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> Unlike Audible, however, it's easy to game the system by subscribing and quickly unsubscribing. You can do this on Audible without problems. I have an Audibl

> Unlike Audible, however, it's easy to game the system by subscribing and quickly unsubscribing. You can do this on Audible without problems. I have an Audible library of 15 books that I accumulated over a few years through various promotions, never paying more than 33% the normal cost of a subscription.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
I have a few issues with how Audible subscriptions work: • The cancellation process requires many more clicks. If your process is to subscribe → buy → cancel each time, this gets very annoying. • You can't buy additional credits without outright changing your overall subscription plan. • If you cancel your plan, you immediately forfeit any unused credits.
- cstejerean 7y ago
  So use your credits before you cancel? Also why do you need to buy more credits? You can buy audio books directly for $ once you exhausted the credits. I use credits for audio books that cost more than the price of a credit and $ for audio books that cost less.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    > So use your credits before you cancel? So what do you do if you're nearing the end of your subscription period, and there aren't any new books you want at the moment? You're forced to subscribe for an additional month. > Also why do you need to buy more credits? You can buy audio books directly for $ once you exhausted the credits. I use credits for audio books that cost more than the price of a credit and $ for audio books that cost less. So what do you do if you've already used this month's credit, and you want to buy a second book which is much more expensive to buy in dollars? --- I have run into both of these scenarios with Audible. Neither of them are the reason I don't use Audible—that would be the DRM—but I do find their policies frustrating. Downpour and Libro.fm make it significantly easier to buy what I want when I want it.
  - rando444 7y ago
    I've been in this situation before. The unsubscribe process ends up taking hours of time because now you need to find 1-5 books to get before you cancel. It's also frustrating because they won't allow you more than 5 credits, so if you have 5 credits, they will take your monthly payment and give you nothing in return. Worse still is if you click on the wrong thing on Amazon it will re-activate your audible account automatically. I've had my audible account accidentally re-activated multiple times and not noticed (my amazon email goes to a non-primary email) All in all I've made many payments with max credits and gotten nothing in return, purchased a ton of books that I'm only partially interested in, and actively cancelled the service at least 3 times (including being forced to waste time shopping for books to complete the task every time) If you don't see this as a consumer trap, it's because you haven't tried to get out and stay out yet.
    - piva00 7y ago
      The limit on credits is what ultimately made me cancel Audible, I wouldn't care if I could keep stacking them up for a year but I go through long phases of not purchasing audiobooks so after a while I noticed I wasn't getting new credits while paying a subscription and realised that... It's their business model, like a gym, Amazon makes more money out of people not using their credits than from using them.
- chc 7y ago
  > You can't buy additional credits without outright changing your overall subscription plan. Not sure when the last time you used Audible was, but nowadays (or at least as of a few months ago) they offer to sell you more credits at a pretty decent rate (3 for $35) when you run out.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

I have a few issues with how Audible subscriptions work: • The cancellation process requires many more clicks. If your process is to subscribe → buy → cancel each time, this gets very annoying. • You can't buy additional credits without outright changing your overall subscription plan. • If you cancel your plan, you immediately forfeit any unused credits.

cstejerean 7y ago
So use your credits before you cancel? Also why do you need to buy more credits? You can buy audio books directly for $ once you exhausted the credits. I use credits for audio books that cost more than the price of a credit and $ for audio books that cost less.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  > So use your credits before you cancel? So what do you do if you're nearing the end of your subscription period, and there aren't any new books you want at the moment? You're forced to subscribe for an additional month. > Also why do you need to buy more credits? You can buy audio books directly for $ once you exhausted the credits. I use credits for audio books that cost more than the price of a credit and $ for audio books that cost less. So what do you do if you've already used this month's credit, and you want to buy a second book which is much more expensive to buy in dollars? --- I have run into both of these scenarios with Audible. Neither of them are the reason I don't use Audible—that would be the DRM—but I do find their policies frustrating. Downpour and Libro.fm make it significantly easier to buy what I want when I want it.
- rando444 7y ago
  I've been in this situation before. The unsubscribe process ends up taking hours of time because now you need to find 1-5 books to get before you cancel. It's also frustrating because they won't allow you more than 5 credits, so if you have 5 credits, they will take your monthly payment and give you nothing in return. Worse still is if you click on the wrong thing on Amazon it will re-activate your audible account automatically. I've had my audible account accidentally re-activated multiple times and not noticed (my amazon email goes to a non-primary email) All in all I've made many payments with max credits and gotten nothing in return, purchased a ton of books that I'm only partially interested in, and actively cancelled the service at least 3 times (including being forced to waste time shopping for books to complete the task every time) If you don't see this as a consumer trap, it's because you haven't tried to get out and stay out yet.
  - piva00 7y ago
    The limit on credits is what ultimately made me cancel Audible, I wouldn't care if I could keep stacking them up for a year but I go through long phases of not purchasing audiobooks so after a while I noticed I wasn't getting new credits while paying a subscription and realised that... It's their business model, like a gym, Amazon makes more money out of people not using their credits than from using them.
chc 7y ago
> You can't buy additional credits without outright changing your overall subscription plan. Not sure when the last time you used Audible was, but nowadays (or at least as of a few months ago) they offer to sell you more credits at a pretty decent rate (3 for $35) when you run out.