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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Are US consumers running out of steam?
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Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nato allies seek details on Trump's new Ukraine support pledge
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Hans India
4 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
Spotify's New 30-Hour Audiobook Plans Still Fall Short for Long Reads
Spotify is once again expanding its reach beyond music and podcasts, but this time, its new audiobook plans are drawing mixed reactions. The company has introduced two fresh Audiobooks Plus add-on subscriptions that allow Premium users to double their current audiobook listening time, from 15 hours to 30 hours each month. These add-ons are available for individual Premium subscribers as well as those managing Family or Duo plans. Other users on shared Premium plans can now request their own 15 hours of audiobook access from their plan manager. However, for avid audiobook listeners, the new limit may still feel frustratingly tight. While 30 hours might be enough to squeeze in a couple of shorter novels, it falls short for fans of epic fantasy or sprawling non-fiction. Take George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones or Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings — both easily exceed that limit. Even classics like Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World, which runs nearly 33 hours, would be impossible to finish without spilling over into the next month's hours or purchasing a top-up — an option Spotify doesn't currently offer for titles already included in Premium. To make matters more restrictive, Premium subscribers can't simply buy these books outright through Spotify. 'I scoured through Spotify's audiobook listings to find anything I could buy as a Premium subscriber and came up with nothing,' one user noted. This makes Spotify's approach feel more limiting when compared to services like Audible, which gives users one free audiobook per month to keep forever. Audible also frequently runs discounts, letting subscribers build a permanent library at a relatively low cost. Despite this, Spotify's model does offer some benefits for authors. Reports suggest that Spotify's payouts to authors are better than what Audible provides. Unfortunately, the lack of a purchase option means subscribers have no direct way to support their favourite writers while staying within the app. Currently, the new Audiobooks Plus add-ons are only available in select markets, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Netherlands. Pricing differs by region — in the UK, for example, both add-ons cost £8.99 (around $12), which could effectively double the price of an individual Premium subscription in the US. Spotify says it plans to launch similar plans in the US soon. American listeners already have the option to purchase 10-hour audiobook top-ups for $12.99, but the new add-ons will let them automatically roll over into 30 hours each month without extra steps. For casual listeners, Spotify's standard 15-hour allowance may still be a decent perk, especially if they also stream music on the platform. The company even offers a $9.99 audiobook-only plan with 15 hours of listening for those who get their music elsewhere. A Spotify spokesperson did not comment on how many listeners actually hit the current 15-hour ceiling. For now, it seems Spotify's move is a step in the right direction for audiobook fans — just not quite far enough for those ready to lose themselves in the longest tales.
The Verge
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Spotify's new 30-hour audiobook plans are too short to finish long books
Spotify has launched two new Audiobooks Plus add-on subscriptions that allow Premium users to double their audiobook listening limit to 30 hours. They're available to individual Premium subscribers and users who manage Family and Duo plans. Other users on Premium accounts can now also request 15 hours of audiobook access from their plan manager. However, the new plans are still too short for those who prefer to listen to longer books. The 30-hour limit won't get you through titles like George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones or Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, for example. You could listen to two or three smaller novels instead, but if you want to re-listen to them in the future, you'll have to sacrifice those hours again. And you can forget about buying books to get around these issues — any audiobook included in Premium isn't available for Premium subscribers to purchase. I scoured through Spotify's audiobook listings to find anything I could buy as a Premium subscriber and came up with nothing. By comparison, Audible's $14.95 premium plan gives users an entire free book each month that they can keep forever, and frequently has titles on sale for far less than the price of Spotify's time-based top-ups. The payouts that Spotify gives to authors are reportedly better than what Audible pays, but it sucks that Spotify makes it so difficult to support authors directly with purchases. These add-ons are currently only available for Spotify Premium users in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Netherlands, following initial tests in Ireland and Canada. Pricing will vary by region. In the UK, both Audiobook add-ons are priced at £8.99 (about $12, which could double the $11.99 individual Premium plan pricing in the US). Spotify will eventually introduce similar plans to the US, according to TechCrunch, though users in that region already have the option to purchase 10-hour audiobook top-ups for $12.99. The main perk here is convenience — these rolling add-on subscriptions will automatically allow Premium users to listen to 30 hours of audiobooks each month without needing to buy top-ups. A Spotify spokesperson wasn't immediately available to comment on how many users currently listen to over 15 hours of audiobooks. The 15 hours provided to Premium subscribers is a 'nice to have' if you also stream music on the platform, especially if you only listen to a handful of shorter book titles every month. Spotify also has a $9.99 audiobook-only Premium plan that provides 15 hours of listening with no music perks if you prefer to listen to your tunes elsewhere.
Engadget
5 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
Spotify's Audiobooks+ add-on is now available to some Premium subscribers
It's likely that you predominantly associate Spotify with music and podcasts, but if you're a Premium member, you also get 15 hours of audiobook access per month. For some members, though, that clearly isn't enough, as Spotify has introduced a new add-on subscription that doubles that listening time. Audiobooks+ was first trialled in Ireland and Canada, and is launching initially for Premium Individual and Plan members in a number of countries in Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Once you've added it to your existing subscription, you'll get an additional 15 hours of listening to audiobooks included in Spotify's catalog , on top of what's already included in the base plan. For individuals, Spotify Premium on its own costs $12 per month. For those on Premium Family ($20 per month) or Duo ($17 per month) plans, the plan manager has to purchase the add-on, and they're also able to buy a one-time top-up of 10 hours if they run out before their entitlement resets each month. Spotify does already offer an Audiobooks Access plan to customers in the US only, which is separate from the Premium offering and also includes access to music and podcasts with ads. Pricing for Audiobooks+ varies by market, but will cost £9 per month in the UK (around $12), where an individual Premium plan costs £12 (about $16). We'll find out what it costs here when it arrives in the US, which Spotify told Engadget will happen in the "coming weeks". If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
