Edit: A couple times I’ve said eBook while I actually meant Audiobook. I’ve learned that Spotify has a 15 hour limit per month for their free ‘included in premium’ audiobooks. However these are the two books I listened to for free, and even rounding up to 13 hours it doesn’t make sense, unless they count accidental chapter skips which weren’t actually listened to. But it’s clear now that I know about the 15 hour limit, that they are not counting the time listening to paid audiobooks.
First book I listened to for free:
Second book I listened to for free:
OG post:
I purchased 3 eBooks in the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy series (2 came free) and I’m on the final book. 20 minutes left in the last book and this is what Spotify tells me.
I’m over the edge now. I’ve been putting it off too long. I have a nice NUC I purchased about a year ago.
I’m tech inclined, 20 years of hobbyism, know the linux command line well. Work in IT consulting. But I’m busy. Very busy, and unmotivated to do things like hours of research and toying with settings getting things to work, if I ever have the time.
But this is the start of my new personal revolution.
I’ll read the wiki and have read about Sonarr, etc, and I also want movies and shows, but is there anything specifically for eBooks? Looks like Readarr is my best bet? Stripping the DRM of already purchased (and free with Spotify ‘Premium’) books to share on a seedbox is also something I’m willing to take requests on. Is there a way to rip from Spotify if you have a premium account? And what’s the best Android eBook reader (the last 3-4 I tried sucked with pirated eBooks)?
I know I’m sounding like a noob asking everything to be handed to me right now, but I am willing to put in the research and welcome and highly appreciate anyone with tips to point me in the right directions.
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Full Explanation:
Spotify introduced Audiobooks to their platform in November 2023:
- Unlimited listening to public domain classics.
- 15 free hours per month of premium audiobooks.
- 10 hour top ups available.
- Can purchase premium audiobooks for unlimited listening.
OP purchased book 1 and can listen to it all they want. They did not purchase book 2 or 3, and also listened to other audiobooks, putting them over the 15 hour limit.
Key Facts:
- Spotify Audiobooks are a new feature with no additional subscription cost.
- OP used all of their free credits for the month.
- OP was never prevented from listening to a book they purchased.
That said, stop paying for audiobooks like a chump and get a library card.
Important info here. Definitely not the impression I got from the OP.
That’s an awful lot of words for “Spotify is bullshit.”
So OP is complaining about being limited by the amount of free books OP can listen to? Sounds fair to me, these things cost money to make, and websites cost money to run.
How is an audiobook different from any other piece of audio?
Licensing costs
Dang youre right there’s probably a huge difference when you calculate it by the second (certainly cheaper).
Sure whatever you say step corp-bro
Ok, thats funny. But for real, what I’m lightly annoyed by is the way they seem to be using the 15 hours of audiobooks as a sort of free-trial to get you to buy more credits, and also how much podcasts and audiobooks are pushed even for those of us who exclusively use spotify for music. On the other hand, if you use the feature, it cost you nothing additional to use up to that 15 hours, or those free books, its strictly a value add.
Weird way to say “just torrent the audio book”
Oh man, I did the hard work (it was easy) of reading some rules and answering some questions via irc to get an invite to MAM and wow is that a treasure-trove of ebooks and audiobooks.
dude yes it’s great but remove the name please
Why, are even names flagged in some way? MAM is amazing, but if I have to never talk about it to protect it more, I will.
You do realise this is a pirate community? The way yor comment reads, it seems like you dislike OP wanting free stuff.
I am aware of people doing some mental gymnastics to justify piracy. But IMHO that is about the same difference as a pirate to a privateer. Just acknowledge that you want stuff without paying and hoist that black flag.
Reading is hard when doing several hour long commutes… Audiobooks also can enhance the book as some are edited to cut out parts which really don’t contribute. A good editor can make or break a book. I do like reading, but there are times where audiobooks not only provide better experience, they are also the most time efficient as can be enjoyed during other tasks.
My library’s website lets you check out audiobooks. Is that not common?
That’s cool. Ours doesn’t, but it is a rather tiny place and not those fancy libraries with 3D printers and stuff…
Puts pitchfork away
See my other comment: https://lemmy.world/comment/7069535
You’re making disingenuous assumptions when you say I listened to other audiobooks. I have only listened to this series. purchased 3, and listened to 2 of the free (premium) books. I did not listen to any other books. There were a couple times it skipped a chapter with an accidental scroll, and I had to scroll back, but I didn’t actually listen so it shouldn’t count.
I wasn’t aware of the 15 hour limit but of course I am now as it’s been pointed out many times in this thread. I didn’t even know they had audiobooks until they started showing up on the opening screen of Spotify. I got hooked listening to the Steven Fry narrated OG book and then went to buy the next 3 and the last book in the series was also included in premium so I listened without buying. Still, 13 hours (which makes up for any skipping) is not 15 hours, so there’s either a bug or they intentionally count unlistened to skipped chapters as being listened to.
I’m getting Libby setup today with my library card.
Don’t panic. You’ve come to the right place. Spread out your towel and lay on it for a nice nap while you wait for lemmings to reply.
Go to your local library and ask if they have audiobook borrowing through Libby or a similar platform! Not only are you NOT limited on listening hours, but it’s free! You just might have to wait if all the “copies” are borrowed at the moment.
Also, if you have a cool library like I do, you might be able to borrow from multiple libraries. For example, my library card is for the St. Louis County Library, but it can also be used at the St. Charles County Library. So if I am looking for an audiobook on Libby, and SLCL has 3 virtual copies and they are all borrowed, I can search SCCL to see if they have any. I’ve had many situations where I’ll find one library or the other will have a copy available for borrowing with no wait.
Just to piggyback on this comment… If you have a dope library like mine, you don’t even have to go in person to get your library card and do all of the above. I signed up for a card online, downloaded Libby, got everything set up and had an ebook checked out that same day.
Does anyone know cities in the US where you can get a library card and not be from that city, or even state? I know there are a few
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Audiobookbay, My Anonamouse, Audiobookshelf
I have even found some while using soulseek
This is the way…
Audiobookshelf is the tits
Edit: It’s so straightforward my hygienist wife can use it.
Are… hygienists famously known for not being smart? I don’t think that’s a thing lmao
High gymnast? It’s ok my ex-wife is a tard and she’s a pilot now.
Ow My Balls! plays in background
If you wanna selfhost your own solution, I can recommend Audiobookshelf. It scraps metadata from Apple, Amazon, Google etc, tracks on a per-user basis at what point in the book you are, can be used in a browser and has an android app. It’s easy to set up with Docker too. You can even add PDFs and epubs to the books.
Been using it for a few months and it has been great.
As for sourcing of audiobooks, aside from torrents there are also audiobb.com & audiobooksbee.com . They use RapidGator as host for a ddl.
Mobilism.org has also served me very well for over a decade
Theres an iOS app too… only available via testflight, and I don’t recall where the link is… but its out there.
Fuck Spotify I would demand a refund then do a chargeback if they refuse. This is fucked.
You can only do so many chargebacks before you’re banned from using that payment network, which considering it’s Spotify they likely use one of the largest payment networks. I save chargebacks for when I got royally fscked, not just irritated inconvenience.
This isn’t exactly what you asked for and might not even work, but look up xManager. It lets you install a modded version of Shittify with premium features on free accounts – maybe this limitation is something they also modded away?
The moment they tried to make me pay just to skip songs was the moment I downloaded xmanager. Haven’t gone back since. Absolutely ridiculous what Spotify thinks I will pay for.
It’s been a while since I had the opportunity for audiobooks, so those specifically I’m a little out of the loop. Audiobookbay was a thing at some point.
For e books… Z-library and/ or Anna’s archive. The reader I use is ReadEra premium, it can handle pretty much any format although default to pick is epub. I don’t think you really need to buy premium, I just did because I wanted to support them. I’ve been using it for forever with almost no problems. You can adjust the things you want (font, spacing, light/dark, etc), but the basic format when reading is very simple once you have it set up
+1 from me for ReadEra as well, great app.
I already use ReadEra for all my documents needs. Does it save progress well with audiobooks?
Ok, audiobook isn’t the same as an ebook.
Spotify is absolute ass for audiobooks and podcasts. I wish there was something better for streaming, although one of these days I’ll get around to self hosting. Maybe after retirement…
Anyway, for audiobooks I used “Voice Audiobook Player”, it’s free and open source, minimal permissions required.
For anyone wondering about podcasts, “Podcast Addict”. It has too many menus and options, can be confusing, but still a million times better than Spotify. Once you have it set up the way you want those options are very nice. Still confusing at times though :D
That’s my fault, I messed up and said ebook a few times while meaning audiobooks.
I believe he’s using it for ebooks, not audiobooks. I don’t think it’s playing audio.
The enshitification is real!
What the fuck lmao
Why does anyone use shitify
Why does anyone use shitify
Virtually every single song in the world in your pocket for a little over 10 euros a month doesn’t seem like a bad deal to me. Then again why does anyone use spotify for anything other than listening to music, there your guess is as good as mine.
I’ve got a cracked version of some dodgy russian app store
I use soggfy to rip from Spotify and can recommend that. Other than that myanonamouse is the place to be for audiobooka imo
Love your local library. The Lemmy app is a good way to access content.
Also pirating… I live in the southern US, where they keep underfunding my library.
You almost certainly meant to say Libby.
Hahaha yes, thanks!
you get 15 hours of listening to any audiobook on spotify included with premium and it refreshes every month. Two of the books did not come free they are part of the 15 hours that you can use on any book “included with premium”
That doesn’t really sound like a premium.
Let’s be gracious and round up. That’s 13 hours. Not 15.
Sounds more like a “bait and switch”, or your friendly neighborhood dealer saying “first hit is free”
First week of hits are free, and I’ll give you another week of free hits every month. So as long as you don’t need more than 1 week per month of hits, then you’re golden.
Honestly though, if OP really got 27 days into the cycle before using up his free hits, its almost a perfect solution for them.
“Let me explain the bullshit rules for you, then you will see how you were in the wrong and our underhanded corporate tactics are helping society”
I’m not arguing for the service I’m just trying to make sure everyone has a full understanding of the situation. You are just looking for things to be outraged about.
I suppose.
Library Card
Depends on your local library but I have for example unlimited E Books included.
I’m embarrassed that I never thought of this. Sure enough, my library lends both e-books and audiobooks. It’s limited to 2-3 per month, but that’s more than I need anyway
Libby app.
Haven’t looked at the audiobook player scene on Android since stumbling over Smart Audiobook Player some years ago. I bought the full edition after enjoying it. It has a scraper for images and works well with titles downloaded from audiobookbay.
I tested a few last year, this one is still the best
It’s a great app. Works really well with android auto, which is how I consume most of my audiobooks.
Does it let you have a folder of books and keep your place when you pause the book or exit the app? Many don’t seem to keep the progress very well.
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Yes
