Spotify today took a big step toward keeping you in its app and its growing ecosystem, which includes over 200,000 audiobooks for Premium subscribers in the US.
That’s a big number, but it’s also just part of the story. You don’t get complete access to everything for as long as you want. Every individual Premium subscriber, and plan managers of Family and Duo accounts, will receive 15 hours of audiobooks each month included with their plans, and you will see available audiobooks marked as “Included in Premium.” (Similar to how some movies and shows are available for free on Amazon Prime Video, and some aren’t.) Spotify says you should get about two books a month. But you can choose to purchase a book or another 10 hours of listening time for $13.
There’s some great print in there too. Top-up hours are good for a year, so you don’t have to use them in the same month in which you purchased them. And you can add multiple top-ups to your account for even more audiobook time. However, they are only available in 10-hour increments.
other details:
- Audiobook listening time assumes you are listening at a normal speed. Adjusting the playback speed has no effect on this. Listening to a 1 hour book at 2x speed also costs 1 hour of your allotted time, not 30 minutes.
- You can listen to a book more than once, but both plays count toward your audiobook hours.
- Audiobook listening hours do not increase from month to month. Anything you don’t use in your first 15 hours goes away at the beginning of the new month. (And you won’t get a refund or anything for unused hours.)
- Your included 15 hours will be used first, followed by any top-up hours.
One more little thing – Spotify’s Premium Student plan doesn’t come with any free audiobook listening time. Because why would you want students to enjoy books?
So what do you get in Spotify audiobooks? The company says it has more than 70% of its best-selling titles. And the 15 hours of free listening for Premium subscribers basically puts it on par with the benefits Amazon offers to Audible listeners who are Amazon Prime subscribers.
Overall, this is a great addition to Spotify, and hopefully it won’t attract the same type of controversy that some of the featured podcasts on the platform have attracted. On the other hand, considering the current situation, we would not be surprised if someone finds something objectionable somewhere.
In the meantime, we’re still waiting for lossless audio.
