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Audiobooks on Spotify

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Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#191

Post by throwaway46829 »

photoGrant wrote: post #121
daveidol wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. This "corporate drama" really does impact users, as well as developers (most of the HN crowd).

To be fair the corporate drama is usually dressed up as contorted consumer opinion drivel. The true reasons for most of these moves behind the scenes aren't as altruistic as these folks like to let on!

All of business is a sort of charade, Amazon might be "sorry that your product was disappointing and want to offer you a refund" by which they mean "if we give you a refund we think you'll feel confident enough to buy more from us". You still get what you wanted though.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#192

Post by wintermutestwin »

My reaction when I read: "Audiobooks on Spotify" - Finally! Why has it taken so long to have subscription access to all audiobooks???

And then I read that you actually have to buy individual audiobooks - WTF???!!!

I can stream ,000,000s of music, movies and series with a subscription - why not audiobooks??? (and don't mention Audible - for $23/month I can stream two books = BFD)

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#193

Post by sdfhbdf »

fleddr wrote: post #105
sdfhbdf wrote: post #69

Quoting from the page: > TLDR: Apple rules mandate a cumbersome Audiobooks purchasing process This is very much a lie. Apple’s way is the easy way - use IAP. And it seems that like with facebook [1] they’re trying to apply the rules evenly to everybody. Spotify religiously denies using Apple’s In App Payments. The attempt to send emails on how to purchase audiobooks is their sneaky way of bypassing the rules. They no…

Your argument is "they are the rules". I think the point is that the rules are anti-competitive, user-hostile, extractive.

I understand that they find it anti-competitive but I have a problem in how they summarize their argument - they blame Apple for the cumbersome process while the real problem is them skirting the rules on IAP. The TLDR sound rather sound like “Apple wants use to use anti-competitive IAP but we don’t want to so we have to make the process of buying audiobooks complicated”. This sounds more close to the situation they describe.

When apps use IAP it’s very user-friendly. People sometimes prefer it over putting down their payment details in yet another app. I disagree that forcing apps to use IAP is user-hostile. I am not arguing that the IAP mandate is perfect, but these are the rules right now. And you can’t break rules just because you think they’re insane. Dura lex sed lex.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#194

Post by throwaway46829 »

sdfhbdf wrote: post #69

Quoting from the page: > TLDR: Apple rules mandate a cumbersome Audiobooks purchasing process This is very much a lie. Apple’s way is the easy way - use IAP. And it seems that like with facebook [1] they’re trying to apply the rules evenly to everybody. Spotify religiously denies using Apple’s In App Payments. The attempt to send emails on how to purchase audiobooks is their sneaky way of bypassing the rules. They no…

It can be perfectly legal but still wrong, in which case it makes sense to raise awareness with the public in the hope of new laws.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#195

Post by throwaway46829 »

threeseed wrote: post #138
fleddr wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument is "they are the rules". I think the point is that the rules are anti-competitive, user-hostile, extractive.

You can make anything anti-competitive. Spotify doesn't offer an API to allow me to replace their payment system with mine where I would direct 100% of profits to artists. Because that is their revenue source.

A more interesting/valid scenario might be something like "Spotify is using their dominance in music streaming to get too much of an advantage in the podcast market". How much is too much is for the public and politicians to debate as seen here, it's a matter of pragmatism not absolute truths.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#196

Post by mavu »

The spotify UI is the worst for listening to audiobooks i have ever encountered.

So, I would consider it a favour that Apple is preventing you from suffering this miserable experience.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#197

Post by batch12 »

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 just use Spotify for podcasts, never music. Just providing a different perspective.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#198

Post by arsome »

firloop wrote: post #8

As a consumer, I’ve actually come to prefer in app purchases. I love when a subscription is available on IAP because for something like a newspaper, I know that I can cancel it with a couple of taps instead of having to fill out some long retention form or call someone.

Sure, but I'd rather pay a 2% PayPal tax for that ability than a 30% Apple tax.

Re: Audiobooks on Spotify

#200

Post by hybridtupel »

mavu wrote: post #196

The spotify UI is the worst for listening to audiobooks i have ever encountered. So, I would consider it a favour that Apple is preventing you from suffering this miserable experience.

Exactly this! They litteraly treat audiobooks like a music album. Randomize tracks? Check! Not storing where the audiobook was stopped? Check! Featuring actual personal mixtapes of chapters taken from multiple books? Check! With that experience I'd never buy a single book there.
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