Went with Thalia here in Germany (still less books than Audible) and used OoenAudible to convert all my books to .M4B-files and also all MP3-files from Thalia into the same file type as well.
Deployed an own instance of Audiobookshelf then and bought the plappa-app on iOS to stream or download the books, also having CarPlay-support here.
A little bit complicated but the result is worth it - and new books are bought on Thalia from now on. Works for me and my use case!
Thalia it’s just another locust that should have been prevented merging with Mayersche / Weltbild etc. People seem to have forgotten that it was Thalia that completely destroyed the small bookstores a few years ago, not Amazon.
Well, I am open-minded for alternatives here that are European-based and have a similar offer like Audible or Thalia. As for Thalia, you may be right but Weltbild dismanteld itself more than a decade ago forgetting to move with the times (I loved the stores) and Mayersche - well, I know people that also said they “destroyed the small bookstores”. Depends on your own opinion though. So if you know any real alternative with European background where I can buy (German( audiobooks on a similar subscription-basis - give it to me! 🙂
For audiobooks you should definitely look into your local library. They usually have a digital offering that includes fairly recent audiobooks. If they support overdrive, you can use Libby, otherwise there’s the Onleihe app.
There’s also https://www.bookbeat.com/de/ which is European and you can do libro.fm. Libro.fm is from the US but you can choose to support a German or European bookstore with your purchases.
Thanks for the update - Onleihe may be an alternative, BookBeat looks nice and libro.fm could be an alternative for English-only books. Must fit to my workflow (buying the books and putting them into Audiobookshelf) but I’ll check this out. 👍🏻
Went with Thalia here in Germany (still less books than Audible) and used OoenAudible to convert all my books to .M4B-files and also all MP3-files from Thalia into the same file type as well.
Deployed an own instance of Audiobookshelf then and bought the plappa-app on iOS to stream or download the books, also having CarPlay-support here.
A little bit complicated but the result is worth it - and new books are bought on Thalia from now on. Works for me and my use case!
Thalia it’s just another locust that should have been prevented merging with Mayersche / Weltbild etc. People seem to have forgotten that it was Thalia that completely destroyed the small bookstores a few years ago, not Amazon.
Well, I am open-minded for alternatives here that are European-based and have a similar offer like Audible or Thalia. As for Thalia, you may be right but Weltbild dismanteld itself more than a decade ago forgetting to move with the times (I loved the stores) and Mayersche - well, I know people that also said they “destroyed the small bookstores”. Depends on your own opinion though. So if you know any real alternative with European background where I can buy (German( audiobooks on a similar subscription-basis - give it to me! 🙂
For audiobooks you should definitely look into your local library. They usually have a digital offering that includes fairly recent audiobooks. If they support overdrive, you can use Libby, otherwise there’s the Onleihe app.
There’s also https://www.bookbeat.com/de/ which is European and you can do libro.fm. Libro.fm is from the US but you can choose to support a German or European bookstore with your purchases.
Then there are the streamers like Deezer (French) and Spotify (Swedish) though Spotify has some very shady business practices like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_over_fake_artists_on_Spotify
I’m aware that alternatives are scarce and Audible’s exclusivity scheme is making everyone’s lives harder.
Thanks for the update - Onleihe may be an alternative, BookBeat looks nice and libro.fm could be an alternative for English-only books. Must fit to my workflow (buying the books and putting them into Audiobookshelf) but I’ll check this out. 👍🏻