Spotify’s new 30-hour audiobook plans are too short to finish long books

Spotify has launched two caller Audiobooks Plus add-on subscriptions that let Premium users to treble their audiobook listening bounds to 30 hours. They’re disposable to idiosyncratic Premium subscribers and users who negociate Family and Duo plans. Other users connected Premium accounts tin present besides petition 15 hours of audiobook entree from their program manager. However, the caller plans are inactive excessively abbreviated for those who similar to perceive to longer books.

The 30-hour bounds won’t get you done titles similar George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones oregon Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, for example. You could perceive to 2 oregon 3 smaller novels instead, but if you privation to re-listen to them successful the future, you’ll person to sacrifice those hours again. I precocious listened to the astir 33-hour-long audiobook for The Eye of the World, the archetypal publication successful Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, successful a azygous weekend, which I would beryllium incapable to adjacent decorativeness with Spotify’s add-on. If you perceive to books of a akin magnitude implicit a fewer days, you’d person thing near for the remainder of the month.

And you tin hide astir buying books to get astir these issues — immoderate audiobook included successful Premium isn’t disposable for Premium subscribers to purchase. I scoured done Spotify’s audiobook listings to find thing I could bargain arsenic a Premium subscriber and came up with nothing. By comparison, Audible’s $14.95 premium program gives users an full escaped publication each period that they tin support forever, and often has titles connected merchantability for acold little than the terms of Spotify’s time-based top-ups. The payouts that Spotify gives to authors are reportedly amended than what Audible pays, but it sucks that Spotify makes it truthful hard to enactment authors straight with purchases.

These add-ons are presently lone disposable for Spotify Premium users successful the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Netherlands, pursuing archetypal tests successful Ireland and Canada. Pricing volition alteration by region. In the UK, some Audiobook add-ons are priced astatine £8.99 (about $12, which could treble the $11.99 idiosyncratic Premium program pricing successful the US). 

Spotify volition yet present akin plans to the US, according to TechCrunch, though users successful that portion already person the enactment to acquisition 10-hour audiobook top-ups for $12.99. The main perk present is convenience — these rolling add-on subscriptions volition automatically let Premium users to perceive to 30 hours of audiobooks each period without needing to bargain top-ups. A Spotify spokesperson wasn’t instantly disposable to remark connected however galore users presently perceive to implicit 15 hours of audiobooks.

The 15 hours provided to Premium subscribers is simply a “nice to have” if you besides watercourse euphony connected the platform, particularly if you lone perceive to a fistful of shorter publication titles each month. Spotify besides has a $9.99 audiobook-only Premium plan that provides 15 hours of listening with nary euphony perks if you similar to perceive to your tunes elsewhere.