Amazon Music Unlimited: subscribers get one audiobook per month

Amazon is now also integrating its Audible audiobooks into Amazon Music Unlimited in Germany. Subscribers to the music streaming service can now listen to one Audible audiobook per month at no extra charge. The offer was already available in the USA, Canada, and the UK, but now German users will also benefit.

Amazon is thus catching up with Spotify: the Swedish streaming service began allowing its German users 12 hours of audiobook streaming per month in April. Amazon's approach works slightly differently: users can listen to one audiobook per month from the Audible catalog. The length of the audiobook is not relevant. A new audiobook may only be started in a new subscription month. If you don't finish your audiobook in one month, you can continue listening to it in the second month, but may not start a second audiobook in that month.

So whether the Spotify version or the Amazon offer is more suitable depends very much on your personal listening habits. The Amazon implementation allows more than 12 hours per month for longer audiobooks, but the Spotify offer provides a little more flexibility – such as the option of trying out several audiobooks or finishing an audiobook and starting a new one straight away. If you plan your audiobook consumption carefully, you can get more out of the Amazon solution, but if you prefer to just listen without a care in the world, you might be better off with Spotify.

10 euros for Prime customers

The Audible integration of Amazon Music Unlimited is available to users of the standard membership and main users of a family subscription. This means that not every family member can listen to an audiobook – an important restriction. Amazon Music Unlimited is primarily a subscription for music streaming. The standard offer costs 11 euros per month, while Prime customers only pay 10 euros per month. The family offer for up to six simultaneous listeners costs 17 euros per month. Amazon is currently offering four free months of Music Unlimited.

Anyone who is serious about audiobooks in the Amazon ecosystem still has the option of opting for an Audible subscription. It costs 10 euros per month and offers a monthly voucher that can be redeemed for any audiobook from the portfolio. These audiobooks can be listened to for any length of time. In addition, accumulated vouchers do not expire as long as the subscription is active.

(mho)