Audible has recently introduced a new, low-cost tier for its audiobook subscription plan, called Audible Standard. Audible Standard is a monthly membership that allows you to select one audiobook per month, download it, and listen to it until you cancel your membership. You don’t own the downloaded audiobook after cancellation, but you can still listen to it until the end of your billing cycle. The monthly fee for Audible Standard is $14.95 plus applicable taxes. During your subscription, you’d better use the credit you got, because it doesn’t roll over to the next month.
Audible’s standard plan is a borderline scam; however, removing access is not a new practice in the industry. Everand has recently introduced a credit-based plan, following the success of its unlimited model for many years. If you spend your credits, you won’t be able to listen to any of the audiobooks you used your credits on if you cancel the subscription.
Not all audiobook subscription sites are a scam
Kobo Plus is a monthly subscription service with an interesting value proposition. You can subscribe to only their audiobooks, just e-books, or both. Their audiobook subscription plan utilizes credits to redeem access to new and existing audiobooks. When you use Kobo Plus credits to buy an audiobook, you essentially purchase a digital copy, which remains in your account even after you cancel your Kobo Plus subscription.
Barnes & Noble is the largest bookseller in the United States, and they also have a little-known audiobook subscription plan. After cancelling your subscription, you will still have access to any audiobooks you’ve purchased.
Storytel acquired Audiobooks.com in November 2021. This acquisition allowed Storytel to enter the U.S. market and expand into English-language markets. This company also offers an audiobook subscription service, and credits are used. When a subscription is cancelled, you still have access to the content you have already spent your credits on.
What about Audible?
Audible Standard is a new subscription plan. They email people who cancelled in the past and try to entice them to resubscribe at an affordable price. Most people will simply assume they have lowered the cost of entry without reading their website or terms and conditions. However, Audible does have a Premium plan, which costs $22.00 per month. Any credit you use will remain in your account, even if the subscription was cancelled. Unused credits roll over into the next month, but cost way more than Standard.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.