With so many people using Spotify to stream all their favourite podcasts and songs, it would make sense for the music platform to have an audiobook section too. Having your books and study playlists in one place would be incredibly helpful for students, so can you buy audiobooks on Spotify for university?
If you’re a university student, you’ll know the issues of having to lug books everywhere. Especially if you’re an English student who has to read a new book every other week. Whilst lots of students opt for a Kindle or something similar to save on space, these don’t come particularly cheap.
So, the prospect of not having to carry all your books and not forking out for another device is going to be appealing. Plus being able to listen to them whilst you do other stuff. Hence why the answer to can you buy audiobooks on Spotify is something students need to know.
How To Get Spotify Audiobooks
Spotify audiobooks don’t require a premium membership, but there are a few other stipulations to getting them.
Firstly, audiobooks are only available on the streaming service in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It’s not certain when the rest of the world will have it available. Audiobooks can also only be bought using the Spotify Web Player, however, you can listen to your books in the app once they’ve been purchased.
To get the audiobooks, simply go to Spotify Web Player and search for the book you’re interested in. Then just click on the audiobooks tab to bring up the different buying options. It will then prompt you to log in if you aren’t already, and at that point, you can purchase the audiobook.
If you don’t have a specific one in mind, then you can find their whole collection by going to your library, clicking ‘Audiobooks’ and then ‘Find Audiobooks.’
Even if you have a Spotify premium membership, you have to pay a one-time purchase for each book. The price depends completely on what book you’re getting. So, unlike competitor Audible, there’s no subscription with Spotify audiobooks.
What Audiobooks Are There?
Spotify have over 300,000 audiobooks in their database. So, it’s fairly likely that they’ll have the one your after. Just looking at the homepage, they have non-fiction books such as Michelle Obama’s Becoming, And Price Harry’s Spare. They have the Harry Potter books, and crime books — there are literally hundreds of thousands on there.
There’s even a section of free audiobooks for people to try out. If you’ve never listened to a book before and are considering it for university, maybe try how you get on with a free one before making a bigger purchase.
Spotify also separates their books into different categories, including ‘Buzzworthy Books,’ ‘Criminally Good’ and many more. You can look through your favourite genre if there’s not a certain title you want to read.
Can You Buy Audiobooks On Spotify For University?
If the books you need for university are on Spotify, then you can definitely buy audiobooks from Spotify for your course. Bare in mind that their textbook range is very limited, so unless you’re doing an English degree or something similar, it’s unlikely that Spotify will have the books you need.
Another point is that the audiobooks are still quite expensive. Looking at Jane Eyre, for example, the cheapest one on Spotify is still £10.99. Whilst this is cheaper than the retail price for that copy, you will be able to find one second-hand for a much more student-friendly price. It’s also worth noting that lots of lecturers prefer you to have a physical copy of the book for note-taking and looking at specific sections in class. So, it’s better to check with your professors that audiobooks are good to go before making a big spend.
But, apart from that, audiobooks are a great way to get your required reading done whilst being hands-free. There’s also no risk of losing your place, or even the book either!