• SugarApplePie@beehaw.org
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    9 months ago

    For anyone interested in this news, don’t forget to check out your local library. If you’re in the US there’s a good chance that your library card will also give you access to online audiobooks for free!

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    9 months ago

    They cap the time you can listen to something on a paid subscription? Lmao, their podcasts already suck and are annoying to navigate, and tend to get mixed between music in the UI. Can I pay money to just have a music service?

    Also, ebooks and audio books are digital, so any caps (like data caps) are entirely arbitrary.

    • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      They don’t own the books. Even as a dominant market force in audiobooks, the best Amazon can do is one book credit a month and a small mediocre library of content they do actually own.

      Spotify doesn’t have the capability to get licensing that allows for unlimited access.

      • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Seriously, people need to stop complaining about absolutely everything. It’s so tiring. This is something no one was paying for yesterday. Audible is what? $15 a month for one book?

        • dawnerd@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          No body was asking for it either. Now they have a reason to raise prices. And they will.

  • Thalestr@beehaw.org
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    9 months ago

    15 hours/month is… pretty awful. An avid reader (or listener, in this case) will chew through that in no time at all. Another thing that concerns me is payouts. Spotify is notorious for having atrocious payouts to creators. I wonder how this carries over to their audiobook offerings.

    • bug@lemmy.one
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      9 months ago

      It’s a free trial. I don’t know why everyone’s so shocked, they’re essentially giving you one or two free books in the hope that you’ll be hooked and want to pay for more!

      • Thalestr@beehaw.org
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        9 months ago

        Technically not free if you have to have a paid sub in order to access them. In that case it’s a paid trial with the opportunity to pay even more. Which sounds even worse for Spotify.

        • bug@lemmy.one
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          9 months ago

          Technically yes, but if you’re already paying for the thing you actually wanted then it’s essentially a free trial on top of that

    • Resolved3874@lemdro.id
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      9 months ago

      Yeah when I’m driving a lot for work I could burn through that in 2 days…and not even be able to finish out the second day before I have to change to something else 😂

      Another reason to make me glad I setup audiobookshelf.

      • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        8-12 are my lighter reads. Some of my favorites are 25-30.

        I do do double speed, so I wonder if that ticks twice as fast on there. But 15 hours a month is pretty bad.

        Edit: I just got an email from audible. I’ve listened to ~20900 minutes (348 hours) in 9 months (38.5/month) on there this year, and I’ve used Scribd and Libby way more. Obviously I’m not typical, and supporting me isn’t reasonable. But since they sent that the same day I made this post I thought I’d add it.

          • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            There’s also the possibility that they’re the only service out there that doesn’t let you control playback speed. Or that they take the most restrictive of playback speed and length of book so people who listen at slowed down speed are screwed too

    • Ethereal87@beehaw.org
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      9 months ago

      And if you listen at 1.5x speed, does that just burn your 15h faster or can you fit in more time?

      It’s an interesting idea, but I think the only way I’d use it is a “try before you buy” and go out to Libro to make the purchase. At least that’s the only way I could realistically see using 15h/month.

  • Granixo@feddit.cl
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    9 months ago

    Oh look, a paid subscription post! I shall take a detour from these salty black waters! 🏴‍☠️