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Audiobooks on Spotify

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Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#51

Post by fasouto »

JadoJodo wrote: post #2

Does anyone else take issue with Spotify branching out into other arenas (e.g., Podcasts, TV, Audiobooks, etc.)? I'm honestly kinda tired of all of these services trying to gobble up any slightly related industry. I subscribe to Spotify to listen to music, not podcasts. My podcasts arrive using a different app with the backing of the RSS standard, not Spotify's internal standard. I don't want to get a subscription co…

I am a paying customer and for some reason they show me an popup ad every time I open the app...

It's extremely annoying.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#52

Post by CharlesW »

tpxl wrote: post #35
Maxburn wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spotify is a horrible podcast player. The audio engine doesn't have nuanced speed control or remove silence like other dedicated podcast apps. I also find the podcast UI is terrible for managing shows and play list. And then there's the bugs that don't get fixed for a long time. Last year they had one where every time a podcast was interrupted by a notification or something it would start over from the start. Lastly…

> are not, by definition, a podcast because they don't have a valid rss feed Does a podcast need to have a rss feed? All I see in definitions is that its an audio format made available over the internet. > And of course there's zero chance they will embrace podcast 2.0 features What is Podcasting 2.0? All I see is a bunch of people doing podcasting differently, namely adding ads and crypto.

> Does a podcast need to have a rss feed?

Canonically, yes. RSS is how podcasts are distributed, and why any podcast app can play any podcast.

However, Spotify marketing has bastardized words like "podcast" and "podcasting" by using them to refer to their closed, proprietary platform. That strategy is working brilliantly, and so the future of podcasting is probably proprietary platforms on one side, and bullshit "2.0"/Web3 stuff on the other.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#53

Post by dangrie158 »

Don‘t know about the US market but in Germany there were many audio books available in Spotify already that you could access via the normal premium subscription. Few days after I read about the launch of purchasable audio books in the US all of those vanished so I canceled my subscription and got Apple Music via Apple one which was a little cheaper for the whole family when adding the extra iCloud storage I needed anyway. Happy with the decision so far. I just had to move all my playlists to Apple Music which was easy due to a random online tool I found

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#54

Post by hrbf »

bgentry wrote: post #25
galoisscobi wrote: post #6

Last time they complained about Apple not supporting Siri integration. Then when Apple added support for that, Spotify never added HomePod Siri support. The idea has ~5k votes and 137 pages of comments on their forum and yet no action from Spotify. https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/iOS-Implement-Na...

Spotify also still doesn't support AirPlay 2, nearly 4.5 years after it was launched: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/25/spotify-still-doesnt-su... I really don't want to switch to Apple Music (it's not a great app either) but I'm really tired of dealing with playback issues due to the lack of buffered AirPlay 2 playback. If you try out a proper AirPlay 2 supporting app like Overcast or Apple Music, it's a dramatic…

While Apple Music is annoying to use, the Spotify app is even worse for me. Audio quality is also markedly worse — I have verified my hunch with a double-blind side-by-side test. Spotify is now way too expensive for what they offer and the only noteworthy integration they offer is Sonos.

I'm entirely with you that even if I was a Spotify subscriber, I don't want their podcasts and audiobooks. In separate apps, optimized for use-case, covered by the same subscription, maybe. Forcing all those fundamentally different media formats through one UI and funnel is just wrong.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#55

Post by iamacyborg »

prepend wrote: post #31
iamacyborg wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I subscribe to Spotify to listen to music, not podcasts. Yep, and I really wish they'd stop promoting absolute turds like Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson at me. I have no interest in listening to them.

Not yet, but if you see 20,000 more ads you might have interest. Spotify is willing to try.

The only thing that’ll make me do is badger the folks at Tidal and other streaming co’s to create a proper alternative to Spotify Connect that works on my Yamaha hardware.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#56

Post by tpxl »

LtWorf wrote: post #48
tpxl wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are not, by definition, a podcast because they don't have a valid rss feed Does a podcast need to have a rss feed? All I see in definitions is that its an audio format made available over the internet. > And of course there's zero chance they will embrace podcast 2.0 features What is Podcasting 2.0? All I see is a bunch of people doing podcasting differently, namely adding ads and crypto.

Yes it needs an RSS feed. Otherwise it's just an mp3 file.

So a podcast with an ATOM feed isn't a podcast? It needs a feed, sure, but not necessarily RSS.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#57

Post by hardtke »

wollsmoth wrote: post #40
JadoJodo wrote: post #2

Does anyone else take issue with Spotify branching out into other arenas (e.g., Podcasts, TV, Audiobooks, etc.)? I'm honestly kinda tired of all of these services trying to gobble up any slightly related industry. I subscribe to Spotify to listen to music, not podcasts. My podcasts arrive using a different app with the backing of the RSS standard, not Spotify's internal standard. I don't want to get a subscription co…

I think they have to get some kind of exclusive content. Either they somehow start recording hits and start a war with other streaming services for popular tracks or they have podcasts which I guess are sort of supposed to be like the catalog that video streaming services are trying to build.

Exclusive content is the only way they (or any streaming service) can become profitable. With recorded music, they have to pay a revenue share to the artists and Spotify's percentage does not increase as they grow. With exclusive content, however, they pay once and as the audience grows the additional listeners are pure profit. So, the goal is to increase the percentage of owned content consumed on the platform and give less of the subscription fees to the record labels.

The exclusive tracks model does not work for music artists because they want ubiquitous distribution. Music is unlike video in that people consume the same content over and over again, and also unlike video in that the artists make the big bucks off of live performances.

This is why SiriusXM can pay Howard Stern $100M per year and still be wildly profitable. It reduces their dependence on royalty incurring content.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#58

Post by Jorchime »

mostlysimilar wrote: post #23

No other company do I hate and love so much. I love their discovery algorithms and find new music through them so often. I look forward to my new Discover Weekly every Monday. But in every other way they drive me crazy. The UI is terrible and basic but I've learned to live with it. What I absolutely can't stand is inserting podcasts and audio books into the app with no option to opt-out. I get that they want to put t…

I used to love the Discovery Weekly list as well. But since a couple of years, my account recommendations went into some strange niche solution and they recommend the same rubbish over and over again. I even get annoyed at certain genres that I used to mildly enjoy before.

If you try to look for a solution, apparently the only way is to cancel the subscription, delete the account, resubscribe and start over ... I wish there was a way to reset the "intelligent" recommendations for an existing account.

The only workaround I found: put a couple of similar and interesting songs into a playlist and let Spotify continue with recommendations.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#59

Post by JimA »

Regardless of the passionate feelings against Spotify, it's hard to dispute their basic premise that Apple is deliberately creating a bad user experience just to preserve their walled content garden.

The same thing applies to not being able to buy a book using the Amazon app. It's ridiculous and there is no valid argument against it other than greed. Not a fan of overregulation, but in this area I can't wait for Apple to be reined in.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#60

Post by xamdam »

I love apple products but I hate this stuff. They're cynically kneecapping competition and hurting consumer choice, like they're not rich enough already. Would class action be a to do thing here?
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