Spotify’s Adding Audiobooks however Their Limp Service Offers Nothing New

Hey, you. Yeah you. You like listening to issues? Listen to this. You now have entry to audiobooks by way of Spotify. You nonetheless listening? Listen intently. At the top of the day, there’s actually nothing that makes it price listening to an audiobook on Spotify versus another app, at the very least not but.

Last November, Spotify purchased out audiobook firm Findaway. The firm’s statements on the time hinted that Spotify may even go as far as creating audiobooks, one thing that may very well be akin to Amazon’s Audible originals.

Though within the firm’s announcement post Tuesday, Spotify didn’t supply rather more than a bare-bones service first being unleashed to the U.S. market solely. Any title bought additionally turns into accessible for obtain for offline listening.

The firm additionally marketed that customers can range the tempo of the audio. In a press release to Gizmodo, Spotify mentioned the varied pace choices are much like current options discovered within the app that “retain quality of the audio while giving flexibility.” The firm added that they aren’t working advertisements in audiobooks, at the very least not but.

And that’s the place options finish, and there’s quite a bit right here that makes it look like Spotify’s preliminary run into audiobooks is substandard in comparison with competitors. You can’t buy audiobooks within the app. Clicking on a title throughout the Spotify cell app as a substitute sends you an e mail to a hyperlink the place you should buy the audiobook on the Spotify webpage. Once you buy the audiobook by way of the webpage it’s then saved to your Spotify account. Of course, it then tries to promote you on a Spotify premium subscription whereas it’s at it.

This is a very awkward way of doing things, especially since research shows most users are using smartphones to listen to audiobooks. It seems Spotify has not yet introduced the ability to purchase items while still in-app, and considering the competition Spotify is up against it’s a pretty big oversight.

There’s also no benefit to owning a Spotify subscription if you’re looking to get into audiobooks from Spotify. All the audiobooks up for grabs are a la carte, and only a few are discounted from their full retail price. Unlike Audible, Spotify offers no monthly subscription system similar to Audible’s premium plus subscription plan which gives users 1 credit usable on any audiobook for about $15 a month. Audiobooks are often priced anywhere from $20 to more than $30.

It does seem Spotify has made a pretty good sweep of books on offer. The first set of 300,000 titles include ever-popular audio renditions of Stephen King’s Dark Tower and she-who-must-not-be-named’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (the Jim Dale version, for those who stan Stephen Fry’s rendition). You can get N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became or James S.A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes. There’s some James Pattersons, a few Nicholas Sparks for the more—ahem “basic” among you—and classics like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Books also seem well-organized including selections for Black voices and LGBTQIA+ representation.

Sure, buying an audiobook on Spotify means you don’t have to swap between apps when going from podcast to something more long form, but Spotify’s latest push toward dominating the entire digital audio space seems incredibly lackluster. The company wrote in its announcement that this is “just the first iteration” of this new service, and they plan to launch in additional markets “and innovate on the format to benefit listeners, authors, and publishers.”

And here’s the thing. You don’t have to pay for many audiobooks at all. Most libraries have partnerships with OverDrive through their Libby app. Sure, you’ll eventually lose access to the book after about a month, but do I have to say again that it’s free, and it gives a boost to your local library’s circulation records (which helps libraries when they go out seeking public and private funding). The main issue you can run into using Libby is if your local library doesn’t carry all the titles you may want.

Spotify’s rudimentary service out the beginning gate isn’t something to get too enthusiastic about. The firm appears to be planning massive issues, at the very least in keeping with previous statements—but as of now, not providing something new in comparison with opponents appears an odd selection for such a crowded market.