4 ms·

Audible has some flagrant dark patterns in their design for consumers as well. While you _could_ buy independent audiobooks at cost, their most popular model is

by icyfox 4y ago

Audible has some flagrant dark patterns in their design for consumers as well. While you _could_ buy independent audiobooks at cost, their most popular model is to subscribe to a monthly membership where you earn one credit a month. This monthly credit can buy any audio book. The dig comes if you decide you have too many credits cached. Perhaps because you can't get through one audiobook a month. If you cancel a subscription for an account with remaining credits, you'll lose all your credits. Your choice is to either spend them all at once or keep your account active and keep paying the monthly fee while hoping to eventually pay down the credit debt enough to cancel. The only thing that's compared in my experience is for Adobe Stock.

edanm 4y ago
For people like me, who read a lot of books, Audible was and is absolutely wonderful. Audiobooks used to cost like $30-$40 each, at least. With Audible, I pay a monthly fee and get access to books at $10 each. They also routinely have deals selling books for $10, or 2-for-1 deals, etc. The difference in price is huge and a no-brainer if you read a lot of books. Note: I actually do the year-subscription plan, in which you get 24 credits for the cheapest price, to spend during that year. Buying extra credits will give them to you at that low price as well.
johns 4y ago
This is not how it works
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  This is EXACTLY how it works. Any and all credits are lost the instant you unsubscribe; it’s very clear when you do.
agentwiggles 4y ago
I really hate the cancellation thing. There's no reason it has to be that way, it's just plain extortion (that might be a bit dramatic of a word for it, but it's the dynamic). I bought a sub a year ago because there was a good deal ($5/mo for 6 months or something). Now I have a pile of credits and a recurring monthly charge. Yeah, I knew what I was getting into, but it's annoying all the same.
MrFantastic 4y ago
You can suspend your Audible account as well. This allows you to keep your credits but you won't be charged.
- riekus 4y ago
  But this is limited as well, max 6 months and only 1 timer per x If I recall correctly, I just ripped my bought books and canceled
  - msh 4y ago
    Well they have a silver membership that for 10 USD a year let's you keep your credits and access to sales.
    - tedmiston 4y ago
      I tried to find this in the switch plan and cancel plan processes to no avail. Their cheapest plan in the cancelation flow is "Switch to a credit every other month for $8.50/mo" which doesn't show a title in the UI but sounds like the "silver plan" from [1]. [1]: https://audiobookaddicts.com/audible-silver-plan/ https://audiobookaddicts.com/audible-silver-plan/
      - msh 4y ago
        Sorry, looked up my emails from audible to check. The plan I referred to is called "inactive light".
temporalparts 4y ago
But the credits are SOOOOO much cheaper than the raw audiobook cost. Since books are over $40 whereas credits are at most $15.
- honkler 4y ago
  price is arbitrary. Bits and bytes are free.
  - edanm 4y ago
    No, it's not, and no they're not. Bits and bytes cost money to produce.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
chrisseaton 4y ago
Audio books seem to cost like £25 each, but credits are £8 a month. Seems like an absolute no-brainer if what you want to do is actually listen to books? If you're accumulating credits then you shouldn't be subscribed in the first place.
sockaddr 4y ago
It is an absolutely horrible way to treat customers. Don't use their service. I've had a subscription for a while and it has helped me read more books but this cancellation policy is absolutely bonkers. They really are actively trying to hurt and squeeze the customer more than any other service I've used. I downgraded my subscription (to stop receiving credits) but I'm still having trouble using the credits I did build up. As soon as I'm done I'll be cancelling forever.
ldjb 4y ago
There are many valid criticisms of Audible, but I think membership pricing is just something that will suit some people more than others. Personally, I have no trouble buying on average one book per month. I think that the ability to accumulate credits offers quite a lot of flexibility. Instead of being forced to buy one book every month, I can opt not to buy a book this month, but instead buy two books next month. Although it is annoying that you lose all your credits if you cancel, there are plenty of books to spend them on. And I don't think it's entirely reasonable for Audible to hold on to your credits for eternity – since you could redeem them at any point, they'd have to keep a pot of money sitting around for paying rights holders. Imagine if something happened and a huge amount of people decided to redeem all their credits all at once – without a huge amount of cash set aside, Audible could have trouble fulfilling all those orders. So I think the pricing system isn't so bad, but the DRM situation is very disappointing.
- diffeomorphism 4y ago
  > isn't entirely reasonable... Credits or vouchers are not a new thing. Common schemes are limited duration, buying when you need them (possibly with bulk discount) instead of every month or buying every month but automatically stopping if you still have 10 stocked up (e.g. pop-up for phone's) or returning/selling unused vouchers for X%, ... Given all these options available offering "nothing at all" seems not that reasonable.
swozey 4y ago
At some point this year Audible also stopped letting you see the price of audiobooks in the Audible app, you also can't purchase books without using an Audible credit via the App. It's clearly so that people like me who save credits and only use them on $22+ books have no idea what a book actually costs without looking them up. I buy anything under $12-15 with cash since credits are basically $12, at least in the 3 credit bundle. Jokes on them though, now I buy even less books and stick to my unread library more nowadays.
- jollins 4y ago
  I’m pretty certain the price removal was due to App Store and Play store policy. If you list the price, users expect to be able to purchase in-app, which then means Audible forks over the 30% tariff the platforms take.
  - swozey 4y ago
    Hm, that's a lot less cynical of a take than mine I guess!

by icyfox 4y ago

edanm 4y ago

For people like me, who read a lot of books, Audible was and is absolutely wonderful. Audiobooks used to cost like $30-$40 each, at least. With Audible, I pay a monthly fee and get access to books at $10 each. They also routinely have deals selling books for $10, or 2-for-1 deals, etc. The difference in price is huge and a no-brainer if you read a lot of books. Note: I actually do the year-subscription plan, in which you get 24 credits for the cheapest price, to spend during that year. Buying extra credits will give them to you at that low price as well.

johns 4y ago

This is not how it works

CobaltFire 4y ago
This is EXACTLY how it works. Any and all credits are lost the instant you unsubscribe; it’s very clear when you do.

agentwiggles 4y ago

I really hate the cancellation thing. There's no reason it has to be that way, it's just plain extortion (that might be a bit dramatic of a word for it, but it's the dynamic). I bought a sub a year ago because there was a good deal ($5/mo for 6 months or something). Now I have a pile of credits and a recurring monthly charge. Yeah, I knew what I was getting into, but it's annoying all the same.

MrFantastic 4y ago

You can suspend your Audible account as well. This allows you to keep your credits but you won't be charged.

riekus 4y ago
But this is limited as well, max 6 months and only 1 timer per x If I recall correctly, I just ripped my bought books and canceled
- msh 4y ago
  Well they have a silver membership that for 10 USD a year let's you keep your credits and access to sales.
  - tedmiston 4y ago
    I tried to find this in the switch plan and cancel plan processes to no avail. Their cheapest plan in the cancelation flow is "Switch to a credit every other month for $8.50/mo" which doesn't show a title in the UI but sounds like the "silver plan" from [1]. [1]: https://audiobookaddicts.com/audible-silver-plan/ https://audiobookaddicts.com/audible-silver-plan/
    - msh 4y ago
      Sorry, looked up my emails from audible to check. The plan I referred to is called "inactive light".

temporalparts 4y ago

But the credits are SOOOOO much cheaper than the raw audiobook cost. Since books are over $40 whereas credits are at most $15.

honkler 4y ago
price is arbitrary. Bits and bytes are free.
- edanm 4y ago
  No, it's not, and no they're not. Bits and bytes cost money to produce.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

chrisseaton 4y ago

Audio books seem to cost like £25 each, but credits are £8 a month. Seems like an absolute no-brainer if what you want to do is actually listen to books? If you're accumulating credits then you shouldn't be subscribed in the first place.

sockaddr 4y ago

It is an absolutely horrible way to treat customers. Don't use their service. I've had a subscription for a while and it has helped me read more books but this cancellation policy is absolutely bonkers. They really are actively trying to hurt and squeeze the customer more than any other service I've used. I downgraded my subscription (to stop receiving credits) but I'm still having trouble using the credits I did build up. As soon as I'm done I'll be cancelling forever.

ldjb 4y ago

There are many valid criticisms of Audible, but I think membership pricing is just something that will suit some people more than others. Personally, I have no trouble buying on average one book per month. I think that the ability to accumulate credits offers quite a lot of flexibility. Instead of being forced to buy one book every month, I can opt not to buy a book this month, but instead buy two books next month. Although it is annoying that you lose all your credits if you cancel, there are plenty of books to spend them on. And I don't think it's entirely reasonable for Audible to hold on to your credits for eternity – since you could redeem them at any point, they'd have to keep a pot of money sitting around for paying rights holders. Imagine if something happened and a huge amount of people decided to redeem all their credits all at once – without a huge amount of cash set aside, Audible could have trouble fulfilling all those orders. So I think the pricing system isn't so bad, but the DRM situation is very disappointing.

diffeomorphism 4y ago
> isn't entirely reasonable... Credits or vouchers are not a new thing. Common schemes are limited duration, buying when you need them (possibly with bulk discount) instead of every month or buying every month but automatically stopping if you still have 10 stocked up (e.g. pop-up for phone's) or returning/selling unused vouchers for X%, ... Given all these options available offering "nothing at all" seems not that reasonable.

swozey 4y ago

At some point this year Audible also stopped letting you see the price of audiobooks in the Audible app, you also can't purchase books without using an Audible credit via the App. It's clearly so that people like me who save credits and only use them on $22+ books have no idea what a book actually costs without looking them up. I buy anything under $12-15 with cash since credits are basically $12, at least in the 3 credit bundle. Jokes on them though, now I buy even less books and stick to my unread library more nowadays.

jollins 4y ago
I’m pretty certain the price removal was due to App Store and Play store policy. If you list the price, users expect to be able to purchase in-app, which then means Audible forks over the 30% tariff the platforms take.
- swozey 4y ago
  Hm, that's a lot less cynical of a take than mine I guess!