Great news for audiobook lovers within the US. Spotify have now introduced over 200,000 audiobooks for all Premium users to access. This comes after the UK and Australia.
Spotify previously introduced audiobooks to their Premium users in both the UK and Australia. Now it’s the US user’s turn. All Spotify Premium users within America will be able to access a huge library of audiobooks. There’s over 200,000 to choose from.
All Premium Solo users, Family plans and Duo accounts, will now be able to access the audio files. Spotify are giving up to 15 hours of listening each month. That’s a lot of books you could get through. It seems strange they’re capping the listening time.
However, it looks like not every book is included within the Premium subscription. Perhaps this is why. Only audiobooks marked as Included in Premium are part of the deal. If the book you want to hear isn’t included, you’ll need to buy it.
Those who want more listening time can buy top-ups. These are in 10 hours chunks, but Spotify haven’t said more than this. While 15 hours sounds like a long time, it averages about 2 books each month. For those who regularly read or listen to books, this isn’t a lot.
How to access Spotify audiobooks
To access the audiobooks, all you need to do is head to the catalogue and click play. You don’t need to set anything up, it’s already been done for you. If you want to buy the whole book, you can follow Spotify’s instructions on how to do this.
Within the selection are bestselling titles. Over 70% of the audiobooks fall into this category. There are books such as; Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. Both classics and current day bestsellers.
You can browse through genres. The genre choices are quite in-depth too. Things like cosy mystery or historical romance. From a recent survey Spotify conducted of over 1,000 Americans, the younger generations are opting for audiobooks.
They’re a great way to unwind without having to do any brain work yourself. But, they’re also educational rather than only listening to music in your downtime. Gen Z and millennials are the ones who love audiobooks the most, with 72% of 18-32 year olds listening to them.
It’s been found that 63% of people listen to audiobooks as a form of relaxation, and 51% listen for comfort. Perhaps they know the book or author, and they want to re-listen to feel safe and secure like they did at the time of first reading the book.
Are you an audiobook fan or, do you prefer the original paper copy? Audiobooks are great for all ages, and they can be used as a learning tool. If you’re a Spotify Premium user in the UK, Australia or the US, why not give them a try for yourself?
