The music industry is insane

I have been follow the development of Storytel ever since it started in the form of “Bokilur” – at least a couple of years ago. Storytel is a service for listening to audio books on your phone. The books are streamed, like Spotify, but for audio books and only in a mobile phone. When I tested it before, I viewed it as promising but lacking somewhat when it comes to things like audio quality and  the number of books supplied.

Spotify have made me view Storytel in a different light. I think it is so damn good to be able to use media as music and audio books as a service, as opposed to having to buy a physical or virtual copy of it. I just finished a book and learned that the audio quality got better. I am not sure it’s something in their technology, It might be my phone. Another thing is that the sound quality got better and better as the reading went  along. I guess it has to to with our fabulous body’s capacity of adapting to new circumstances.

There is not much to complain about the books from Swedish publishers, but a lot of the English books are absurdly short which probably is because they are “abridged” – there is no such information. Abridged audio books are quite common in the English language. I really don’t understand why. I would never read an abridged book. It seems really crazy. Luckily, I believe this tradition is fading away.

How I use Storytel

Recently I have tried to read some audio books to get energy for all reading and writing I have to do in the process of writing my thesis – and spare my eyes. It was easy to install Storytel software – and I believe it will be quite easy even if you don’t have experience in this field. Currently I have a subscription that’s giving me the right to unlimited listening for 169 kr a month (which is about 16 euro). The phone software is easy to use. I can search for books or browse by author, popularity etc. The player always remembers where I am in a book and when I answer a call, the narrators voice fades away. I use my private mobile with Telenor- the subscription fee is included in the phone bill. Telenor and other big mobile operators in Sweden have an arrangement with Storytel, so there is no net fee. The only thing I pay is the monthly subscription. The arrangement between Storytel and the mobile operators also apply if you pay per week, or per book, so there are no hidden costs. I haven’t tested it on trains or driving, but it works almost perfectly in the areas around my home. Taking a “book reading walk” in the woods surrounding the small town Ronneby – where I live – rarely lead to communication breaks.