Does Audible Work Like Netflix & Spotify? (Just For Audiobooks)

There are so many subscription services out there these days that it’s easy to get them confused with each other. Netflix, Spotify, and Audible are three giants everyone’s heard of, but there are countless smaller ones out there too.

With the market so saturated with these services, you might be wishing there was some guide to what they all offer and what makes them different from each other.

Today, we’re going to look at the three giants: Audible, Netflix, and Spotify, and see how they stack up.

Here’s How Audible, Spotify, and Netflix work:

Audible, Spotify, and Netflix are all subscription-based streaming services. You can both download and stream from these platforms. Netflix offers TV and Movies, while Audible offers audiobooks. Spotify offers music and podcasts to stream or download.

Does an Audible Subscription Work Like Netflix and Spotify?

Your Audible subscription is a monthly streaming service similar to Netflix and Spotify.

However, Audible premium offers a monthly credit to buy a permanent title to listen to. Spotify and Netflix do not give you permanent titles or products to keep.

All three services are united by one thing: you pay them a monthly fee, and you’re allowed to stream their content to your devices in return.

In all three cases, you can also download audiobooks/music/movies to your device to listen/watch offline later, but all three are primarily streaming services.

What are the Differences Between Audible and Netflix?

Audible offers audio-based content and Netflix offers video-based content.

While Audible may keep adding non-audiobook content, and Netflix now offers far more than just movies, each platform remains defined by its format: audio and video.

In addition to access to its massive library, this credit can be redeemed for one title that’s yours to keep even if your subscription ends.

As far as we can tell, Netflix has no equivalent offers; there are no monthly credits awarded to subscribers to pick a movie or series episode they’ll own, even if their subscription ends.

So when you stop subscribing to Netflix, you lose everything, but if you stop subscribing to Audible Premium Plus, you at least get to keep the titles you “bought” with your credits.

Read Also: This is the demographic profile of Netflix users.

What’s the Differences Between Audible and Spotify?

When we compared Audible and Netflix above, we looked at two entirely different categories: audio and video content.

However, Audible and Spotify use the same basic media format: audio recordings.

When two audio-based subscription services diversify their selection, it’s natural to expect some overlap.

Thus, audiobook and music services have ended up with additional content like podcasts, meditations, interviews, etc. Therefore, Audible and Spotify are very similar in their content.

Spotify, as far as we can tell, offers no similar system of monthly redeemable credits, making it a notably unique feature of Audible’s premium subscription plan compared to the competition.

How Does Audible Differ from the Other Audiobook Apps?

In this particular category, even Audible’s credit system isn’t unique, as Audiobooks.com also offers options that will net you credits to exchange for your favorite titles.

With all that being said, one thing distinguishes Audible from the competition: library size.

Audible’s Premium Plus subscription grants access to a library of over 500,000 titles. That’s a lot!

One of the great features that Audible offers are free samples of Audiobooks. This allows users to listen to a short sample before deciding whether they would like to purchase the entire book.

So far, no other audiobook service can compete with this enormous library size, which is why Audible dominates the market in this particular niche.

Are there Audiobooks on Spotify?

A selection of audiobooks is being launched on Spotify in 2022.

Given what we said about audio-based services branching out into the same content over time, given a common format, this almost seems like a natural evolution.

We can’t help but wonder if it’s only a matter of time before this comes full circle and Audible starts offering music.

Speculation aside, though, this new audiobook library is stated to have 300,000+ titles at launch!

That is quite a lot, but it’s roughly 200,000 shies of Audible’s offering, so the audiobook giant should still reign supreme for now, at least, but it’s an interesting development regardless!

Sources:

Spotify Dives into Audiobooks