Major news websites such as Engadget, Gizmodo and Business Insider have been losing their reader base due to a series of articles on Audible piracy. They both gave instructional guides on how you could commit fraud and get access to 25 free audiobooks. Many readers have proclaimed that these types of stories are not indicative to true journalism and boil down to tutorials about how to steal.
A user by the name of GG agreed with me, by stating “It’s likely that Audible has to pay royalties to the authors each time a customer downloads a book, so by publishing this article, you’re literally taking money out of Audible’s pockets (and Audible is, in my experience, a useful company that I’d like to see stay in business). It’s a crummy thing to do, and it certainly makes me think less of both Lifehacker and Gawker.”
Meanwhile Jeff Lamoureaux commented I lost even more respect for Engadget with this “article” and finally CubeJockey lamented “I am sure that all authors are happy that BI perpetuated the fraud by explaining this step-by-step guide to its 17 readers how to exploit this “loophole.” (And since when is lying considered a loophole?)”
I think leveraging a well known news website to get clicks by instructing people how to engage in credit card fraud in order to get free audiobooks is insidious. Buzzfeed may get a bad rep for click bait type articles, but what these sites are encouraging users to do borderline illegal.
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.