Spotify announced on Tuesday that it’s bringing its free audiobooks perk to Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Users in these markets will be able to access 15 hours of free monthly audiobook listening time. Spotify also announced that it’s expanding its audiobooks catalog from 200,000 to 250,000 titles. The perk is already available in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.
The expansion comes two months after Spotify said its audiobooks service is the second-largest audiobook provider behind Amazon-owned Audible. Spotify says users have listened to more than 150,000 titles since the free service’s launch last November.
Audiobooks can be found in the Home feed of the Spotify app or via the search tab. Any audiobook marked as “Included in Premium” can be listened to with a Spotify Premium subscription. You can track your listening hours in the settings of your Spotify app. If you run out of listening hours, you can purchase additional 10-hour allocations for CAD $14.99, IRE €12.99, and NZD $19.99.
Spotify recently launched a $9.99 per month plan that allows its free users to access its audiobooks collection in the U.S. The plan, which includes 15 hours of listening, gives Spotify a way to compete with Audible by targeting users who aren’t as interested in its music service. While Audible’s $14.95 per month subscription gives users one credit to buy a title, Spotify’s $9.99 plan allows users to listen to 15 hours across its catalog, which is often enough time to listen to more than one audiobook.
techcrunch.com
