Audible's new $8.99/month plan will save you money on audiobooks, but there's a catch

Amazon’s Audible is one of the most popular places to buy and listen to audiobooks. It offers a huge selection and has a great mobile app for listening on the go. In a bid to attract new listeners, the company has a new, lower-priced Standard monthly subscription. For $8.99 per month, you can listen to any book in the company’s available collection of one million books and gain access to Audible’s podcasts and originals, ad-free.

If you’ve been looking for a convenient way to do more reading while commuting, doing yard work, or lounging by the pool, the Standard plan from Audible might be a perfect option. There is one major detail about the new offering that you should know before diving in.

Be aware, these aren’t your books

The new Standard plan is a great introduction to audiobooks and offers a cheaper way to listen more frequently. The catch is that you aren’t “buying” the audiobooks, like you are with Audible’s other plans.

The Standard plan states that you can “Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of 1M+ titles,” followed by “Yours as long as you’re a member.” If you cancel the $9 per month subscription, then you’ll lose access to your previously selected books.

Audible’s Premium Plus plan costs $14.95 per month and states that you’re actually buying the audiobooks as part of the fee. “Get 1 credit a month to buy any audiobook from our entire collection of 1M+ titles.” As further evidence, it also says that you can “Keep audiobooks you buy with a credit, even if you cancel.”

Why this catch might not matter to some listeners

Not owning the books you select and listen to might be a big deal to a lot of people. My first instinct was to scoff at the idea of not having access to the books anymore if cancel the plan. But after a little more consideration, I don’t think it’s a terrible idea.

I have dozens of audiobooks in my Audible library that I’ve bought over the years. I haven’t listened to any of them more than once. I might someday, but I haven’t yet.

The biggest consideration for you might be evaluating how you listen to books. For example, sometimes I’ve gotten busy and canceled or paused my Audible subscription for months. I’ll go back and listen to books from my library at my own leisure that I’ve never read. You wouldn’t be able to do that with the new plan.

So, who is the plan for? I think the Standard plan will be ideal for people who want to read one book a month and don’t often revisit older ones. Simple as that.

Audiobook listening alternatives

I don’t think the Standard Audible plan is a bad deal, but this new, cheaper alternative does have a major trade-off in not actually owning the books.

If you’d rather explore other alternatives, Spotify and Libby are the places to start.

Libby is owned by Overdrive and offers free e-books and audiobooks through a local library. You can apply for access by adding a library card. This option is the cheapest alternative, but there are often wait times for popular titles. You, of course, don’t get to keep these books either.

Spotify’s Premium, Premium Duo, and Premium Family plans all offer 15 hours of audiobook listening. The individual plan starts at $12.99 per month, Duo (2 people) at $18.99, and Family (6 people) at $21.99.

Since Spotify measures in time, versus titles, you might be able to listen to multiple shorter books each month—or only a portion of one. You still don’t own these books.

The interesting thing to consider with alternatives is that they don’t allow for keeping and storing the books either. To do that, you can shop at Chirp or in Apple’s Books app—or Audible, even if you don’t subscribe. There are other Audible plans, like the $150 annual plan that lets you keep the books and comes out to $12.50 per month. But ultimately, the new $9 per month Standard Audible plan might be a worthy choice for casual readers.