Top up Audiobooks Hours

[LMoores]

We have a Premium Family Plan. My husband is trying to listen to an Audiobook but he got cut off because apparently there are only a certain number of hours per month you can listen? Other than the fact that this makes zero sense (WHY???) I am trying to purchase Top-up Audiobook Hours for him. I found this information:

How to purchase top-ups

You can purchase top-ups with a credit/debit card or PayPal.

To top up on your account:

1. Go to your Account overview page.
2. Under Subscription, select Audiobook listening time.
3. Select Top up.

HOWEVER when I go to the "Subscription" there is not an "Audiobook listening time" option to select. The options are: 

Subscription

Available plans

Manage your plan

Manage members

Cancel plan

I have searched in all of these segments but am unable to find the "Audiobook listening time" link that is supposed to be there. Does anyone know about how I can make this happen???

[Billy-J]

Hey @LMoores, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

I will make sure to pass your feedback on to the right folks in regards to the listening time. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about this new feature. For future reference, you do have 15 hours of listening per month which is only available to the plan’s manager (not the members).

Can you ask the plan’s manager to log in to their account here and see if they have the option to top-up? If not, ask them to send me a screenshot of what they’re seeing and I’ll take a closer look. 

Let me know how this goes!

[LMoores]

Ah, that was it, I thought I was the primary on the account but it is my
husband. All set now with the top up but I would love to be able to listen
to audio books, too! It doesn't make any sense why this feature is so
restricted (only one person allowed for a Premium Family account and so few
hours, it's weird!). Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

[Billy-J]

Hey @LMoores,

You’re welcome! I’ll pass your feedback on to the right folks. If you have any suggestions you can always create a new Idea about this here.

I’m here if you need anything else. Have a wonderful day!

[Ludolfyn]

I have even fewer options available and I am the primary on my account

[Reyfan31]

I'm having the same issue as well. I would also like a solution.

[Billy-J]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for your reports. You should be able to add top-ups directly from the account page, but you'll need to do it from the Manage Your Plan section. Please head over to Subscription on your account page > select Manage your plan. From there, you should able to select Manage your audiobook listening time.

Let me know how this goes!

[whateverml]

i’m having the same issue 😕

[Billy-J]

Hey @whateverml,

Can you try following the steps that I have provided in my earlier replies and let me know what happens? You can also send me a screenshot of what you're seeing on your account overview page (make sure to hide sensitive info when posting to the Community).

[KMak3]

Please explain why there is a limit on audio book time per month.  I have been a Spotify premium customer for years!  So disappointed with this and wish to understand the reasoning.  I don’t want to pay more.  This seems like a slam to your dedicated premium customers.  Thank you in advance for your response.

[Billy-J]

Hey @KMak3,

Thanks for your feedback regarding audiobooks. I will make sure to pass your feedback on to the right folks. The titles available in Spotify's audiobook subscriber catalog may vary from time to time at Spotify’s or a third-party rightsholder’s discretion. As a result, the titles in Spotify's audiobook subscriber catalog may not be the same as those available for purchase on Spotify. Typically, all of the audiobooks are for purchase - but as a benefit of being a Premium member, there is a curated catalog for Premium members. More info about Audiobooks for Premium subscribers here. 

I hope this clears things up.

[LMoores]

That's fine that the catalog is limited for the free titles but our
question is WHY only one of the Family members can listen and WHY is the
number of hours limited??? It doesn't really make any sense! Actually it's
a little bit petty and insulting: *"here is a benefit for your paid
Membership but it's highly restricted for no real reason!"*

Considering how many other platforms there are now it would make a lot of
sense for a relatively minimally used benefit to be open for all Family
members and no "time out" restriction. I mean, what does it matter if we
want to listen to Spotify content 24 hours a day??? Wouldn't Spotify want
*all* of us to listen as much as possible? It's just nonsensical!

[J_D13]

Go to manage your plan and click the manage audio book hours. Looks like you can purchase and additional 10 hours for a one time purchase of 12.99. I agree this makes zero sense. 

[LMoores]

Thanks very much!

[nightmaresaside]

Fully agree. $13 for 10 hours of audiobook listening time is incredibly steep and like a slap in the face. For $13 I should own all or part of the audiobook at that point. Most books I read are longer than 15 hours. Now I have to wait 16 days to finish this book or pay $13? I'm livid. I've been a premium subscriber for years.

[gevx-u1p7_1q7]

This is certainly a very poor move by Spotify. They will shoot themselves in the foot with this decision. It will only drive customers away due to pricing transparency being non-existent. The fastest way to **bleep** off a customer is to tell them they are given something as part of a subscription and then tear it away as a secret second tier appears. Looks like Spotify doesn't want to succeed with audiobooks. Shame. This motivated me to go leave the app a 1 star review. I wonder how many will join me over time?

[snowhope]

I'm new to Spotify and having access to audiobooks was one of the appeals over Deezer. I knew that it would only be for 15hrs per month but I'm hacked off that only the primary account can use it in a premium family subscription.

I get the costs though - Spotify's costs for streaming books will be very different to those for streaming music. Seems fair to pass this onto the customer.

[Pr0bablyN0t]

Primary account owner on a single account and do not have access to buy top ups. Frustrating. Yes I followed the instructions provided.

[Pr0bablyN0t]

App literally telling me I can't buy top ups. So annoying.

[Gazelle1]

I am on my account page. There is no section that says manager plan.