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Comment by jmull | Hacker News Reader

Wow… Sanderson is trying to back down Audible and their monopoly on audio books.

Looks like I’ll be getting his books from Speechify from now on.

Reacting to "Audible monopoly", and while it may technically be so, it needn't-

Most of what I read and listen to is provided by my tax-supported public library. If I find something I think will make a welcome gift, I buy it from bookshop dot org or a local bookstore (Minneapolis is rich with them). If I had the discretionary income I'd give more money to the Library foundation, continue lobbying for strengthening the public library system, and continue checking out books; it's a model that lowers the barrier to accessing art, information, and wisdom.

Do Audible published audiobooks end up in public libraries? I'm assuming the exclusivity implies never leaving their platform but I'm not knowledgable enough about this space

Libraries have to pay a premiums for them, so it depends on the budget of your library. (Some may only buy if someone puts in a request for purchase & some may not have the budget to buy at all.)

I've listened to 10+ Sanderson books and all of them have have been through my local library (via Libby app). The only downside is that some have decently long wait times so you have to plan in advance.

How can there be a wait time for an audiobook, a digital file that can be reproduced infinitely?

The library owns a certain number of licenses to the audiobook, and only allows as many simultaneous check out as they have licenses. If none are currently available, you wait until one is returned. Just like a physical book.

> Looks like I’ll be getting his books from Speechify from now on.

Some competition for Audible would be nice, but Speechify don't even have an Android or Web app. So on top of not owning the mp3 files they also lock you into the apple ecosystem.

They are supposedly rounding out platform support in 2023.

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