The largest commercial provider of ebooks, audiobooks, and other digital content such as streaming videos in the world, a 2023 report estimated its market share as perhaps being upwards of 90%.
This company notably powers the Libby app for borrowing books.
The headquarters is located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
Are there any European alternatives available?
For audio books I can recommend Thalia.de. They offer a monthly subscription plan (‘Hörbuchabo’) where you pay 7,95€ for one audio book per month. All audio books I’ve been looking for so far were included, even those that sell for 40€+. You don’t need an app, all downloads are plain MP3s without DRM that you can keep forever and the subscription can be cancelled any time. If you don’t get an audio book in one month, you’ll get credits, so you can get two audio books the month after.
Overall, a very fair deal from my perspective.
Be aware that Thalia is like Germany’s Amazon competing out small, independant booksbops woth unfair methods for decades. I’ve boycotted them since the 2010’s.
Is there a better German platform for audio books though? Sure, you could buy physical CDs and rip them but that’s extra work and IMHO not ideal from an environmental perspective.
I used OverDrive in the past when they still offered plain MP3s but its successor Libby isn’t for me. I’m forced to use their app, I have to block the audio book for everyone else, have to rush through as I can only borrow it for two/four weeks etc.
This company notably powers the Libby app for borrowing books.
The main competitor for Libby is BorrowBox, which is owned by an Australian company. Not that you get to choose as a user; it’s up to your local library which app they decide to use.
If you only use the digital services of your library you may also sign up in a different city. I was member of the Berlin library for a couple of years because it had the best overall service for me but never lived in or close to Berlin.
That’s a good tip, although around my way it’s standard to need to visit a local library at least once in order to finalise sign-up (in the UK it’s standard to need to show photo ID when signing up, and libraries won’t generally bother setting up a way to do that remotely).
I know one person who happily collects library memberships every time they’re in a new area with a bit of time on their hands though. They’ve got a very impressive wallet-full of library cards!
Not that you get to choose as a user; it’s up to your local library which app they decide to use.
It’s time to write to the local library system.
