To mark National Audiobook Month this June, Spotify’s offering a month of free audiobooks. As long as you are on Spotify’s free plan and have a U.S. account on the service, you can sign up for a free trial that will give you access to audiobooks for a month from the date you sign up. You won’t be able to access audiobooks if your Spotify account is from other regions.
This trial includes up to 15 hours of audiobook listening and if you’re wise with your choices, you could easily squeeze in two to three audiobooks. To sign up for this free trial, you can head over to Spotify’s Audiobooks page. The promotion is valid through June 30, 2024. Once the trial expires, you’ll be charged $9.99/mo for Spotify’s Audiobook Access Plan.
Even the paid plan limits you to 15 hours of listening per month and unused listening time expires at the end of the month. Spotify lets you top-up listening hours if you’re willing to pay and hours you purchase expire 12 months after the date of purchase, which gives you more flexibility in terms of choosing when to listen to books.
Unlike Audible, Spotify limits your audiobook use by listening hours. Audible’s plans offer “credits,” which can be redeemed against books. One Audible credit gets you one book and you’re free to purchase more books by paying the listed price. Audible’s plans offer greater flexibility because you’re able to return audiobooks you don’t like and if you’re into long books such as epic fantasy series, then one credit can get you access to 40+ hours of listening. At the time of writing, Audible is also available in far more regions and is accessible by a larger number of people.
Still, the hope is that Spotify catches up in terms of availability and can compete with Audible. If the competition for the audiobook market is strong, us consumers end up benefiting the most. These aren’t the only two players in the audiobook space. We’ve got a list of the 10 best audiobook services for you to choose from.
