Listen To Audiobooks Without A Membership Thanks To These Platforms
These days, when people think of audiobooks, they often think of Amazons Audible. This is understandable, considering Amazons overall global popularity and convenience. However, more and more audiobook listeners are looking to get away from Audible and its monthly fees.
Luckily, there are plenty of great alternatives to Audible for all your audiobook needs. Needless to say, whether youre looking to support indie bookstores with your audiobook downloads or evade a monthly subscription cost, theres an audiobook platform out there to suit your reading habits.
Are You Participating In Any Of Our Reading Challenges
IfIf you are participating in any of the three reading challenges that we host the Lifetime of Reading Challenge, the Book Voyage Challenge, or the then you know that we work hard to include a wide variety of titles on our recommended reading lists. We try to ensure that at least a portion of the books on our lists are available via public libraries. However, some titles on our lists can be hard to find at libraries because they are older or lesser-known.
We know its frustrating when titles catch your eye, only to discover that they arent available at your library. Thats where Audible Premium Plus credits can help fill the gaps! Of course, there may be obscure titles that arent recorded in audiobook format. However, if an audio recording of a book exists, its pretty much guaranteed that youll find it via Audible.
The Basics: How Does Audible Work
- Audible is a subscription service with five basic membership plans.
- Audible Plus monthly: includes access to a selection of Audible Originals, audiobooks, sleep tracks, meditation programs, and podcasts.
- Audible Premium Plus 1 Credit monthly: includes the Audible Plus catalog plus one credit per month.
- Audible Premium Plus 2 Credit monthly: includes the Audible Plus catalog plus two credits per month.
- Audible Premium Plus Annual 12 Credits: includes the Audible Plus Catalog + immediate access to 12 credits
- Audible Premium Plus Annual 24 Credits: includes the Audible Plus Catalog + immediate access to 24 credits
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Are Audiobooks Free With An Audible Subscription
With your Audible subscription, you get credits each month, depending on which subscription plan you opt for. One credit is good for one audiobook of your choosing.
When you sign up for a free 30-day membership trial with Audible, you will receive 1 free credit. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you will get 2 free credits with your 30-day free trial.
All members get unlimited access to thousands of titles in the Audible Plus Catalogue. From this catalogue, you can listen to as many titles as you want, whenever you want.
Your First Audiobook Is Free
If youre unsure about an Amazon Audible membership, you can subscribe to the service for a 30-day free trial and get one free audiobook. This is what I did before taking out a recurring subscription which would involve paying a monthly fee.
I browsed the audiobook user reviews and downloaded the audio version of Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk and Accidental Genius by Mark Levy for free. Then, I spent the next 30 days listening to these books to figure out if this audiobook service was worth it.
Like Grammarly, if you dont like the audiobook service, after 30 days you can cancel your membership and keep your free audiobook. There is no need to pay any membership fee to experience the service.
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Use ‘send This Book’ To Share Audible Books
For: Others with or without their own Amazon account.
‘Send this Book’ once was the sharing feature that allows Audible users to send their favorite books to others via email, text or message – no Audible account or Amazon account requires.
However, as of April 2021, Audible is no longer offering this feature, nowhere can you find the option in the More button. No worries. There’s another official way which is useful for those who are not the Audible members to receive the shared contents – Audible Free Trial.
So Is Audible Worth The Money For You
Now that you know what an Audible membership costs, the question remains, is an Audible subscription worth it? The answer, of course, is that it depends.
Angela listens to 6 to 8 audiobooks each month. While she can find most of the titles she wants from her library, there are some titles it doesnt have. There are also times when the library hold list is much longer than she wants to wait. For these reasons, Audible Premium Plus with one monthly credit for any title she wants is a perfect fit.
But lets help you decide if either Audible plan is right for you.
For most people, we think that the Premium Plus annual membership makes the most sense because you arent limited to borrowing the titles in the free Plus Catalog. While there are some great Plus titles available, we tend to view those titles as more of an added bonus. You can opt to pay monthly, but youll save even more by choosing the annual option.
You can browse all the Plus titles here . Scroll down and click the box on the left side menu to filter to just those books included in the Plus Catalog. Then, use the other filter options to browse by genre within the Plus Catalog. If you find a lot of Plus titles that interest you, the less expensive Audible Plus membership may be a good fit.
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Are There Free Books On Audible
Yes, both levels of Audible memberships include unlimited, free access to borrow any of the titles in the extensive Plus Catalog. New books are being added to this catalog all the time. You can browse all the Plus titles here . Scroll down and click the box on the left side menu to filter to just those books included in the Plus Catalog. Then use the other filter options to browse by genre within the Plus Catalog.
Additionally, if you have a Kindle Unlimited membership, youll also have access to another large library of free audiobooks. Many, but not all, of the Kindle Unlimited books also have the audio version included. You can find our recommendations for The Best Audio Books on Kindle Unlimited here.
You can read all about Kindle Unlimited in this post, including our thoughts on whether its worth it.
How Do You Cancel Audible
We like to make it as easy and convenient as possible to cancel your subscription to our audiobook service whenever you want. All you have to do is sign in to our website using your account details and click Membership details. Youll see a box telling you what kind of account you have. Underneath the box is a Cancel membership button. Click it and follow the instructions.
Make sure you use up any Audible credits you still have. Youve paid for them, after all, but once youve cancelled, they will disappear. The good news is, even after youve cancelled, your audiobooks are still yours to keep. So, if youre only halfway through a story and need to cancel, dont worryyoull still find out how it ends.
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Can I Return An Audible Book
What if you use one of your Audible credits to purchase a book and dont like it? We know that the narrator can make or break an audiobook. Before using a credit, we suggest you take advantage of the Sample Now option. This allows you to see whether or not you like the narrator.As of Oct 17th, 2022, Audible announced that ONLY books purchased with Audible credits can be returned. If you are an active Audible Premium Plus member, you will still be able to return titles redeemed using Audible credits within 365 days of purchase. Individual books purchased with money are no longer returnable because of the rampant abuse of the system in the past.
As we advised above, be sure to listen to the sample narrator before purchase and you shouldnt have to worry about it!
Audible Promotional Claim Codes
1. Term and Uses.
2. Limitations.
- Claim Codes may not be redeemed at audible.co.uk, audible.de, or audible.fr or any other website operated by Audible, Inc., its affiliates, or any other person or entity, except as indicated by these Terms and Conditions.
- Claim Codes cannot be used to purchase other Claim Codes, or Gift Memberships.
- Claim Codes cannot be resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash or applied to any other Audible account, except where required by law. Unused Claim Codes in an Audible account may not be transferred.
- Resale of a Claim Code or use for unauthorized advertising, marketing, sweepstakes or other promotional purposes is strictly prohibited.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Audible:
Why would I use Audible if my library has Overdrive? I totally get this! I love Overdrive and am so grateful for my libraries that have it. But those hold lines can be SO long and then you have to make sure to get through it in the allotted time before it goes back to your library. So Audible is awesome for when you want to listen to something right away and then have as much time as you need to listen. And also when you want to be able to listen over and over again .
What happens if I dont use my credit? Credits roll over until you get to five . So if you have a month where you dont get around to picking a book? No sweat. Just pick two the next month.
What if I dont like the book I picked?Best news Audible guarantees all their audiobooks, so if you dont like something, you can just exchange it, no questions asked. No risk.
How much do you spend on Audible per month?We have a regular $14.95/month plan and then I buy one-off audiobooks when there is a good sale or if there is something I really want. And then I use Overdrive or Scribd for the rest of my audiobook needs.
How do I find good sales on Audible? I dont have a rock solid way, but they do have a deals page with the daily deal and any audiobooks that are a below-average price. I also try to mention it when I notice one on or .
Do Audible picture books have page turn signals? There may be a few, but I have never listened to one that does have that little ding! Which leads to the next question. . .
How To Get Audible Books Without A Membership
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Say you are looking for something to listen to on that long car ride you are taking. You go to Amazon and find a book someone told you about. Maybe it is a book by David Drayer titled Strip Cuts.
You see the Audiobook for $0.00 and notice there is a catch. You do not want to do a trial membership. Trial memberships are good if you dont forget to cancel them. You dont want to buy the hard copy and add the audible narration. You just want to buy the audio version. You dont see how to do it without signing up for a trial membership.
You scratch your head. You stroke your chin. You are confused.
You think about Googling audiobooks. Wait! There is a way.
On the right side, you still see an offer for the audiobook with a free trial. It still looks like the only way to get it is to sign up for a trial membership.
But look closely at that right-side panel.
Notice at the bottom of that panel there is a Buy with 1-click option.
If you click on that, it turns into a button.
Now, you can click on that orange button to purchase the audio version without doing anything with a membership.
There are some small details to finish the process:
BTW, if you arent sure you want to listen to the book, try the sample at the left of the screen.
Happy listening.
PS: There are other ways one can listen to audiobooks without using Audible and buying them on Amazon. There is the free LibriVox website. There is also Chirp Books . And there are others.
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How Does Audible Work
Audible lets you choose from thousands of titles from every genre. If you see an audiobook you like, you can simply buy it on the Audible website or app, and it will be yours forever.
If you want to listen to a lot of audiobooks, it works out cheaper to start a subscription. Audible members get to pick any one title each month, that includes also best sellers and new releases. And you have access unlimited access to thousands of audiobooks and podcasts in the Audible Plus Catalogue, including Audible Origials and Podcasts. As a member you also get access to exclusive members only sales.
Closing Your Audible Account Permanently And Deleting Saved Data
If you want to close your Audible account permanently, then you also need to delete the Amazon account associated with it. Deleting your Audible account will therefore prevent you from accessing any other products or services currently connected to your Amazon account. Closing your Audible and Amazon accounts is a permanent procedure, and you cannot restore them.
To permanently delete your Audible and Amazon account and have your data deleted, here’s what to do:
IMPORTANT – You will receive an email to the email address associated with your Amazon account. You must reply to this email in order for your account and data to be deleted. If you fail to do this, Amazon will not delete your account.
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How Much Does Audible Cost
Depends on which plan you want:
- Audible Plus: Unlimited access to thousands of included titles in the Plus Catalog for $7.95 a month.
- Audible Premium Plus 1 Credit monthly: 1 credit per month for any premium selection title for $14.95 a month.
- Audible Premium Plus 2 Credit monthly: 2 credits per month for any premium selection title for $22.95 a month.
- Audible Premium Plus Annual 12 Credits: 12 credits per year at $12.46 per credit or $149.50/year
- Audible Premium Plus Annual 24 Credits: 24 credits per year at $9.57 per credit or $229.50 per year
Plus all members get an additional 30% off any titles purchased without credits, and can return any audiobooks you dont love within a year of purchase.
Why Is It So Hard To Cancel Audible
There are a few reasons why it can be hard to cancel Audible. First, Audible is owned by Amazon, and as such, is part of the Amazon Prime ecosystem. This means that once you have an Audible account, it& rsquor s linked to your Amazon Prime account, and cancelling one means cancelling the other.
Second, Audible has made it difficult to cancel accounts in the past. In order to cancel, you used to have to call customer service and speak to a representative. This process was cumbersome and time-consuming, and often resulted in people being unable to cancel their accounts.
However, in February of 2018, Audible made changes to its cancellation process that made it much easier to cancel. Now, you can cancel your subscription online by following these steps:
1) Go to the Audible website and sign in.2) Click on Your Account at the top of the page.3) Scroll down and click on Cancel Membership.4) Follow the instructions on the page.
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How Does Audible Work Answers To 10 Of Your Faqs
Audible is one of the biggest audiobook subscription services available. They create original content that cant be found other places. Not only do they have book length Audible exclusive material, they also offer shorter monthly Audible Originals, podcasts, sleep tracks and meditation courses. They have Daily Deals and exclusive packages, with unlimited access to a number of additional titles. Its a sleek service and very easy to use. But, how does Audible work? Lets break it down to see if Audible is the right fit for your .
Discounted Audible Membership For Prime Members
Every now and then, Amazon comes up with many lucrative Audible offers exclusively for Prime members. And although Audible is not included with Prime, these offers will no doubt make you feel even more privileged as a Prime member!
So, How much is Audible with Prime?
Although there isnt any fixed discount rate, Amazon has offered Audible membership at a discount of even more than 75% to its Prime Members in the past.
For instance, in 2018 and 2019, as a Prime Day offer, Audible membership was available at just $4.95/month. Amazon has also offered Audible membership for as low as $3.95/month on many occasions in the past to its Prime members.
However, these discounts are generally available only for a limited period and may not always be Prime-exclusive.
You can check the Current Audible offers for Prime members from !
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