I fell down a fedi rabbithole, where I learned that Amazon (Audible) is forcibly retiring their older royalty system. Technially it's an opt-in, but the terms are quite clear: I wonder exactly how...
I fell down a fedi rabbithole, where I learned that Amazon (Audible) is forcibly retiring their older royalty system. Technially it's an opt-in, but the terms are quite clear:
In April 2026, Audible announced that the legacy royalty structure will be discontinued by the end of the year. Authors must either transition into the new system or remove their audiobooks from Audible distribution entirely.
I wonder exactly how that will work with books that were Audible exclusive? Does Amazon just get to keep it and tell the author to pound sand?
Anyhow, the tldr is that authors now have to accept a "higher percentage" of that nebulous "platform engagement pool" the same way video and music makers do. That means even more "analytics," algorithmic manipulation. Ever wonder why you'll get routed to songs from compilation albums instead of the OG album? Lower licensing payout.
The big question: If an author doesn't accept the new terms, does Amazon wipe your copy of the audiobook? My money is on "yes."
The other thing that happens is that the narrators don't get their royalties either if the author doesn't accept the new terms. So they're being encouraged to badger the authors into taking the new terms.
Take your backups now. While most authors will probably quietly grumble, I have no doubts some of the smaller ones whom are doomed to obscurity in the streaming-only payouts will yank out and try somewhere else.
The new royalty system works with a nebulous system of 'member value,' which is the membership price less 'taxes and fees' Since we have 0 insight into the methodology, a standard member is $9/mo retail price. If that Member Value drops below $7, for whatever reason, it's almost certainly a net loss for all but the most popular authors.
For anyone looking to back up their audible library, check out the program "libation". It's a free open source gui program that supports backing up and decrypting your entire library. I recommend...
For anyone looking to back up their audible library, check out the program "libation". It's a free open source gui program that supports backing up and decrypting your entire library. I recommend having it convert to m4b files, which it can do without transcoding, so no loss in quality.
I also used to use OpenAudible. It worked quite well when I used it, but libation does everything it does without costing money, so I can't really recommend it anymore. But the UI was a bit more polished as I remember.
There is also the venerable inaudible program. It is very powerful, but is much less user friendly for large backups than libation. And I don't think it supports the new drm scheme, so it only works on books you can still download with the old drm.
As an end user I prefer a simple model. I pay for a thing, I get offline access to the thing, the end. It is simple, easy to understand, keeps costs bounded and doesn't offer as much room for...
As an end user I prefer a simple model. I pay for a thing, I get offline access to the thing, the end. It is simple, easy to understand, keeps costs bounded and doesn't offer as much room for black box algorithms to manipulate engagement.
The more this model is deviated from the more options and incentives are there to use any trick possible to keep the user engaged. And it goes back to the content made. If binge worthy, or also addictive, content is incentivized monetarily then more content will be made more binge worthy.
Fifty million merits was made a lot of years back now but as a metaphor it works too well.
As a suggestion for you and others, check out Libro.fm! Among it's many cool features (directly supporting local book stores with profit share), every audiobook has easily-accessible DRM-Free...
As a suggestion for you and others, check out Libro.fm! Among it's many cool features (directly supporting local book stores with profit share), every audiobook has easily-accessible DRM-Free download options!
Before I had ever seen that episode of Black Mirror, I had been checking out a Rhode Island musician, Gavin Castleton, who at the time was experimenting with different sounds and rapping styles...
Before I had ever seen that episode of Black Mirror, I had been checking out a Rhode Island musician, Gavin Castleton, who at the time was experimenting with different sounds and rapping styles and put out this song that sampled that end speech into the song's intro. A song built on the anxiety of a burgeoning internet, the floodgates of reaction images "my malaise don't fit in the animated gif, I have feelings that can't be expressed with kittens." Anyway, you get to hear some of the speech of fifty million merits and also get a little pop banger to chew on, if anyone is interested.
I have been using https://libro.fm/ for a year now and it's satisfactory: You can either use their website/app or download a DRM-free m4b to use offline with your favorite software. (wrong, see...
I have been using https://libro.fm/ for a year now and it's satisfactory:
You can either use their website/app or download a DRM-free m4b to use offline with your favorite software. By downloading DRM-free you to lose the ability to refund purchases, no great but fair (wrong, see replies)
Synthetic narration / slop must be disclosed, undisclosed slop is a valid refund reason
Catalogue is expanding, including non-English languages
As for Audible-produced audiobooks, I simply pirate them. Seems like they moved from "platform-exclusive" to "available on other platforms, but at extortionary prices" (and not purchasable with monthly credits). Fuck them.
I know you're not all (or any) bots, but three people posting about the same alternative within about 10 minutes of each other was very "oh no the bots are here" and/or "join the cult* vibes. Lol
I know you're not all (or any) bots, but three people posting about the same alternative within about 10 minutes of each other was very "oh no the bots are here" and/or "join the cult* vibes. Lol
I get it though. I am barely able to hold back from adding my own "try Libro.fm" comment every time a conversation about Audible comes up. It just feels like such a relief and joy that a company...
I get it though. I am barely able to hold back from adding my own "try Libro.fm" comment every time a conversation about Audible comes up. It just feels like such a relief and joy that a company like Libro (an employee owned social purpose corp!!) could compete with an evil behemoth like Amazon. It practically forces itself out of my fingers. The world has to know!
Sure sure but the cults also just want you to know by evangelizing (◠‿◕) I get it. I still use audible because I can't de-amazon myself yet, but it's on my list.
Sure sure but the cults also just want you to know by evangelizing (◠‿◕)
I get it. I still use audible because I can't de-amazon myself yet, but it's on my list.
Omg this made me want to laugh and cry. It feels like a legitimately helpful use of AI / computer vision would be a stabilization plugin that fixes this.
Omg this made me want to laugh and cry.
It feels like a legitimately helpful use of AI / computer vision would be a stabilization plugin that fixes this.
It's not quite that bad, but it's absolutely a thing. Most folks have transitioned from walking during meetings to walking during webinars or while reading or thinking. But yeah
It's not quite that bad, but it's absolutely a thing. Most folks have transitioned from walking during meetings to walking during webinars or while reading or thinking. But yeah
Lmao, to be fair I learned about Libro from a different Tildes post a while ago, so the propagation works. Also, I got in 2 minutes before the next guy ;P Also responding to your parent, fwiw you...
Lmao, to be fair I learned about Libro from a different Tildes post a while ago, so the propagation works.
Also, I got in 2 minutes before the next guy ;P
Also responding to your parent, fwiw you can still get a refund even if you download the DRM-free file, I got a Little Women audiobook with awful sound balancing and was able to get my credit refunded still. (I did delete that backup to be honest and because again it was terrible, but they didn't ask for any proof of that or anything)
Good to know that refunds are still possible! Just re-read their refund policy and it's indeed listed as a possible reason for denying a refund if abused, not a hard criteria.
Good to know that refunds are still possible! Just re-read their refund policy and it's indeed listed as a possible reason for denying a refund if abused, not a hard criteria.
I'm a fellow happy non-bot libro.fm user. Another alternative I used previously and don't see mentioned as often anymore is Downpour. They also offer DRM-free downloads for (most) books. Couple...
I'm a fellow happy non-bot libro.fm user. Another alternative I used previously and don't see mentioned as often anymore is Downpour. They also offer DRM-free downloads for (most) books. Couple down-sides that made me switch are that unused credits can expire (after a year, I think) and back when I was using them it was very easy to accidentally purchase abridged versions of books. But overall I think it is still useful as a complement for one-off purchases during sales and stuff.
And of course there's also Libby, which is free if you have a library card from a participating library. Getting audiobooks through Libby are DRM-protected (but in my opinion limited-time rentals is the one use case where DRM is justified), probably has a smaller selection depending on your library, and can have long wait times for new and popular books, but the price can't really be beat.
Just a small reminder that y'all should come over to libro.fm. All books are DRM-free, they help support local bookstores. I left Audible for them years ago and couldn't be happier.
Just a small reminder that y'all should come over to libro.fm. All books are DRM-free, they help support local bookstores. I left Audible for them years ago and couldn't be happier.
I started hosting my own audiobookshelf server for myself and a few friends. I'd highly recommend it. There is a good iOS app available with car play support.
I started hosting my own audiobookshelf server for myself and a few friends. I'd highly recommend it. There is a good iOS app available with car play support.
This is likely happening because Audible is trying to more tightly integrate with Amazon systems used by other businesses like Kindle. Subsidiaries maintaining separate, duplicate infrastructure...
This is likely happening because Audible is trying to more tightly integrate with Amazon systems used by other businesses like Kindle. Subsidiaries maintaining separate, duplicate infrastructure is expensive and can be bad for business. There are a lot of consolidation and deduplication efforts in the age of massive data center spending.
Because vertical and horizontal monopolies are bad. In sane times, we never would have allowed traditional book publishers to own the whole stack from author to reader, but since it's on the...
Because vertical and horizontal monopolies are bad.
In sane times, we never would have allowed traditional book publishers to own the whole stack from author to reader, but since it's on the internet it's deemed "OK."
Haven't publishers and distributors commonly been the same entity? Publishers directly owning their own printers and selling directly to readers can be a good thing, much like self-publishing....
Haven't publishers and distributors commonly been the same entity? Publishers directly owning their own printers and selling directly to readers can be a good thing, much like self-publishing.
Intermediaries can be a bad thing like car dealerships.
I would argue in a state-managed economy, where all goods are produced and distrubuted at-cost, that is true. In a market economy, the optimal solution is to keep companies as small as possible....
I would argue in a state-managed economy, where all goods are produced and distrubuted at-cost, that is true.
In a market economy, the optimal solution is to keep companies as small as possible. It lowers barriers to entry and insures nobody becomes too big to fail.
Every time a single company does an extra thing, they make it harder for people to compete on equal grounds. It follows that if you want a market, companies should only be allowed to do 1 thing and do it well.
That "one thing" can very broad without reducing competition. Integration can combat cartels and align incentives. Why do so many companies build rather than buy? Let's say I start a company...
That "one thing" can very broad without reducing competition. Integration can combat cartels and align incentives. Why do so many companies build rather than buy?
Let's say I start a company bottling Himalayan spring water. Business is going great...except for the insane costs of shipping empty glass bottles up the mountains. So, I start importing silica and mining the other necessary chemicals nearby.
My water bottling company is now turning a larger profit and producing more than ever! We import more bottle caps than ever, but we no longer buy finished glass bottles. We've also created a booming mining industry from nothing.
I completely agree we should encourage competition and lower barriers to entry. The size of companies is related to but not 1:1 with market competition.
And incidentally probably poisoning your water in the process. ;) That would qualify as two things. Convince somebody else that it'll be worth their effort to do so. If not....you're still...
We've also created a booming mining industry from nothing.
And incidentally probably poisoning your water in the process. ;)
That would qualify as two things. Convince somebody else that it'll be worth their effort to do so. If not....you're still ostensibly profitable, so you can make due without being more profitable. It is that growth mindset that is destroying the world.
If you weren't profitable.., then maybe you shouldn't have done that in the first place.
I also disagree about bundling. Especially in your given scenario. TV and streaming have never been a healthy market, they're oligopolistic at best. Both TV and streaming were at their best when they were maximally a-la-cart. Sure, all the toxic garbage TV channels would die, but that's a good thing.
In the old days, an OS and hardware was a deeply intertwined thing. Once independent companies showed they could survive by selling just one the antitrust should come spilt the first company up with a chainsaw. After a few of those, companies would start splitting when they see the writing on the wall to do so on their own terms.
They do, same as IMDB! They bought it for the dataset and left the product in life-support mode, but they might use it to influence the market to their advantage. https://thestorygraph.com/ is a...
They do, same as IMDB! They bought it for the dataset and left the product in life-support mode, but they might use it to influence the market to their advantage.
https://thestorygraph.com/ is a great replacement: a small Black-owned business, managed by a small team of people who cares.
Well, you could try to read between the lines of the official stance, but I feel the article did a pretty good job summing up what's been happening over years and the general vibe in the community...
Well, you could try to read between the lines of the official stance, but I feel the article did a pretty good job summing up what's been happening over years and the general vibe in the community about it.
Are people not using Libby for audio books? I rarely have trouble finding what I want there. I guess I have the advantage of a big library system (Pittsburgh Carnegie library system). Since I live...
Are people not using Libby for audio books? I rarely have trouble finding what I want there. I guess I have the advantage of a big library system (Pittsburgh Carnegie library system). Since I live in PA, I can also access the digital catalogue of the Philadelphia Free Library for free and the Queens public library for $50/year.
I used to also pay $40/y for the Houston non-resident digital card, but they discontinued it. You can still get free access if you are a Texas resident.
Occasionally I'll want something nobody has and Downpour.com has been a good option (most are drm free).
I don't have any useful free reciprocal options with Libby - if I understand correctly my state mostly shares their digital catalog already so there's no second card options outside of maybe...
I don't have any useful free reciprocal options with Libby - if I understand correctly my state mostly shares their digital catalog already so there's no second card options outside of maybe Chicago? Idk I'd have to pay for it. But it depends, and I still use Audible mostly because I often read/listen more than Libby can keep up with.
You probably know more about your local Libby situation that I do, but the Queer Liberation Library (https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org/members) and the Japan Foundation in LA...
Outside of Libby, there's Chirp with a free collection (https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobook-lists/free-audiobooks) along with Freebie Fridays where they add new stuff. The top shelf stuff is usually full price there, but options are options.
Agreed, I've always associated Libby with city and academic libraries, but it's kinda wild that other organizations can make a Libby instance, stock it with books and put it in a listing with all...
Agreed, I've always associated Libby with city and academic libraries, but it's kinda wild that other organizations can make a Libby instance, stock it with books and put it in a listing with all the other libraries in the service. That and it's good that this resource exists in particular.
Yeah I'm familiar with both of those! I am just usually looking for my specific authors and books so I'm less interested in either the free stuff or Audible's "included" titles and the like. When...
Yeah I'm familiar with both of those! I am just usually looking for my specific authors and books so I'm less interested in either the free stuff or Audible's "included" titles and the like. When I have the energy to do all the backing up, I'll eventually switch.
I fell down a fedi rabbithole, where I learned that Amazon (Audible) is forcibly retiring their older royalty system. Technially it's an opt-in, but the terms are quite clear:
I wonder exactly how that will work with books that were Audible exclusive? Does Amazon just get to keep it and tell the author to pound sand?
Anyhow, the tldr is that authors now have to accept a "higher percentage" of that nebulous "platform engagement pool" the same way video and music makers do. That means even more "analytics," algorithmic manipulation. Ever wonder why you'll get routed to songs from compilation albums instead of the OG album? Lower licensing payout.
The big question: If an author doesn't accept the new terms, does Amazon wipe your copy of the audiobook? My money is on "yes."
The other thing that happens is that the narrators don't get their royalties either if the author doesn't accept the new terms. So they're being encouraged to badger the authors into taking the new terms.
Take your backups now. While most authors will probably quietly grumble, I have no doubts some of the smaller ones whom are doomed to obscurity in the streaming-only payouts will yank out and try somewhere else.
Edit: For the latecomers... I found a calculator somebody made:
https://profitable.app/tools/audible-royalty-calculator
The new royalty system works with a nebulous system of 'member value,' which is the membership price less 'taxes and fees' Since we have 0 insight into the methodology, a standard member is $9/mo retail price. If that Member Value drops below $7, for whatever reason, it's almost certainly a net loss for all but the most popular authors.
For anyone looking to back up their audible library, check out the program "libation". It's a free open source gui program that supports backing up and decrypting your entire library. I recommend having it convert to m4b files, which it can do without transcoding, so no loss in quality.
I also used to use OpenAudible. It worked quite well when I used it, but libation does everything it does without costing money, so I can't really recommend it anymore. But the UI was a bit more polished as I remember.
There is also the venerable inaudible program. It is very powerful, but is much less user friendly for large backups than libation. And I don't think it supports the new drm scheme, so it only works on books you can still download with the old drm.
As an end user I prefer a simple model. I pay for a thing, I get offline access to the thing, the end. It is simple, easy to understand, keeps costs bounded and doesn't offer as much room for black box algorithms to manipulate engagement.
The more this model is deviated from the more options and incentives are there to use any trick possible to keep the user engaged. And it goes back to the content made. If binge worthy, or also addictive, content is incentivized monetarily then more content will be made more binge worthy.
Fifty million merits was made a lot of years back now but as a metaphor it works too well.
As a suggestion for you and others, check out Libro.fm! Among it's many cool features (directly supporting local book stores with profit share), every audiobook has easily-accessible DRM-Free download options!
Before I had ever seen that episode of Black Mirror, I had been checking out a Rhode Island musician, Gavin Castleton, who at the time was experimenting with different sounds and rapping styles and put out this song that sampled that end speech into the song's intro. A song built on the anxiety of a burgeoning internet, the floodgates of reaction images "my malaise don't fit in the animated gif, I have feelings that can't be expressed with kittens." Anyway, you get to hear some of the speech of fifty million merits and also get a little pop banger to chew on, if anyone is interested.
https://youtu.be/Vw1hQBhNZP4
He calls it his pop album, but it's indie for all intents and purposes
I have been using https://libro.fm/ for a year now and it's satisfactory:
m4bto use offline with your favorite software.By downloading DRM-free you to lose the ability to refund purchases, no great but fair(wrong, see replies)As for Audible-produced audiobooks, I simply pirate them. Seems like they moved from "platform-exclusive" to "available on other platforms, but at extortionary prices" (and not purchasable with monthly credits). Fuck them.
I know you're not all (or any) bots, but three people posting about the same alternative within about 10 minutes of each other was very "oh no the bots are here" and/or "join the cult* vibes. Lol
I get it though. I am barely able to hold back from adding my own "try Libro.fm" comment every time a conversation about Audible comes up. It just feels like such a relief and joy that a company like Libro (an employee owned social purpose corp!!) could compete with an evil behemoth like Amazon. It practically forces itself out of my fingers. The world has to know!
Sure sure but the cults also just want you to know by evangelizing (◠‿◕)
I get it. I still use audible because I can't de-amazon myself yet, but it's on my list.
Awww man, I can’t believe I’m late to the Libro.fm
cult recruitmentfan meetup!Glad I didn’t miss it though. I’m always happy to help
spread the sacred tenets of our sectpromote DRM-free media.backs away slowly (●__●)
Have I mentioned my treadmill desk yet today?
You haven't, but the five people in my zoom meetings bouncing up and down on the screen have. ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯
;D
Omg this made me want to laugh and cry.
It feels like a legitimately helpful use of AI / computer vision would be a stabilization plugin that fixes this.
It's not quite that bad, but it's absolutely a thing. Most folks have transitioned from walking during meetings to walking during webinars or while reading or thinking. But yeah
Lmao, to be fair I learned about Libro from a different Tildes post a while ago, so the propagation works.
Also, I got in 2 minutes before the next guy ;P
Also responding to your parent, fwiw you can still get a refund even if you download the DRM-free file, I got a Little Women audiobook with awful sound balancing and was able to get my credit refunded still. (I did delete that backup to be honest and because again it was terrible, but they didn't ask for any proof of that or anything)
Good to know that refunds are still possible! Just re-read their refund policy and it's indeed listed as a possible reason for denying a refund if abused, not a hard criteria.
I appreciate the sharing of resources! It was just funny in the moment
Nope, 100% wetware here. Would have upvoted instead of posting had I loaded the page after the other comments were posted.
No I get that, it was just entertaining!
Gooble Gobble!
I'm a fellow happy non-bot libro.fm user. Another alternative I used previously and don't see mentioned as often anymore is Downpour. They also offer DRM-free downloads for (most) books. Couple down-sides that made me switch are that unused credits can expire (after a year, I think) and back when I was using them it was very easy to accidentally purchase abridged versions of books. But overall I think it is still useful as a complement for one-off purchases during sales and stuff.
And of course there's also Libby, which is free if you have a library card from a participating library. Getting audiobooks through Libby are DRM-protected (but in my opinion limited-time rentals is the one use case where DRM is justified), probably has a smaller selection depending on your library, and can have long wait times for new and popular books, but the price can't really be beat.
Hoopla is another library app that has a lot of audiobooks, similar in that you're getting them with DRM as they're loans.
Just a small reminder that y'all should come over to libro.fm. All books are DRM-free, they help support local bookstores. I left Audible for them years ago and couldn't be happier.
I started hosting my own audiobookshelf server for myself and a few friends. I'd highly recommend it. There is a good iOS app available with car play support.
This is likely happening because Audible is trying to more tightly integrate with Amazon systems used by other businesses like Kindle. Subsidiaries maintaining separate, duplicate infrastructure is expensive and can be bad for business. There are a lot of consolidation and deduplication efforts in the age of massive data center spending.
And that's why Amazon should never have been allowed to buy Audible.
Well not the reason. Just another.
Because they might try to integrate audiobooks with their books and music businesses? Doesn't seem much different from Spotify's recent expansion.
Because vertical and horizontal monopolies are bad.
In sane times, we never would have allowed traditional book publishers to own the whole stack from author to reader, but since it's on the internet it's deemed "OK."
Haven't publishers and distributors commonly been the same entity? Publishers directly owning their own printers and selling directly to readers can be a good thing, much like self-publishing.
Intermediaries can be a bad thing like car dealerships.
I would argue in a state-managed economy, where all goods are produced and distrubuted at-cost, that is true.
In a market economy, the optimal solution is to keep companies as small as possible. It lowers barriers to entry and insures nobody becomes too big to fail.
Every time a single company does an extra thing, they make it harder for people to compete on equal grounds. It follows that if you want a market, companies should only be allowed to do 1 thing and do it well.
That "one thing" can very broad without reducing competition. Integration can combat cartels and align incentives. Why do so many companies build rather than buy?
Let's say I start a company bottling Himalayan spring water. Business is going great...except for the insane costs of shipping empty glass bottles up the mountains. So, I start importing silica and mining the other necessary chemicals nearby.
My water bottling company is now turning a larger profit and producing more than ever! We import more bottle caps than ever, but we no longer buy finished glass bottles. We've also created a booming mining industry from nothing.
I completely agree we should encourage competition and lower barriers to entry. The size of companies is related to but not 1:1 with market competition.
Bundling and unbundling can be cyclic in healthy markets as we see with television and streaming: https://stratechery.com/concept/business-models/bundling-and-unbundling/
And incidentally probably poisoning your water in the process. ;)
That would qualify as two things. Convince somebody else that it'll be worth their effort to do so. If not....you're still ostensibly profitable, so you can make due without being more profitable. It is that growth mindset that is destroying the world.
If you weren't profitable.., then maybe you shouldn't have done that in the first place.
I also disagree about bundling. Especially in your given scenario. TV and streaming have never been a healthy market, they're oligopolistic at best. Both TV and streaming were at their best when they were maximally a-la-cart. Sure, all the toxic garbage TV channels would die, but that's a good thing.
In the old days, an OS and hardware was a deeply intertwined thing. Once independent companies showed they could survive by selling just one the antitrust should come spilt the first company up with a chainsaw. After a few of those, companies would start splitting when they see the writing on the wall to do so on their own terms.
It’s always been confusing to me that Audible and Kindle aren’t just the same thing.
Amazon has a lot of businesses like that. Twitch is still kind of doing its own thing too.
I believe they own good reads too
They do, same as IMDB! They bought it for the dataset and left the product in life-support mode, but they might use it to influence the market to their advantage.
https://thestorygraph.com/ is a great replacement: a small Black-owned business, managed by a small team of people who cares.
Correct. That's why it has so many links to Amazon product pages. They also own IMDb.
Which is why IMDB is getting shittier and shittier.
This article is blatantly slop. Anyone got a source that isn't slop?
Well, you could try to read between the lines of the official stance, but I feel the article did a pretty good job summing up what's been happening over years and the general vibe in the community about it.
https://www.acx.com/mp/blog/audible-new-royalty-model
Are people not using Libby for audio books? I rarely have trouble finding what I want there. I guess I have the advantage of a big library system (Pittsburgh Carnegie library system). Since I live in PA, I can also access the digital catalogue of the Philadelphia Free Library for free and the Queens public library for $50/year.
I used to also pay $40/y for the Houston non-resident digital card, but they discontinued it. You can still get free access if you are a Texas resident.
Occasionally I'll want something nobody has and Downpour.com has been a good option (most are drm free).
I don't have any useful free reciprocal options with Libby - if I understand correctly my state mostly shares their digital catalog already so there's no second card options outside of maybe Chicago? Idk I'd have to pay for it. But it depends, and I still use Audible mostly because I often read/listen more than Libby can keep up with.
You probably know more about your local Libby situation that I do, but the Queer Liberation Library (https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org/members) and the Japan Foundation in LA (https://www.jflalc.org/libby) are open to anyone in the US and have audiobooks in their particular niches.
Outside of Libby, there's Chirp with a free collection (https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobook-lists/free-audiobooks) along with Freebie Fridays where they add new stuff. The top shelf stuff is usually full price there, but options are options.
How is this the first time I’m hearing about the QLL?! What an awesome resource!
Thanks for the pointer, moocow. They just got a new signup.
Agreed, I've always associated Libby with city and academic libraries, but it's kinda wild that other organizations can make a Libby instance, stock it with books and put it in a listing with all the other libraries in the service. That and it's good that this resource exists in particular.
Yeah I'm familiar with both of those! I am just usually looking for my specific authors and books so I'm less interested in either the free stuff or Audible's "included" titles and the like. When I have the energy to do all the backing up, I'll eventually switch.
Hoopla is the other main library app!