Looking for a rich audiobook library? My BookBeat experience shows whether the subscription is worth it and whether the audiobook service is really ahead of the game!
Audiobooks are part of my indispensable companion in my everyday life. 🎧 Whether on the way to work, during sport or to relax before going to bed - they offer a wonderful opportunity to immerse myself in other worlds. That's why I made the decision, BookBeat through its paces and share my experiences with you.
In this article, I will go into all the details that I discovered during my time with BookBeat have been noticed. From the Selection and Diversity the title about the Ease of use the app up to Price-performance ratio.
My BookBeat experience could help you decide whether this audiobook service is right for you or whether the provider is just hot air.😦
You can rely on one thing: As a passionate reader and audiobook lover no (important) Missing a detail.👀
Table of contents
What is BookBeat?
BookBeat is a digital start-up, which was founded in 2015 by Bonnier Books with headquarters in Sweden. In the meantime, however, the audiobook service has flown across borders and is available throughout Europe well-known and successful (just like ABBA😉).
The Founder from BookBeat are like you and me: they love and live audiobooks. That's why they are digital specialists in the field and have therefore made it their goal to take the need to hear to the next level for you and me.
But did you know that BookBeat not only audiobooks but also eBooks - my inner reading mouse's heart is leaping for joy. As a user of the app, you can access an extensive library of (audio) books.😍
Whether non-fiction, children's books, thrillers, romance (my current favorite genre) or bestsellers - BookBeat promises, something for everyone to have with them. It is therefore not too surprising that the former start-up is now more than 800,000 titles making it one of the largest audiobook services in Europe!
For a fixed monthly price, you can listen to as many audiobooks as you like on your cell phone or tablet. You can cancel your subscription at any time Customize.
Since 2017 the Swedish service also offers audiobooks in German version on - so it was high time I gave it a try.🔍
Costs and packages
BookBeat offers three different tariffs which gives you unlimited access to all audiobooks and eBooks. The Basic and Premium subscriptions are not based on how many books you listen to, but on the listening hours per month. You will be given a certain "maximum number" of listening hours.🎧
If you just want to listen to it in the evening to switch off, the Basic subscription is definitely sufficient - it has a monthly 20 listening hours are available. That's about 2 novels per month or 5 children's books.
But if you're the kind of person who likes to benefit from BookBeat while falling asleep, on the way to and from work or while exercising (like me), then this is Premium Subscription with 100 listening hours is ideal for you. This corresponds to around 8 novels or 20 children's books.
However, you can also opt for the Basic subscription first and then upgrade to the Premium subscription if necessary. Subscription namely every month flexible so change, as you need one. You then pay the difference from Basic to Premium.😁
And if you are studying BookBeat own Student rate. It costs slightly less than the Basic model, but you have the same number of listening hours per month (i.e. 20 listening hours). To create a student account, you must at least 18 years old and provide proof of your enrollment status. After that you can apply up to 3 years at a reduced price.
The only difference between the Student plan and the Basic plan is that you cannot add any extra profiles.
With the Basic and Premium subscriptions, you are entitled to a Surcharge You can also share your account with family, friends or your partner. You can share your subscription with up to 4 further profiles which then all have the same number of listening hours as the "main account".👀🎧
The individual profiles are separated from each other - so you wouldn't listen to 25 hours together. What's more, everyone has their own book list. With the family account, it is also possible to create a Children's profile to put on. This way you can be sure that your child only age-appropriate content are displayed.
| Basic | Premium | Student | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | 9,99 € | 14,99 € | 4,99€ |
| Audio books / eBooks | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Listening hours per month | 20 | 100 | 20 |
| Integrated devices | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited |
| Extra profile | 4,90€ | 6,99€ | ✘ |
| Multiple payment methods | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audiobook on the PC | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Offline mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
We Go Wild has changed the pricing in the March 2024 researched. We can not promise that prices will remain the same in the future.
What does BookBeat?
BookBeat offers access to more than 800,000 audiobooks and eBooks. Among them are all well-known genres represented, such as fiction, children's books, thrillers and dozens more - so if you can't find anything here, you probably have blinders on.😄
But if you are looking for the Fan favorite "Harry Potter", you will find here not find what you're looking for. The good thing is that the selection is still bombastic enough - and if you don't find anything familiar, you have the opportunity to listen to something new and find something for yourself. new favorite audiobook to discover.😉
If you are interested in SPIEGEL customers you will find at BookBeat a Selection of it. Personally, I was really interested in "The Serpent and the Wings of Night" by Carissa Broadbent (and yes, I did my Bookbeat experience and listening test with it).
The following genres are available on BookBeat
- Tension
- Novels
- Non-fiction book
- Romance
- Biographies
- Fantasy
- Children
- Advisor
- Youth / All-Age
- Humor
- Classics
- Science Fiction
- Graphic novels, poetry, short stories
Functions and extras
In addition to a gigantic library of audiobooks and eBooks, BookBeat offers you some practical Functions and Extras, that make the listening experience that little bit better.
This includes, for example, the option of downloading your audiobooks online and offline to stream. This means that you can not necessarily a Internet connection to immerse yourself in your favorite book. Personally, I think this is especially great for air travel! ✈️
Do your readers often speak too quickly or too slowly? No problem, because BookBeat has the function that Playback speed to your individual needs.
If you want to listen to audiobooks while you fall asleep without using up your listening hours, you'll be glad to hear that the audiobook service offers you a Sleep timer function is made available. You can therefore specify in advance when the audiobook should stop automatically.🛌💤
Can't see the wood for the trees with all the books on offer? I often feel the same way! I find it extremely difficult to find something that I might like. The good thing is that BookBeat takes over this task for you - because you get personalized recommendations are based on your listening habits and interests.
You can also Playlists and organize your favorite books so that you can find them quickly and easily anytime (and anywhere). And what's also cool? There are also selected Audiobook quizzes and Interviews with authors.😁
Try BookBeat free for 60 days!
My BookBeat experience
Now you know everything you need to know about the basic structure of BookBeat - maybe you're already thinking "sounds super interesting to me!". Because now comes the part that should really convince you (or not): My test report.📗🎧
I have the audiobook service looked at more closely and wanted to find out what BookBeat really or whether these are all just empty promises. I'm actually more of a reader - a physical book in my hand, a cup of tea and a cuddly blanket.
But since I professional I read and write a lot, I'm just totally listless in the evening to read any more. That's why Audiobooks the perfect Middle way, to get on with my books without actually having to read.
I've heard a lot about BookBeat and mostly positive reviews. That's why I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to put the audiobook service through its paces.
My favorite genre at the moment is Romantic fantasy... or fantasy with a bit of romance. I think it's just great for really escaping everyday life because it's so far removed from reality. And I love the lively Descriptions of the worlds and the areas - it's simply magical.
I actually wanted to continue reading (well, rather listening to) my current book "Curse of the Seven Souls" with BookBeat - but of course that's not possible.😄
Luckily, I then found a book that I wanted to buy anyway: "The Serpent and the Wings of Night" by Carissa Broadbent. And one thing was clear: I had to listen to it straight away!
But I will now not from my Rating about the Book content (although I would love to do that too), but about how BookBeat as audiobook service performs and whether he will let me convince was able to renew my subscription.😉
The following things were important to me at BookBeat:
- How quickly can I create an account?
- How intuitive and simple is the app's design and structure?
- How does BookBeat work if I have two devices?
- How quickly can I find books that suit me? Do the recommendations fit really to me?
- How is the quality of the audiobooks?
- How (well) do the functions and extras work?
- Is BookBeat worth the price?
How to create an account
To create a BookBeat account, you can click on our link and, as a new customer, benefit from the fact that you can test the listening service for 60 days: "Test BookBeat now!“
Then you come to a Registration form, where you first specify whether you are from Germany, Austria or Switzerland - simply click on the relevant flag. All you then have to do is enter your first and last name, your e-mail address and a password and you're done. So it's real totally simple!😁👍🏼
Testing the BookBeat app
The app is available for iOS and for Android in the corresponding AppStore. I have an iPhone and therefore tested the iOS app. In my first screenshot you can see the Home screen and "Your account" in the app. In my case, the book I'm listening to is already displayed there (which I can really recommend as an aside).📱
You can easily navigate through the app below. I find the structure very intuitive and self-explanatory. I took a closer look at the "Account" section. As you can see, there are general Information on to your account, such as your available listening hours, and individual Settings for your account.
You can select the language of the books under Settings. Under "Book filter" you will find all the possible languages that BookBeat offers you. You can check off as many languages as you like - here you will find no limit.😁
At "My taste profile" you will be shown genres that you can rate with a thumbs up or down. You are then shown possible suitable books, which you then have to rate again. Based on this, the app will then present you with suitable audiobooks.
At "Audio Player" you will find the individual settings for fast-forwarding and rewinding as well as the playback speed - but you can always adjust the latter as you need it while listening. I have a mixture of x1.3 and x1.5. 😊
To select a book, you can either search directly for the book you want or, like me, go to the Categories rummage around. I naturally chose the fantasy genre and the Subcategory Romantasy. As you can see in the screenshot, popular works are presented to you directly and you can also see a Rating, where 5 would be the highest possible.
When you have found an audio book that you like, click on it. You can then save it so that it's in your library, download it (it already says "Downloading") so that you can listen to it offline or click on "Listen" directly.
When you click on "Listen", the whole screen your audiobook is displayed. Here you can see how much % you have already listened to and a button where you can select and set various things.
As you can see, it says at the bottom "Track". The book is divided into different parts - and no, they are not individual chapters. Each track lasts a few minutes, which I personally think is great, as you don't have to stop "in the middle of a track", but can simply choose one. short part decides.👍🏼📱
The only thing that annoys me about the BookBeat App "disturbs" (and this is complaining on a very high level), is that there is no separate "Audiobook" button on the home screen, or a bar where you can press play again directly to continue playing the audiobook. Instead, the book is at the top of "Home" and you can "only" play the audiobook here... as I said: Whining at high level.😄
Do you actually know whether BookBeat or Audible is better?
The smartphone and tablet test
BookBeat promises that you can use the app on different devices... and of course I wanted to test that too. In the AppStore, I downloaded the iOS app for my iPad downloaded - and indeed: The app looks 1:1 like on the smartphone and works perfectly.😍
So you have to not decide between the two. You can use both devices equally well and enjoy your audiobooks. If, like me, you want to chat with friends or watch videos on the side, it's better to use a second device.
BookBeat stops namely the Read aloud (e.g. for commercials) when another sound comes on - is also a good idea, because otherwise you have X sound overlaps, which can be really annoying in the long run.😄👍🏼
Try BookBeat free for 60 days!
How to find the book tips
The Recommendations the BookBeat App... well... could be better.😄
But maybe that's also because I was only my first book listen to. It's possible that the recommendations will fit my taste profile better if I have more audiobooks saved.
But until then I will probably itself through the Genres and Subcategories move to find books that might really interest me.😁👍🏼
The quality of the audiobooks
I think the sound quality of the audiobooks is great. I bought mine via Headphones and a Music box to know how good the reproduction really is. I really have no complaints. Even if you specify a higher or slower playback speed, the sound quality is still very good.👍🏼🎧
I was worried that the reader's voice would sound like a robot and might be difficult to understand. But even at speed x2.0, I was still able to Hear everything well (although it's too fast for me on principle).
The functions and extras in the test
I think that the functions that BookBeat offers are all very well implemented. You can really adjust almost everything to suit your needs. So you can customize the app to your Individualize needs.
The Sleeping function I was the only one not tested - but I can't imagine that it's bad or doesn't work. But I'll definitely be testing it out over the next few days.😊👍🏼
I particularly like the Playback speed. I like to listen to my audiobooks a little faster. Most of the time the readers just speak too slowly for me. However, this is theoretically very good and for most people it is also a sufficient speed for listening if you have to imagine worlds and characters at the same time.
The idea behind the Taste profile I also think it's great... but as I said, the recommendations didn't really knock my socks off. But it could really be the case here that the app only works with your "Listening behavior" learn what you really like and what you don't like.
My conclusion: It's that good BookBeat really
Now for my final assessment of how well BookBeat really is: From me there is 4 out of 5 possible stars (as with the BookBeat rating system).⭐
The reason why there is no full score is the aforementioned Taste profile, from which I expected more, and the Pricing. I have 100 free listening hours, for which you pay €14.99 with a subscription. That can be a lot of money for many people when you consider that there are really "only" audiobooks here and not podcasts, for example.
But I have to admit that the Selection paired with the functions and extras for real gigantic is. So if you are or want to become a real audiobook fan, the subscription is worth every penny! For me, one thing is certain: I (and Bobby of course) stay at BookBeat.😊
But I will continue to Subscription model to Basic change, as 20 hours of listening is enough for me personally... after all, I still want to read classic books. But I can heartily recommend the streaming service with a clear conscience!
And best of all: with our We Go Wild Deal you can For 60 days BookBeat for you test and then decide whether you want to take out a subscription. Simply register here as a new customer and off you go: "Register now and test BookBeat for 2 months!“
I hope the Audiobook service as convinced as I am. All the best and have fun listening!
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