Spotify Premium now includes 15 hours of free audiobook listening for U.S. subscribers. If you exceed your monthly 15-hour limit, you can purchase an additional 10 hours of listening for $12.99. Unfortunately, subscribers on the Student plan are ineligible for this perk. And if you’re on a Family or Duo plan, only the Plan Manager will receive full audiobook access.
There are over 200,000 audiobooks in the Spotify library, including “over 70%” of titles on the bestsellers list. You can search for books in Spotify just as you’d search for any song or podcast. However, Spotify will also suggest podcasts based on your listening history, and the new audiobooks hub allows you to find books based on genre or vibe. Spotify has also published several articles to promote its new audiobook feature. One article contains a list of notable book-to-screen adaptations, while another features an interview with Lilly Signh of the Lilly’s Library book club.
If you only listen to two or three audiobooks a month, Spotify’s rate is hard to beat. Spotify Premium costs just $10.99 each month and gives you free rein over a library of music, podcasts, and books. Compare that to Audible, which starts at $7.95 a month and only gives you some audiobooks for free.
Hardcore bookworms may still prefer Audible, as it doesn’t have a 15-hour monthly limit. Audible is also notable for its credits system, which lets you purchase audiobooks at a discounted rate (Spotify only sells audiobooks at full price). But many of the bestsellers that are available for free on Spotify Premium cost $12 or more on Audible. A subscription to both services may be your most cost-effective option, assuming that you spend over 15 hours listening to books each week.
To reiterate, Spotify is only offering full audiobook access to Premium Individual subscribers and Plan Managers. If you receive a student discount, or if you’re a sub-member of a Family or Duo plan, your free audiobook library is limited to a handful of public domain titles like The Art of War and The Great Gatsby. This is a disappointing caveat, but it doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
Source: Spotify
