Audible Launches New Membership Plan

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

Fwiw, I just cancelled my premium plus trial, and selected "too expensive" as the reason. I did NOT get offered Silver as an option, just various Plus plans.

I don't suppose you want to call Audible about the Silver membership?

I'm vaguely wondering if I could get Plus as a separate add-on without giving up my Silver membership. But probably not worth the hassle.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I'm vaguely wondering if I could get Plus as a separate add-on without giving up my Silver membership. But probably not worth the hassle.

That's an interesting thought. They allowed Escape as an add-on, so I don't see why they wouldn't allow Plus as an add-on.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

That's an interesting thought. They allowed Escape as an add-on, so I don't see why they wouldn't allow Plus as an add-on.

Yes, I wouldn't mind a free trial, or even a paid month to try it out. But not at the cost of my current membership.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I don't suppose you want to call Audible about the Silver membership?

err...umm...not especially, no. I get enough aggravation when I have to call them for my own issues. I was merely curious to hear what you liked about the plan. I haven't been interested in an on-going paid membership since the old days of 5 credits per month.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ApK

err...umm...not especially, no. I get enough aggravation when I have to call them for my own issues. I was merely curious to hear what you liked about the plan. I haven't been interested in an on-going paid membership since the old days of 5 credits per month.

Aw, you don't like talking to the nice folks at Audible?

[Barbara1955]

Well that Chart explains why Last time I had a 1/2 price membership I Never got the Free Amazon originals offered to me! sucks Audible would Never tell me.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I was leery of Audible Plus at first, but it's starting to look better than I was expecting.

Yeah, me too. At least for now.

It’s been so long since I’ve found value in any Audible promotion - sale books are always the same and not interesting and Audible Originals is just a lot of junk, AFAIC - that I wasn’t expecting much. But a cursory check of a few favorite narrators shows much I’d enjoy and in fact, a lot of books I’ve already listened to, and if that’s not the acid test, I don’t know what is.

But. I’ve got such a mammoth unlistened to library that I really can’t justify the standard membership. On the other hand, $8/month for Plus only (roughly two books a month, or $4 per?) doesn’t strike me as a bad deal at all. I’ve spent much more than that on books I’ve bought and very, very few of them will ever be relistened to. So the calculation becomes how much I need to spend each month to keep me in audiobooks and the answer is, nothing at all. Between what I own and OverDrive and Hoopla, I can go indefinitely. The occasional credits would be for books I really, really want to listen to and can’t find for free - and I’m pretty flexible at that. There’s always something I can find. In any case, it means Plus doesn’t satisfy a real need.

Sooner or later, I’ll rejoin Audible when a good deal I qualify for comes along, and I suppose the strategy would be to load up on Plus listens while a member, but that starts to seem joyless. Audiobooks are for love, not obligation. I also wonder to what extent Audible has made a lot of interesting books available up front to entice the punters, and what the Plus catalogue will be like down the line as books cycle out. After all, I used to buy sale books, but the selection these days is terrible for my purposes.

TL;DR - Audible has established a pattern of providing much less value for much more money and I’d be surprised if Plus didn’t turn out to be more of the same.

[leebase]

Issybird - you and I don't appear to agree on much. But on Audible we do. I simply have too many already purchased, but not listened too books.

[pwalker8]

Audible is certainly the premier audiobook book store as far as selection goes. I imagine that my satisfaction with audible comes from the fact that I've got a grandfathered price plan that matches my preferred buying strategy, i.e. for $10 a year, I get no credits but can buy books at the membership prices. I had a $100/12 credits per year plan for my niece and nephew back when they were in middle school, but canceled it a few years ago when I noticed they weren't using it. I prefer not to worry about credits, but just buy as I go.

It's quite possible that Amazon will kill the golden goose by trying to squeeze the various audiobook companies, focus on more cheap generic audiobook content, rather than audio books that I want to hear and shoehorn customers into price plans that don't provide value . I'll be surprised if they do though.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by issybird

Sooner or later, I’ll rejoin Audible when a good deal I qualify for comes along, and I suppose the strategy would be to load up on Plus listens while a member, but that starts to seem joyless. Audiobooks are for love, not obligation.

One suggestion is keeping track of Plus titles you're interested in (I've started adding some to the wishlist on the Audible site) and then whenever one takes your fancy to read at the moment, sign up for a month of Plus for the $8, cancel immediately, and then you'll have a month's membership only and already one chosen wanted read down. It sounds something like what you're already thinking but maybe slightly more joyful? Then per your calculations if you just read one more Plus title in the month it will be a good deal.

I also wonder to what extent Audible has made a lot of interesting books available up front to entice the punters, and what the Plus catalogue will be like down the line as books cycle out. After all, I used to buy sale books, but the selection these days is terrible for my purposes.

Are we sure they'll be cycling books in and out? It sounds very possible but maybe many will stay on a more permanent basis. Quite a few of the ones that look good to me are branded as 'only from Audible' so maybe those are more likely to stick around. It will be annoying though if they do cycle books and ones that I had planned to read on Plus disappear.

I also just thought, if they do cycle they really should give warning well ahead of time on books cycling out. No one wants to be mid-read and have the book cycle out.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

One suggestion is keeping track of Plus titles you're interested in (I've started adding some to the wishlist on the Audible site) and then whenever one takes your fancy to read at the moment, sign up for a month of Plus for the $8, cancel immediately, and then you'll have a month's membership only and already one chosen wanted read down. It sounds something like what you're already thinking but maybe slightly more joyful? Then per your calculations if you just read one more Plus title in the month it will be a good deal.

Or a variation on this: Sign up for the full membership for $14.95, essentially getting a credit for $7 in addition to a month of plus.

Are we sure they'll be cycling books in and out? It sounds very possible but maybe many will stay on a more permanent basis. Quite a few of the ones that look good to me are branded as 'only from Audible' so maybe those are more likely to stick around. It will be annoying though if they do cycle books and ones that I had planned to read on Plus disappear.

I also just thought, if they do cycle they really should give warning well ahead of time on books cycling out. No one wants to be mid-read and have the book cycle out.

From the website:

Do titles in the Audible Plus Catalog change or rotate?

Yes! New titles are added every week. If, for any reason, a title you have selected needs to be removed from the Audible Plus Catalog, you will be notified in the app.

I think it stands to reason that titles will be eliminated as others are added; only so many will be available at one time, although I’m sure some will turn out to be permanent. I do wonder about a warning for a book you’re listening to and if they’ll give you time to finish books you’ve started, and how long. Could you just start a whole bunch and then figure you can finish them at your leisure? I bet they go to a “no more than X number of borrows at a time” system to avoid this. I would hope it’s more than one, though. I don’t listen to more than two books at a time, but I frequently do that. I am right now, in fact.

[badgoodDeb]

And regarding choosing one book, getting a one month membership and then cancelling it -- didn't we say that these books are only rented? Wouldn't you have to listen to it before cancelling? (Or am I thinking of some part of the Prime package, which is only rented?)

[issybird]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

And regarding choosing one book, getting a one month membership and then cancelling it -- didn't we say that these books are only rented? Wouldn't you have to listen to it before cancelling? (Or am I thinking of some part of the Prime package, which is only rented?)

Yes, you’d have to have finished it by the time you canceled.

I’m curious about what happens to books they withdraw before you’ve finished them. They haven’t made that clear, AFAICS.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’m curious about what happens to books they withdraw before you’ve finished them. They haven’t made that clear, AFAICS.

I haven't seen anything yet on how long they'll give you to finish a book they're about to remove from the catalog. That's kind of important to know.

Looks like we'll have o wait until someone gets an email informing them about a pending book removal.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I haven't seen anything yet on how long they'll give you to finish a book they're about to remove from the catalog. That's kind of important to know.

Looks like we'll have o wait until someone gets an email informing them about a pending book removal.

My guess is that they’ll let you finish it once you’ve started it, but as a result, will have a limit on the number of audiobooks you can have open at one time, so you won’t be able to download an unlimited number of books that are about to go off. But this is typical Audible; they didn’t think through the ramifications before rolling it out. Green in my memory is that promotion where they kept making the qualifications more stringent as time passed.