ll discover Spotify’s pricing is in regards to the center of the pack. You may actually discover higher offers from different providers, however there aren’t big value disparities.
How one can Purchase Audiobooks on Spotify
Maybe the strangest a part of the audiobook expertise on Spotify is how you buy them. Audiobooks can solely be bought in an internet browser, not within the cellular or desktop apps.
To browse audiobooks, go to the “Search” tab within the Spotify app and choose the “Audiobooks” tile. You may also seek for guide titles similar to music titles.
Annoyingly, you may’t view the worth of audiobooks in Spotify’s cellular apps. The play button has a lock icon on it, which is able to take you to a display to request an electronic mail. The e-mail contains the worth and a hyperlink to buy the audiobook. The value is seen within the desktop app, nevertheless it nonetheless takes you to a browser to make the acquisition.
After you’ve made the acquisition, the audiobook will seem in your library. Listening to the audiobook works such as you would anticipate. You may play/pause, bounce to chapters, regulate playback velocity, set a sleep timer, sync progress throughout gadgets, give scores, and obtain for offline listening.
That’s the story on Spotify audiobooks. It’s but one other service that gives audiobooks, and it might be interesting if you happen to already hearken to music and podcasts on Spotify. Nonetheless, the a la carte pricing might be not nice if you happen to undergo a variety of audiobooks every month. Choices are good to have.
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