Summary
- Spotify's new audiobook plans add 15 hours of listening for both plan managers & members.
- Pricing for these new plans has not been disclosed yet.
- The new audiobook options were first tested in Ireland & Canada and will roll out to other countries soon.
Spotify added audiobooks back in 2022, and it's been a sneakily great feature for book-lovers who already pay for a Premium subscription. However, the free hours of listening each month have been restricted to the plan manager on Family and Duo plans. That's finally changing.
If You Only Use Spotify for Streaming Music, You’re Missing Out
Spotify is my one stop destination for music, playlists, and collaborating with my friends. But if you are someone who only uses Spotify to stream music or create playlists, you are missing out on some of its best features.
There's always been a big caveat with audiobooks if you're on one of Spotify's Family or Duo plans: the 15 hours of free audiobook listening only applies to the plan manager. So, if that's not you, your only option is to buy audiobooks a la carte—and they aren't cheap. Spotify is finally addressing this problem, but it will cost extra.
Two new audiobook plans are being added to expand the functionality. The first is called "Audiobooks+," and it adds an additional 15 hours of listening for plan managers—bringing it up to 30 hours total each month. The second plan is called "Audiobooks+ for Plan Members," and this one adds 15 hours of listening to those who are not plan managers. Members will also be able to buy a one-time top-up of 10 hours if they run out.
Spotify
Spotify is a pioneer in music streaming. It features a vast library, impressive bitrate, curated and custom playlists, as well as offline streaming. Spotify is available for free and for a monthly or annual fee.
Frustratingly, Spotify did not share pricing for these new plans. It said that plan members will be able to request access from the plan manager to this new plan, who will also be responsible for purchasing it. Spotify tested these new add-ons in Ireland and Canada, and they're now bringing them to the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. The add-ons will arrive in the US later.
As someone who uses the audiobooks feature, the restriction to the plan manager has always felt strange. Why couldn't the 15 hours be applied to the entire group, not just one person? There are some months when I don't listen to many audiobooks, and my wife can't do anything with the leftover time that we're paying for. Allowing plan members to pay for their own 15 hour allotment is a solution, but not a great one. We'll have to wait and see what the pricing looks like.
Source: TechCrunch
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