Ever since I got rid of almost all my 200+ physical books when I started my decluttering journey, I’ve been consuming knowledge and information from eBooks, podcasts and audiobooks. I love audios though because I can listen to them when I commute. But I’m tired of having to synch my eBooks and audiobooks from Mac to my phone. I also had to manually search for them in various different websites. I love convenience and I want it all in one apps, you know, like how I like one-stop shopping.
Early this year, I asked in Facebook if anyone uses any audiobook apps and if they can recommend me a good one. I’ve heard of Audible so it was no surprise majority of them recommended it. One comment thought caught my attention: “If you’re a fast listener, Scribd gives u unlimited access for a fixed fee every month”
Well, I am indeed a fast listener. Audible will not be enough for me unless I’m spending more dollars on it. Scribd, to me, has always been a platform where people share documents. I didn’t know they have eBooks and audiobooks. Since when? Okay, I know how outdated I was. So, I downloaded Scribd. I had a 30 days free trial which I love. I could take the opportunity to utilize it fully and cancel it before the trial ends so I don’t get charge. That was the plan…
After reading and listening in total of about 4-5 books in the span of a week and having over 20 books in my saved list, I fell in love with Scribd’s unlimited reading policy. Damnit Scribd! Take my money! I subscribed to a full year membership and I’m totally in awe to find out there are more benefits to it! Wait for it…
Scribd Membership
One month membership is US$8.99 (approx. RM37.90 depending on the currency rate.) I subscribed to a full year membership via Apple at RM 329.90 so it’s only RM 27.50 per month. What a steal!
Once subscribed, you get access to their library of:
Audiobooks
Ebooks
Snapshots – summarized version of books with only key insights.
Magazines
Documents – uploaded by Scribd users.
Music Sheets
You can access Scribd from the web, phone and tablet. The website and app are both well designed so it’s easy to navigate. Whatever you’re reading or listening will be automatically sync on all your devices. For example, if you were listening to an audiobook via your phone and stopped at Chapter 3, you’ll continue from where you stopped when you shifted to listening to it via your tablet. You can also download the ebooks and audiobooks so you can listen to them offline.
Check out the Member Exclusives!
As a Scribd’s subscriber, you also get free access to other services that you have to pay for otherwise. Here are the member exclusives services you can subscribe to:
Blinkist: This is my favourite app apart from Scribd when it comes to huge consumption of information. You can read or listen to this as they contain key ideas from bestselling books. It’s a quick read or listen in just 15 minutes.
Pocket: No time to read the interesting articles you just chance upon? Save or clip it via Pocket and read it later…offline.
MUBI: You can stream curated movies from around the world.
FarFaria: Great news for parents with young children. You get access to unlimited children’s books for kids ages 2 to 9.
Pros and Cons
This is not a comparison review of Scribd against their competitors. So if you ask me if you should choose Audible over Scribd, I don’t know because I’m not using Audible so it’s not fair for me to judge. What I did was to read comparison reviews between the two and decided Scribd suits me better. Please go ahead and do your own research if you’re still thinking about maybe using Audible or other platforms.
I’m here to highlight the pros and cons I found about Scribd that you may want to take into consideration before you subscribe to their service.
Pros
Extremely affordable fee for the amount of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and documents you get access to. Don’t forget about the member exclusives! Scored!
The eBooks, audiobooks and other documents can be read or listened both online and offline.
Get access to articles from popular magazines such as Time, Entrepreneur, Inc, Fortune and many more.
You can highlight, bookmark and add notes in the eBooks.
You can set up sleep timer of 5mins, 15 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour, 2 hour. I use this every time I listen to audiobooks to doze off at night.
Cons
Scribd subscription is really meant for one user only. While it sync well across devices, it doesn’t track or attempts to sync your progress if two people are listening or reading the same book from different devices. If you’re reading Chapter 2 of one particular book and the next person who logged into the same account and read the same book until Chapter 6, the next time you’re logged in to continue reading, it’ll be at Chapter 6.
You don’t own the eBooks and audiobooks. Scribd is like a library where you get access as long as you’re a member. Once you cancel your membership, you lose access to all including the ones you downloaded.
How to sign up on Scribd
If you’re keen to give it a try, you can use my link for a 2-month free trial. Yes! You have 2 months to decide if you want to be a member. I had only a month because I didn’t sign up via a referral link. Try it and let me know how you love it.
You can fill up the registration form or use social accounts such as Facebook or Google.
Add your credit card details (not to worry. You won’t get charged and your information is confidential.)
Start browsing, save your favourite titles or download them if you want. Happy reading and listening!
If you don’t enjoy it like I do, you can cancel your membership before the trial is over. Please remember to do so or you’ll get charged on your credit card. You can set a reminder 2 days before the trial ends if you wish to cancel.
