All About the Audible Standard Membership
This post is sponsored by Audible
Recently, Audible launched a new plan option and I’m thrilled about it!
It’s called Audible Standard and here is what you need to know about it.
First off, it’s helpful to know about Audible’s highest-tier plan, which is called Audible Premium Plus.
Audible Premium Plus is $14.95 a month and you get one credit per month to spend on any audiobook you want from the Audible catalog. That audiobook is yours forever, even if you cancel your Audible membership (it’ll always be in your Audible account and the Audible app, both of which you can access without a membership).
You also get access to the Audible Plus catalog (around 150,000 books) that you can listen to without using credit.
You also have access to Audible sales where audiobooks go on big sale (think $2-4 each).
So that’s the Audible Premium Plus plan, which has been around for ages.
The new plan, Audible Standard, takes the place of the Audible Plus plan where you only had access to the Audible Plus catalog (the aforementioned 150,000 included audiobooks). Personally, that wasn’t a plan that ever really got me out of bed so I’m not at all sad to see it go.
Instead the new Audible Standard plan lets you pick one audiobook a month from the whole Audible catalog (just like the Audible Premium Plus plan). The primary difference is that instead of owning that audiobook forever, you’ll lose all your audiobooks if you cancel your Audible membership.
It’s also only $8.99 a month, so significantly cheaper than the Audible Premium Plus plan.
For some listeners, not owning the audiobook is a total deal breaker, but for people who don’t go back and listen to audiobooks again after the first listen, this is a great way to have access to brand-new releases, buzzy audiobooks, or hard-to-find titles without paying the premium price to own them forever.
Most people know quickly which plan is a better fit for them and I’m delighted that they’re both options now so you can make the right choice for you depending on your listening habits.
And if you currently have a different plan and want to switch to the Audible Standard plan, you can do that on the Audible website.
Here are a few other things to know about the Audible Standard plan:
- If you’re currently an Audible Premium Plus member and want to switch the Audible Standard plan, any audiobooks you’ve bought on Audible Premium Plus are yours forever. They won’t disappear when you switch to Audible Standard.
- You won’t have access to Audible sales – when they mark down all their audiobooks, you won’t get the sale prices.
- Your credits don’t roll over on Audible Standard. With Audible Premium Plus you have 12 months to use your credit, but with Audible Standard if you don’t use your credit that month, it’ll disappear the next month. So use them! This is a great plan if you tend to overthink using your credits or are a hoarder of them and don’t want to be.
- You can’t share Audible Standard titles with your child’s Kindle (or on family sharing). With Audible Premium Plus titles, I can send any of my Audible titles to my children’s Kindles (they listen nonstop on them!) but with Audible Standard, that isn’t an option.
- You cannot return an audiobook you got with a credit on Audible Standard. With Audible Premium Plus, you can return a book you got with your credit and didn’t like and get your credit back. With Audible Standard, this isn’t an option.
- You cannot pause your Audible Standard membership. This is an option for some plans, but not Audible Standard.
Any other questions about Audible Standard? I’m happy to help – let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!
