That’s because Audible grew out of an antiquated system for selling books that dates back more than a century. While quite a few of those books are themselves Audible originals, I’m guessing the vast majority are licensed from outside publishers in some capacity - in the same sense that Netflix licenses seasons of Breaking Bad or Friends.Īudible technically already has a $14.95 a month subscription, but that only provides you with “credits” you can use to purchase audiobooks a la carte. Then a few weeks ago several thousand podcasters received invites to submit their shows to Audible’s podcast directory - an indication that there will be a free listening layer to the app.Īnd then this week the company announced it’s debuting a new subscription offering: for $7.95, subscribers get all-you-can-eat access to original podcasts and 11,000 audiobooks. Earlier this year we learned that it had commissioned the production of several premium, exclusive podcasts.

It’s been an exciting few months for Amazon-owned Audible.

Amazon prime audio books