Do not limit Audiobook listening

[Biff09]

I'm not an expert on the economics of audiobooks, but the reason that Spotify is great is that you get access to all of the music in the catalog and you can enjoy it as much as you like for a flat monthly fee.

Spotify has introduced all sorts of insane new problems by limiting the amount of time listened.  These are just a few examples:

- Do the hours count for multiple people on family/duo accounts?

- How to deal with getting cut off in the middle of a book?

Instead, make Audiobook consumption unlimited JUST like is done for podcasts and music, etc.

If you need to raise the price of the membership then do so.  If you need to make an "audiobook" add-on subscription then do so.

Do NOT limit the number of hours audiobooks or any other kind of media can be consumed.  It's a terrible user experience and is a complete about-face to the model Spotify used to become the dominant music streaming service.

[smusick]

I agree with this statement. I just can't understand the reasoning for this limitations specifically for audiobooks. In addition I don't think they make it clear to users that the time was limited in the first place.  Spotify please do better. 

[Kbridgettslaw]

I purchased two ‘top ups’ and they show up as purchased but not on the account.  I just got cut off in the middle of a book despite paying $28 for 20 hours more listening time.  I will NOT do that again.  A waste.   I’ll use Audible.  

[Alicabeco]

Unlimited would be nice. I think having a "trail" for normal premium is fine if you have another option that is something like "Premium + Audiobooks" costing a couple dollars more.

I agree that the 'top ups' are not worth it. Other audio book platforms are much more worth it at that point.

[Clabruno031178]

I could not agree with you more on this. This makes absolutely no sense to me and it is very frustrating. To be honest, when Spotify first started offering Audiobooks I didnt even know there was a time limit because that thought didn't even occur to me and I remember thinking that it was such a wonderful value add only to be hugely disappointed when I found out about the 15 hour per month limit. I would have no problem paying extra money per month to have this feature but we are not even being given this option? I don't want to do some sort of pay per extra hour nonsense. When I subscribe to a service I don't want my bill to vary. I want know what amount is coming out each month and that's that. Why are they doing it this way? There has to be some sort of reason. Why don't they just buy out audible and be done with this nonsense. They sure have the money to do it. If Spotify was to figure this out and provide their subscribers a small monthly add-on fee for unlimited audiobooks then it would be game over!! Hey Spotify do you need some ideas people at your company? I have a few of them to be honest!! Shoot me an email, let's talk!

[Deolvroo]

Stupid system. Either allow unlimited time to listen to a book or only allow one book in a specified amount of time. Or just remove the feature. Whoever made up this hair-brained scheme needs a serious talking to. 

There are a lot of competitors out there....

[Kenzb]

Number of hours shouldn’t be limited. It’s very frustrating when you’re partially through a book and you have to wait or spend an insane amount of money for only 10 more hours (which isn’t even a whole book in most situations). 

A suggestion I have is to run Spotify similar to Amazon. Amazon gives its prime subscribers a limited catalog for free with Prime Reading (users can read as many books as they want for free that are offered in the Prime Reading section). If users want unlimited reading through an even larger catalog, then they can purchase Kindle Unlimited. People are already spending quite a bit on their monthly subscription so why not offer limited audiobooks for free (change them up every so often) and then add an audiobook plan similar to how kindle unlimited works?

Offering some free audiobooks is kind of like saying “thank you for being a customer, here are some great audiobooks included in your subscription.” People are still paying for it but not getting ripped off in the process. Spotify’s current up-charges for audiobook listening time is unrealistic and paying a large amount of money for 10 extra hours is not fair to the customers. People who love audiobooks listen for far more than 15 hours a month.

Despite how you move forward with the audiobook plans, please do not limit number of hours customers can listen! 

[Cralexandra]

Totally agree. I was listening to an audiobook and it randomly stopped because I hit the limit. I use Spotify because I like the transparency and flat fees, but because of this instance I will only use Audible for audiobooks moving forward. 

[Luan]

Updated on 2024-01-27

We're thrilled to see that your suggestion is rapidly gaining popularity and we're updating its status to Good Suggestion.

We hope that it will continue to gain support from more users. Thank you for your valuable contribution - we truly appreciate it!

For more details about how the Ideas Exchange works, please refer to here.

[Reesescup1]

I was getting really into the book I’ve been listening to and was about to start the next chapter, only to be stopped because I hit my limit and I am livid! I’ve been loving listening to my audiobooks because it seems to be the only thing I can listen to I even stopped listening to my music playlist while driving, cleaning, showering, cooking, etc. only to find out that there’s a limit to how many hours I listen. Spotify please don’t put limits on audiobooks, please do better with this. What even frustrates me more is that I had no idea there was such a thing as a limit, like seriously a limit to listen to audiobooks is very ridiculous. 

[vmbee]

AGREED! Did not even know there was a limit, until getting cutoff quickly. Also, if you rewind, that time is added to your limit. The roughly $14 for only 10 hours additional, barely finishes anything. It has gotten me back into audiobooks, but instead of finishing books cheaper elsewhere, I would LOVE if Spotify (my goto for music, podcasts, & more) had an option for increasing the general monthly charge, based on per book or new titles vs older ones or etc. Not strict hours. Or, just a similar model that has made us all customers for years: absolutely NO LIMITS.