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14-7-2024 I just subed on storytel last week accoring to your vid, now I kinda regreted that and just put the end into the trail period. - Very wrong markerting, misleading message, mentioned have over 200,000 + books to access, but in reality, in the business section is not even 60 books!! approx. 50 per each section and they have around 12 sections meaning, the whole books I could access to is 600 +- 100. That's scam marketing ! - Very less books, literally no new books at all, you cant find winner award books or anythings like that 2022, 2023 2024. - Very boring too, in my language Thai, very little annoying book I can always find in public service. and access to eng is limited. Also no point of adding arabic language or dutch to my account as I have no interested in. - Cant use VPN to access another countries book, you basically get ramdom and anoyying book in the language you didnt ask for. All in all, I lost 3 usd paying for this trial period, and now alr DELETED the subs from this app. and soon will delete the app I guess. Now I moved to audible and will give it a try a few weeks.
I’ve completely stopped subscribing to audiobook services bc I can access Libby through my public library and have access to a huge collection of books and audio totally for free. Russian, Spanish, Chinese, and French all have at least 1k content available.
@@deusexmaximum8930 no Libby is an app that many public libraries use for their eBooks or audiobooks. It’s free to download and is usable as long as your local library is apart of the service and you have a working library card.
@@johnpenaloza1797 libby is an app run by overdrive, it basically serves as an integrated interface for all of the digital titles your library might have. i have 3 library cards from my hometown, university, etc. and so have access to /all/ their e-books and audiobooks. your selection will look different based on which library you belong to. definitely get a library card if you don’t already have one!!
Just my two experience about the "you're very unlikely to ever listen to that book again" ... I have dozens of books I listened to more than once, some multiple times. I don't think it's that uncommon.
I understand. Let me tel (yes, 1 L) you a story. There's a book from my childhood that I've listened to at least 80 times... I tried to buy it on Audible. I paid. It was missing 2 chapters. I contacted them. They said they were "looking into it". They "looked it into it" for 2 years. The book then got its 2 chapters back. The book I'd paid for. Then they removed it from their catalogue. Gone forever. Storytel now has that book. With all its chapters. My point is, listening to things multiple times is not a reason to go with a corrupt service that forces you to commit to one book every month or pay more to get more.
I usually avoid using subscription based apps or I just use the free version (with some exceptions like Zoom which I need for work), but in this case I am highly interested in paying that 1000 UAH for so much information and in so many languages! Even though I am kind of disappointed that they don't have Ukraine as a country, it's still fine for me, coz I study Turkish and will listen to Turkish books most of the time. I should probably narrate Ukrainian books for Storytel, for many people complimented me on my voice😅
@@AYoungdude20 hours is the LOWEST limit in most countries. At least 30% of the countries only have an unlimited tier and France is the only country that has no unlimited option.
I didn't know Storytel had books in English. I've seen ads for it here in Finland and just assumed it had books mostly in Swedish and Finnish. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm in the mood for some new audiobooks. Unfortunately I still have a bunch of books on Audible I haven't listened to. The curse of 2 for 1 sales and being forced to use up your credits before cancelling the subscription. 🙃
I was really psyched to try this app to improve my Portuguese and Finnish but was so disappointed to find that you can’t get all languages when using VPNs for different countries.
The 28 minute channel members' video goes into how to get the languages you want. There are certain countries which have Portuguese and Finnish (like both languages through the same country).
What timing! For Swedish I use Nextory (actually following a recommendation from you!). I was looking at Storytel as I’m now learning Turkish and wondered if it was possible to sign up and read Swedish and Turkish books. I really enjoy Nextory though, so big question: Nextory vs Storytel, your take?
I prefer the layout and features of Storytel, which is why I switched a few years ago, but Nextory has some pros. To my knowledge, they don't offer Turkish though.
Okay, thanks! Good to know. Yeah, it was either Storytel for both, or Nextory for Swedish and some other app for Turkish. Sounds like signing up through Turkey would get me Swedish and English too though, so I’m off to look at that now! Thanks so much for this video!!!
@@Charlotte-ti2ykI tried to create account from Turkey (bcs I am Turkish) and hoped to see Swedish and German but unfortunately only English and Turkish are there.
Storytel was my audio plataform for months. I canceled the service cause I literally listened everything that interested me on the their catalog (fantasy books). PS: Storytel in my country (Brazil) only provide books in Portuguese and English.
Yeah, someone should spend 2 days working out which subscriptions include which languages... wait, I already did that. You can just join through a different country. Colombia includes like 7 or 8 languages and is only slightly more than Brazil.
Honestly I have a suspicion that they've got an arrangement with Audible that says they won't launch officially in the big English speaking countries. I can't see how Audible would allow them to licence content (which I am almost certain is happening) if it meant that Storytel were in competition with Audible.
I've been fighting with Audible so much, especially with trying to teach myself Spanish. Thank you yet again! Favorite audio book was i think by Cassandra Clare(?)'s Clockwork series. The readers were amazing. Different voices for different characters but not over done. I was hooked right away. Never found another one as good.
Yeah, they also deleted one of the books I bought after I spent 2 years getting them to add the two missing chapters in the middle. They added those chapters for about a month and then the book was gone. Storytel now has the book... no chapters missing.
Lol I agree that Storytel could potentially be better, but it's pretty funny to say that Audible is an awkward app to use when Storytel basically requires you to use a VPN and/or sign up through multiple random different countries to access its full catalogue. Either way, I was keen to read + listen to books in Bengali, however upon browsing the app there's literally no books that can be both read and listened to at the same time? It's always one or the other, at least in Bengali.
No no, you misunderstand. Needing a VPN really only happens at the very beginning of each book, and it takes like 4 seconds to connect a VPN (which I already have anyway). And that's not with every book. You also absolutely don't need to sign up through several different countries... I'm just obsessed with finding the "right" deal so I'm often changing it around. One of those was just to see if it would even work and it did.
Depends which country, of course. Iceland and Norway are pretty expensive, but yeah... I find it so reasonable that I'm currently signed up through Belgium AND Mexico haha.
Firstly, no. It's cheaper for most things and way better. I did actually explain all this in the video. But also, why wouldn't you have a VPN? My combined total to access the internet including electricity, service provider and devices divided by their lifespan would be close to $300 AU a month (conservative estimate). Surfshark is an extra $4 a month. Opens up more than twice as much internet...
I agree, I purchased over 1500 books over the last 13 years or so, and many of the books I PAID FOR, have a "LOCK" on them they simply changed the book version, removed the book I purchased years ago, and replaced them with their proprietary own version and don't allow me to listen to it. I even purchased their membership to try to download the book and NOPE, it still has a lock on them. Their bullshit of "yours for live purchased skeem is just that, a lie.
Exactly. My BS radar goes off when every company is going subscription model because it makes more money, but the ONE thing that would actually make sense to be a subscription (audiobooks/books) is a "subscribe for one book a month and then purchase books on top of the subscription"... Like, what?
Wow, I've been really struggling to find Arabic audiobooks, so this video was a real blessing. The Turkish account you mentioned in the clip at the end, does that also have access to a decent range of Arabic audiobooks? Keep up the great work with this channel! :)
Actually Turkey only has Turkish and English. There are countries that have Turkish and Arabic, and this is all the stuff I explore in the channel members' video.
Yeah so it depends on a few things. 1) What country's subscription you want. Some countries actually don't let you create the account on the website, rather forcing you to download the app and subscribe that way. They are the cheaper countries, e.g. Colombia. So I found that to make a Colombian account, I needed the VPN on my phone (it may have been another country, I might have misremembered). 2) What languages you want books in. On my Swedish account, almost every book in English is blocked, but not when I connect to Sweden or anywhere else in Europe (apart from UK). This is the same on my Mexican account... and basically any account. But also, sometimes even SWEDISH and Spanish books are blocked, even though it's a Swedish or Mexican account (I have both), because it picks up that I'm in Australia... So yeah, if you have a VPN anyway, which I obviously do because it's just a straight up no-brainer, then I just put Surfshark on my phone to sort this out too.
@@daysandwords ok I may need to watch those nerdy details. I'm in the UK but created a Finnish account (UK wasn't even on the list) in the app. This works fine, but there are no books in Portuguese.
I follow your advice. I tested Audible with my free trial first but I didn't like its "system". I prefer Storytel with its "Netflix-style" model. Thank you for your video :)
Did you know your French sounded like Chow in the french version of the movie the Hangover? 😅 Apart from that great video, thanks a lot! Continue doing that kind of stuff! 👍
l think speachfy is the best option to language learners use, because has 50 languages voices tu use in locals pdf files to read, its a software mostly use for persons with dislexical, but you can use for learning the pronunciation of your target language
Right, so... no actual CONTENT for the price, just the ability to have it read out loud, if you already own it? Kind of comparing apples and amplifiers there buddy.
Hi, do you know if the French books on audible are from any real French people or is the book written in English and spoken in French and are these French books written with French Quebecois ou French franchise
Well it depends which book. What you're asking is if they have translated books or books originally in French and the answer is both, of course. French people read books by French authors but also by authors of other nationalities that are then translated into French, so that's what is on Audible. For the most part they'd be in Parisian French but I'm sure some of relevant books (i.e. books from Canada) are in Qubecois.
Storytel works in Brazil... and it's cheaper than Audible. Storytel is significantly BETTER if you want to do anything that isn't in English. That was the entire point of this video.
Hi. I have a Turkish account on Storytel and they only show me Turkish and English books and I want to access to German books. So in order to access German books on Storytel, do I need to use VPN to Germany and rebuy the membership on there?
Yeah Germany has Turkish but Turkey doesn't have German. That's why the highlight from the members' video says "If you're interested in English or Turkish then you might wanna consider signing up through Turkey".
The closest thing there is to what you're asking is Storytel. You pay less per month than you would for one book so, really, it's not gonna be better than that for a while.
I'm confused, so do the languages offered depend on the country you choose? I'm inclined to go with Poland because I read a lot in Polish, but I want to be sure I'm not confined to certain languages.
Thanks a lot. I just don't understand. Do you have to change your country virtually with a VPN before you open Storytel. Or is that just necessary when you are taking the subscription? I'm from the Netherlands, and with Storytel /NL I couldn't listen Spanish spoken books. With my subscription via Storytel /ES it was the other way around. I'm a little confused now....
What do you mean by "I couldn't listen to Spanish books"? Does it SHOW the title but say that it's not available in your region? Or do the Spanish books just not show up at all? If it's the first one then you need a VPN switched on to Spain while you are browsing. If it's the second one then you need to go into Settings • App • Languages and turn Spanish on. I have a Netherlands subscription right now and I can listen to English, Dutch, French, Arabic, Turkish, German, Spanish and Swedish.
@@daysandwords Thank you. In the list with the available languages Spanish did't show up so I couldn't turn it on. But maybe I was doing something wrong. A really weird question maybe: what has a VPN to do with an app? Or do you always use Storytel in the browser therefore 🤔
OK so just to be clear: 1. You created an account 2. You downloaded the app and installed it on a phone, and you live in NL? 3. You're logged into the account 4. You can't see Spanish in the list of available languages, even though you are signed in to an account that was created in NL? Because if those 4 things are true, then I have no idea. Because my current subscription is a Netherlands subscription and I have all the languages you'd expect (En, Fre, Ger, Dutch) plus Arabic, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. (I forgot to say Italian before.) Is this on an iPhone?
Did you create an account on the website first? Maybe do that (if you haven't already paid) and use a new email address but do it through BELGIUM because although they have the same languages, it seems as though you're running into some automatic language selection based on your phone's settings and/or location. From what you've said here, it seems to me that creating an account through the app might be the problem, because it's looking at your phone's settings and saying "Oh, a Dutch person in the Netherlands, therefore Dutch and English" whereas there's no way that it can do that if you create the account on the website, so it just has to offer all the languages that that country's subscription should offer (and therefore it kind of "kick starts" the phone to do that too). That's my guess but I do want to apologise for not knowing this, since I did make myself out to be an expert. In Australia at least, when you create the account on the website, it "ignores" the fact that I'm Australian. My app is even IN Dutch, which is weird because on my Swedish account the app was in English. In fact, bizarrely enough, the app is laid out differently between Sweden and Belgium/Netherlands.
Edit: I'm stupid I've spent about 5 minutes trying to see which languages they have books in. I'm now an expert on which languages you can use on the site, which languages they have customer services in, and which languages their multilingual AI works in. Oh, also I know which languages they have for the limited version, and that all available languages are in the ultimate version. Which languages are part of 'all'? No idea. I give up. It was a nice idea, anyway.
Um... Honestly your description of your experience is SO different to reality that I think you must have a different app or something. None of this occurs when I log out and re-download the app or put it on a new device. Also, I did a 40 minute deep dive on which countries to sign up through to get various languages etc. and put it on my channel members section... If you wanted to get the info from someone who spent the equivalent of a week straight figuring this out for $3 Australian...
Oh, yeah, the website is not very revealing on the languages that each country's subscription has, which is why I made my members' video. If you tell me what languages you're after I can tell you which country would be best to sign up through (and it's "safer" to do that on the website).
@@daysandwords oh I appreciate it! I'm after Korean, it seems like it probably makes sense to just sign up with the Korean version? (I'm living in Korea now too, so I wouldn't even need a VPN). By the way, the reason I was even looking for something like this was because discovering your channel and watching some of your videos finally pushed me into actually reading and listening to Korean content instead of always putting it off because I 'wasn't ready'. And shocker: it has been working great so far 👍
Yeah, so, in my spreadsheet, I've got South Korea as being the only country to offer Korean, at 11,900 WON per month, but that could be outdated. Lots of them are often offering deals of 3 months at half price or something. I'm currently on Mexican Storytel for 12 months at half price.
the variablity of languages is not really accurate. im in egypt and i downloaded the app and the only available languages arw english and arabic. i want to learn swedish but idk how to fix this problem with the audiobook app. is there a solution?
You know what... I just paid a bit more than "normal" to go and see Into the Spider-verse again... I mean, it's at the Opera House with a live orchestra, but still... that's gotta be some kind of record. The equivalent of 18 months of Netflix spent to see one movie that the person has already seen 59 times.
It will be in English but it actually hasn't happened yet! I didn't even know it was happening until about 6 weeks after the tickets went on sale so we'll have to hope that the seats are OK (they look ok from the booking, but they probably wouldn't have been my first choice) - but yeah, I remember being at music college when those "Sydney Symphony plays... (insert famous film here)" concerts started happening (it all started with LOTR I think), and I remember thinking "I'd only go to that if I REALLY REALLY liked the music to a certain film..." Lo and behold, 18 years later... It's also cool that it's happening because it's not as "simple" as JUST an orchestra, it's requires a DJ on turntables and a bit of other random percussion and stuff... It must be quite the headache to organise live performances of it all over the world.
Can you please explain what,why,and how to use the surfshark .. I do not understand technology very well 😐 😒 but I would really like to use the storytell books for italian learning and just for the books
Was wondering if you could help me out, I can’t seem to figure out how to listen to the audiobook and read along at the same time on my phone. Do I need to have two different devices as mine pauses as soon as I click on read. Hope you can help me out! Thanks!
Yeah, it's stupid, I know. You need two devices. Sometimes the second device will even boot the first device out of it if you're on the same account, so my solution to that is, on the device I'm reading on, you put it in flight mode after you've downloaded the e-book.
If a title on Storytel is both an audiobook and an ebook, can they be done simultaneously? I want to be able to read it while hearing the narration at the same time, that way I'm getting the correct pronunciation, vs. "mispronouncing it in my head" while I'm reading. Both Beelinguapp and Jiveworld do this, although they are based on shorter stories (Beelinguapp) or podcasts (Jiveworld sources Radio Ambulante). I would like to be able to do it with full-length books. If I'm correct and Storytel can't do that, what would you suggest instead? Thank you!
You can but only if you get a separate device, sign in on it, start reading the book, and then put it in flight mode while you get the first device and start listening.
I have no affiliation with Storytel and have had no contact with them so there'd be no reason to link to them in the description. If you google the name the website will come up.
Jag är svensk men använder audible för ryska och utbudet är riktigt begränsat oavsett om jag är inne på amerikanska eller svenska . Tjänsten är känd här men trodde bara att dem hade titlar på svenska. Tack för bra tips!
@@daysandwords I want to sign up from Turkey, but I want to have the option to read in Italian. I only have the options of English and Turkish. Or if i try to sign up in Italy I only have the options of Italian English and Spanish, I would like to have Turkish as well
@@aycazeynepcnar705There are countries that have Turkish and Italian but learning what they were and which ones were the best price for what you get took me a really long time so that information is available in a really long video that I made for my channel members.
There's a book from my childhood that I've listened to at least 80 times... I tried to buy it on Audible. I paid. It was missing 2 chapters. I contacted them. They said they were "looking into it". They "looked it into it" for 2 years. The book then got its 2 chapters back. The book I'd paid for. Then they removed it from their catalogue. Gone forever. Storytel now has that book. With all its chapters. My point is, listening to things multiple times is not a reason to go with a corrupt service that forces you to commit to one book every month or pay more to get more.
@@daysandwords I don't use Audible, anyway. I got that audiobook from the library. If Audible really is "pay $10 a month to get a book every month", that's really bad. That's like forcing you to buy books you don't want!
Has anyone tried using a prepaid debit card thing (the ones you buy in stores)? My main card doesn't work with Storytel, wondering if this would. When using the listen and read at the same time, does it sync? As in if I get lost and it's on the next page, will it flip to the corresponding page for me?
Yeah, I've heard a few reports of this (it not accepting cards from the US) but I've got other reports of people saying that they had 0 problems with paying via the US, and in fact paying IN the app where it converts it to a round US dollar number for you. So I think it might depend on the STATE... which would be bizarre but it might. What state is this in? At the moment it doesn't have the "narrate as you read" feature that you're talking about but it looks like it's not far away.
I do feel the same about you should be able to read while you listen to the book though A quick glance at audible selection of Spanish tiles is very disappointing Even though I use it with Paul Noble to learn Spanish. Quickly I wanted to share with you how I do that sometimes I ride a bike or push a cart to gather water And I use a Motorola Moto z4 which has a Bluetooth speaker attached to the back of it as opposed to put in Bluetooth earbuds in my ear so that I can still hear traffic as it's driving around me I put a necklace around my neck to hold up the phone. The little kickstand that holds the Bluetooth speaker is great for watching TH-cam the speakers are clearly loud enough and they don't drain the battery as it supports the battery. A Motorola Moto Z4 can be bought for as cheap as 100 to 120 bucks on Amazon and all the mods that you can put to it the fiveG mod Bluetooth speaker mod camera mod are very affordable.
It's a convenience thing. Some subscriptions offer 14 languages, so unless you actually spoke all 14 of them, imagine how annoying it would be to have to sift through content in the 12 or 13 you don't speak just to find the books you were looking for? I explain that in the bit about Jane Harper. I don't want to search and author and be like "Oh sweet, they have her books!" and then realise that they are in Danish. So I just switch Danish off.
You can probably sign up through Spain though, which has Portuguese. (And most of the books will still be in Brazilian Portuguese rather than European Portuguese).
Have you ever considered sharing the audiobooks (or resources in general ) that you listened to (worked with)? Super selfish question, I just started learning Swedish ;) Also, fun to see that you keep your username shenanigans going :D
I'm not sure about French. There are many in Swedish and English, and quite a few in German and Finnish. The French don't seem to be very into audiobooks in general so it could be that.
7:50 it has not improved. I got a free trial and was shocked at just how awful it was. I have 300mbps internet and yet pages took up to a minute to load. Even just idling on any page my computer fans would get really loud. When I hovered over the tab in chrome it says it uses a whopping 2gb. 2gb on what? low quality thumbnails? Its genuinely shocking how poor audibles website is. No one should ever buy that garbage.
Yeah, "quickly" being the issue there. The lists are actually wrong, I know because I manually checked them all. I spent 2 days working out which countries had which languages. Which ones are you interested in?
It genuinely is. And Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden are all offering discounts for new customers at the moment. The Dutch countries are doing 3 months at half price and Sweden is doing 45 days for 9kr (which is like $1 US).
You don't need a VPN to create an account and subscribe, you can do that on the website and the country you do it for will be your subscription. Then you just need a VPN on your phone to access ALL the titles (but many with be available without a VPN anyway). What language is this for?
OK, cool! So, the only issue you MIGHT have with being in the USA is that I have heard of Storytel rejecting certain credit and debit cards from the USA, but I have never ever had that problem and I know many Americans who use it without a problem. But, just go to the website, www.storytel.com/se - and they'r actually running a deal at the moment that means you get 45 days for 9 kronor which is like one US dollar. And you just create an account and sign up, remember what password you used, and then download the app on your phone and sign in using those details. When you search certain titles, you'll see it say "We're sorry, this title is not available in your region" and THAT'S when the VPN comes in. You have the VPN on your phone, go out of Storytel, connect the VPN to Sweden or Germany or anywhere in non-British Europe I think, and then go and search the book again and it should come up and have no problems. You don't have to do it every time, because once you've downloaded the book it just sits in the "Now Playing" window.
And you can still do that, but an affordable subscription platform makes a LOT more sense than a "one credit a month" system, especially when half the books or more don't seem to eligible to be chosen for that credit every month.
I normally agree with most of what you say in your videos but this is not one of them. I’ve been using Audible for around 15 years now and there are so many things in this video that are inaccurate or exaggerated. Audible can be super affordable if you know how to use it. I own almost 600 books and I average about $6 per book. I have some titles I’ve listened to 50+ times and can’t imagine not „owning“. Also, as someone who averages 60 - 80 hours of audiobook time per month, any kind of limit sounds absolutely terrible! But thats why not every service/product is for everyone. I hope this video is helpful to others.
France is the only country that has a limited subscription as the only option with Storytel. Every other country has unlimited options, not sure where you got that the limits were normal/compulsory, because I never conveyed that idea. Also not sure what inaccuracies I have in this video. $6 per book is a lot more than I pay, and Audible has stuff all in Swedish anyway. Besides, "knowing how to use it" basically sounds like you need to play the game a very specific way that Amazon decides the rules of. There are definitely cheaper ways to get books on Audible, but that's the impression they give you: "Just do these things (that most people are unlikely to actually do) and it'll be cheap." The fact that one person did them doesn't make it good value. By that measure I could argue that signing up through Storytel Turkey makes it absolutely crush Audible for value... but that's not a fair fight now is it?
Could you link a source for how to use Storytel? I’ve signed up for the trial through Italy, which is great because I read Italian books, but I also read English and can’t find them. And I can’t find anything about how to get the reading version of the book, just the audible. It’s a kind of a frustrating experience. By the way, storytel bought Audible in 2021!
You've already asked about my members section, which answers your other questions. Storytel did absolutely NOT buy Audible... that would be like me buying Microsoft.. I thought it might be the other way around, but no, "Audiobooks was acquired by Storytel on Nov 12, 2021." - Audiobooks, not Audible. Not many letters different, but a very different thing.
Yeah, I've heard one report of this, but I've got other reports of people saying that they had 0 problems with paying via the US, and in fact paying IN the app where it converts it to a round US dollar number for you. So I think it depends on the bank/card.
@@daysandwordswhat do you mean by unlisted country? Looking in the app I don't see that in the list of countries it seems like you have to pick a listed country.
Yeah, it's complicated, that's why there is a full guide in my channel members' video. And it's not even that I'm "paywalling" that video... but it's 28 minutes of detail about that stuff, so it doesn't really belong on TH-cam.
Yeah… spending a monthly credit on an audio doesn’t mean you can play it anytime. If you cancel the sub, and that audio is off a higher tier (even if you’ve spent a credit on it), you cannot listen to it
Not exactly. You can download the audiobook, it stays downloaded when you cancel. In fact, I can even go to my account page--where it shows my subscription as ended more than a year ago-and click on "Library" and it shows the audiobooks I have bought, still with download links, I guess in case something happens to the device I have them downloaded to. Looks to me like a real commitment to the proposition that I bought the books and now own them. (Plenty of other things I don't like about Audible, tho...)
Who's the girl who says _just be aware of that and make sure that you listen to the free sample before you actually decide on that audiobook_ ? Not creeping, I just feel obligated to know every Northern Irish TH-camr.
Yo your looking really fit! Would love to see a video how you utilise your training as also a facility to inhance your learning! Great video and keep up the fitness, from an irish guy
Cheers! I actually recorded the A roll for this BEFORE my last video so my last video is actually what I look like more recently... But it's amazing what a cricket top will do haha. But yeah I do want to do something like you suggested.
Was surprised to find this to be correct... well, it's called "Mofibo - A Part of Storytel" but honestly I think it's just that all words sound the same in Danish anyway. That's probably just what the Swedes hear when the Danes say Storytel.
@@daysandwords Danish is an odd language but Sorytel - Mofibo aren’t that simular 😹 Anyway Mofibo is a big deal here because Audible and other services rarely have danish audiobooks - and when you can find them they are expensive
Plenty of the countries offer Portuguese as a language, and so long as you can get Portuguese, yes, some of the books will be in European Portuguese the same as some of the books are in British English, some are in American English, others in Australian English etc etc. In other words, I can't say what titles happen to be in European Portuguese but I can guarantee there are some.
European Portuguese is significantly different from Brazilian Portuguese-more so than the varieties of English, and more so than the varieties of Spanish. Especially in the pronunciation (which is why I'm looking for audiobooks). Also, there seems to be more of a tendency for people on each side to see the other's grammar & pronunciation as just wrong. Or as not understandable. Considering that there are 200 million Brazilians and only 10 million Portuguese, it is natural that there's a TON of Brazilian Portuguese and very, very little European Portuguese. (But, due to details I won't go into here, it is possible for me to retire to Portugal and not possible for me to retire to Brazil--though I could live comfortably either place.) I was trying to locate a Storytel outlet that seems to consider Portugal as a market or sub-market. Spain (for example) is just next door, so you might think...BUT the Spanish site just lists a few language-learning books--with Brazilian flags all over them. @@daysandwords
Yes but you are misunderstanding me. I am not at all suggesting that they are the same. Whether they are very very very different or completely the same is IRRELEVANT. Read carefully: - What you need is to test select of the countries that offers PORTUGUESE as a language. The fact that Euro Portuguese is different is irrelevant as long as they have the same name. - Then, once you have Portuguese as a language selected in the "app" settings, you browse titles. I would start by looking for titles that are like "The History of Portugual" or something. Or you could look up a list of Portuguese authors and search their name. - Once you find a single title in European Portuguese, click on the narrator. You keep going like that. IF (and only if) European Portuguese had different names (like Norwegian and Swedish), then you could just search the language... but they don't have that, so you're going to have to do it the hard way, which I've just described.
Also, if you're after language LEARNING books... then I wouldn't recommend Storytel at all. I'm saying Storytel has BOOKS (actual books to listen to, not "language learning" books) in European Portuguese.
Thanks for the clarification. The needle-in-a-haystack method, btw, would probably work pretty well with, as you suggest, Portuguese authors. Less well with my initial methodology, which is translations of books I know well. (= My preferred way to get comprehensible input, since, well, show me a graded reader that has made a best seller list...they vary from not-too-horrible on down. In my cranky opinion.) @@daysandwords
Call me old fashioned, but I wouldn't want to see writers impacted the same way musicians have by mass adoption of subscription models. Sure, it benefits consumers in the short run, but look at the creative drought we're in with music. It's no coincidence that this era of mediocrity is a result of many talented people having to give up on their creative pursuits because it won't sustain them or by provide them a decent living. This is no way an endorsement of Audible, which I believe is worse.
Subscription models can absolutely benefit the artist IF the compensation model is fair. We know that Audible's is not, and I doubt that Storytel is exactly a saviour, but the small amount of info I could find suggests it is at least better.
@@delightfulgenius4635 “ummm” lol “has access to” doesn’t mean can do both at the same time. I ask cuz bookbeat has the same feature but if you play the audiobook you can’t turn on the ebook. If you do it shuts off the audiobook and vice versa.
Wait so met me get this straight.. you watched a movie 50 times and now you're saying it doesn't make sense to keep an audio book because you'll never listen to it again anyway? Please tell me I misunderstood something
Yeah and watching the same film 50 times would really be a very normal thing to do that ordinary people who don't make language learning videos would do all the time... Not to mention that audiobooks are an average of 6 times as long as movies. I've only ever listened to one Swedish book on this service TWICE.
@@daysandwords Maybe it's just me then but I enjoy re-watching/reading/listening to most of the recourses I've used because the second or third time I understand a lot more. Sometimes, a couple of months after listening to an audio book, I feel like listening to it again just to see the progress I made in the meantime. This is obviously more expensive in the long run but I also like buying physical books just because I "cherish" them more when I know that they belong to me and I don't have to worry about not being able to pay my subscription. There's also the fact that I still see audio books in my target languages as a learning source primarily and not as entertainment directly so yeah That being said this app's pros definitely outweigh the cons and I'll definitely try it out so thank you for sharing it
Don't get me wrong - if Storytel didn't give you the option to relisten, then that would be a HUGE con for me... but it's not like you're paying for every time you rent the audiobook... It's the same as Netflix. That's what makes Audible such a scam... they act like it's a Netflix kinda deal but it's really a buy PLUS subscribe kinda deal where you get a "credit" each month that you then have to decide carefully how you spend. That's ridiculous and it's obvious that they do it because it's more profitable.
@@tobisbesteI'm not sure what you mean by that. I have used the app to login to 7 foreign accounts over the years and I know people in the USA who have it working fine as well.
Too bad there;s no English country included. Since I'm inter4sted in learning Italian I registered my account there. Not cheap, well, it is if you consider it's unlimited. But the cheapest plan., 12$ CA is only 10, hours a month. Should do.
Ok I know this sounds like a trek to you, but I love all your videos, but I would really appreciate it if you could make a video of the best Irish learning apps that are free❤
great content as always, but i have one bone to pick 🤨 as a lifelong dodger fan, i find your hat soooo distracting. it’s like the only thing i can see. IFYKY. ⚾️💙
knee wrote _"First!"_ Why is this even a thing? I've never understood it. There's no prize to be won... no advantage conferred... no points to acquire or discounts to earn or... wtf do people still care about 'first' in 2023 ???
If it's on a big enough channel (I don't think mine counts) then I actually get it. You're just saying that you happened to have the video show up in your feed within a few seconds of it being uploaded... it feels kind of personal and close to the creator. I'm not saying it is the same as an ACTUAL achievement, but think about if you were just walking around in, say, Sydney, and you spotted Christopher Nolan scouting for his next film... You would tell people about that, even though it had nothing to do with your skill. It was just a random thing... if you are genuinely the first (which this comment wasn't anyway) on a video that will get a million comments (again, not this video), then it's kinda cool. It doesn't mean anything, it's just cool.
Get an an exclusive deal on Surfshark to access the REAL best audiobook service in the world. Enter promo code LAMONT for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/LAMONT
14-7-2024
I just subed on storytel last week accoring to your vid, now I kinda regreted that and just put the end into the trail period.
- Very wrong markerting, misleading message, mentioned have over 200,000 + books to access, but in reality, in the business section is not even 60 books!! approx. 50 per each section and they have around 12 sections meaning, the whole books I could access to is 600 +- 100. That's scam marketing !
- Very less books, literally no new books at all, you cant find winner award books or anythings like that 2022, 2023 2024.
- Very boring too, in my language Thai, very little annoying book I can always find in public service. and access to eng is limited. Also no point of adding arabic language or dutch to my account as I have no interested in.
- Cant use VPN to access another countries book, you basically get ramdom and anoyying book in the language you didnt ask for.
All in all, I lost 3 usd paying for this trial period, and now alr DELETED the subs from this app. and soon will delete the app I guess. Now I moved to audible and will give it a try a few weeks.
I’ve completely stopped subscribing to audiobook services bc I can access Libby through my public library and have access to a huge collection of books and audio totally for free. Russian, Spanish, Chinese, and French all have at least 1k content available.
Is libby libgen?
@@deusexmaximum8930 no Libby is an app that many public libraries use for their eBooks or audiobooks. It’s free to download and is usable as long as your local library is apart of the service and you have a working library card.
What’s Libby?
@@johnpenaloza1797 an app you can use for eBooks or audio books if your library uses the service and you have a working library card
@@johnpenaloza1797 libby is an app run by overdrive, it basically serves as an integrated interface for all of the digital titles your library might have. i have 3 library cards from my hometown, university, etc. and so have access to /all/ their e-books and audiobooks. your selection will look different based on which library you belong to. definitely get a library card if you don’t already have one!!
Just my two experience about the "you're very unlikely to ever listen to that book again" ... I have dozens of books I listened to more than once, some multiple times. I don't think it's that uncommon.
I don’t relisten to books unless I’m studying them. Yes, language study counts but in general I don’t relisten to books.
I understand. Let me tel (yes, 1 L) you a story.
There's a book from my childhood that I've listened to at least 80 times...
I tried to buy it on Audible. I paid. It was missing 2 chapters. I contacted them. They said they were "looking into it". They "looked it into it" for 2 years.
The book then got its 2 chapters back. The book I'd paid for. Then they removed it from their catalogue. Gone forever.
Storytel now has that book. With all its chapters.
My point is, listening to things multiple times is not a reason to go with a corrupt service that forces you to commit to one book every month or pay more to get more.
I usually avoid using subscription based apps or I just use the free version (with some exceptions like Zoom which I need for work), but in this case I am highly interested in paying that 1000 UAH for so much information and in so many languages!
Even though I am kind of disappointed that they don't have Ukraine as a country, it's still fine for me, coz I study Turkish and will listen to Turkish books most of the time.
I should probably narrate Ukrainian books for Storytel, for many people complimented me on my voice😅
Jitsi is a free alternative and doesn't spy on you how Zoom does. It's also Open Source.
@@XVa-uj8m Wow! Thanks for letting me know. I'll check it out👌🏻
'Only' 20 hours a month? That is 2 audiobooks while you get only 1 with Audible.
I mean, that's half a Brandon Sanderson book though.
@@AYoungdude20 hours is the LOWEST limit in most countries. At least 30% of the countries only have an unlimited tier and France is the only country that has no unlimited option.
I didn't know Storytel had books in English. I've seen ads for it here in Finland and just assumed it had books mostly in Swedish and Finnish. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm in the mood for some new audiobooks.
Unfortunately I still have a bunch of books on Audible I haven't listened to. The curse of 2 for 1 sales and being forced to use up your credits before cancelling the subscription. 🙃
I was really psyched to try this app to improve my Portuguese and Finnish but was so disappointed to find that you can’t get all languages when using VPNs for different countries.
The 28 minute channel members' video goes into how to get the languages you want. There are certain countries which have Portuguese and Finnish (like both languages through the same country).
What timing!
For Swedish I use Nextory (actually following a recommendation from you!).
I was looking at Storytel as I’m now learning Turkish and wondered if it was possible to sign up and read Swedish and Turkish books.
I really enjoy Nextory though, so big question: Nextory vs Storytel, your take?
I prefer the layout and features of Storytel, which is why I switched a few years ago, but Nextory has some pros. To my knowledge, they don't offer Turkish though.
Okay, thanks! Good to know.
Yeah, it was either Storytel for both, or Nextory for Swedish and some other app for Turkish.
Sounds like signing up through Turkey would get me Swedish and English too though, so I’m off to look at that now!
Thanks so much for this video!!!
@@Charlotte-ti2ykI tried to create account from Turkey (bcs I am Turkish) and hoped to see Swedish and German but unfortunately only English and Turkish are there.
Storytel was my audio plataform for months. I canceled the service cause I literally listened everything that interested me on the their catalog (fantasy books).
PS: Storytel in my country (Brazil) only provide books in Portuguese and English.
Yeah, someone should spend 2 days working out which subscriptions include which languages... wait, I already did that.
You can just join through a different country. Colombia includes like 7 or 8 languages and is only slightly more than Brazil.
That would be great for me learning Portuguese.
Loved Storytel! It's worth it, I was just too beginner for it at the time. But will go back to it.
Storytel is amazing. I subscribe to their Dutch version. I really wish they would launch a version of the service in the UK. They would do so well.
Honestly I have a suspicion that they've got an arrangement with Audible that says they won't launch officially in the big English speaking countries. I can't see how Audible would allow them to licence content (which I am almost certain is happening) if it meant that Storytel were in competition with Audible.
I've been fighting with Audible so much, especially with trying to teach myself Spanish. Thank you yet again!
Favorite audio book was i think by Cassandra Clare(?)'s Clockwork series. The readers were amazing. Different voices for different characters but not over done. I was hooked right away. Never found another one as good.
Subscribed. Great video. Amazon deleted my account so not sure how much you actually get to “keep” anything.
Yeah, they also deleted one of the books I bought after I spent 2 years getting them to add the two missing chapters in the middle. They added those chapters for about a month and then the book was gone.
Storytel now has the book... no chapters missing.
Lol I agree that Storytel could potentially be better, but it's pretty funny to say that Audible is an awkward app to use when Storytel basically requires you to use a VPN and/or sign up through multiple random different countries to access its full catalogue.
Either way, I was keen to read + listen to books in Bengali, however upon browsing the app there's literally no books that can be both read and listened to at the same time? It's always one or the other, at least in Bengali.
No no, you misunderstand.
Needing a VPN really only happens at the very beginning of each book, and it takes like 4 seconds to connect a VPN (which I already have anyway). And that's not with every book. You also absolutely don't need to sign up through several different countries... I'm just obsessed with finding the "right" deal so I'm often changing it around. One of those was just to see if it would even work and it did.
I did not expect the subscription to be so reasonable. I'm definitely going to check it out!
Depends which country, of course. Iceland and Norway are pretty expensive, but yeah... I find it so reasonable that I'm currently signed up through Belgium AND Mexico haha.
thank you, this is great content as always. Been struggling to find books in Finnish so the prospect of having audiobooks makes me a bit giddy 😁
Storytel and bookbeat
In my experience, I can't get Bookbeat to work from my country.
So it ends up being the same amount roughly if you have to pay for the VPN? I didn't look to see what the pricing was
Firstly, no. It's cheaper for most things and way better. I did actually explain all this in the video.
But also, why wouldn't you have a VPN?
My combined total to access the internet including electricity, service provider and devices divided by their lifespan would be close to $300 AU a month (conservative estimate). Surfshark is an extra $4 a month. Opens up more than twice as much internet...
I agree, I purchased over 1500 books over the last 13 years or so, and many of the books I PAID FOR, have a "LOCK" on them they simply changed the book version, removed the book I purchased years ago, and replaced them with their proprietary own version and don't allow me to listen to it. I even purchased their membership to try to download the book and NOPE, it still has a lock on them. Their bullshit of "yours for live purchased skeem is just that, a lie.
Exactly.
My BS radar goes off when every company is going subscription model because it makes more money, but the ONE thing that would actually make sense to be a subscription (audiobooks/books) is a "subscribe for one book a month and then purchase books on top of the subscription"... Like, what?
Wow, I've been really struggling to find Arabic audiobooks, so this video was a real blessing. The Turkish account you mentioned in the clip at the end, does that also have access to a decent range of Arabic audiobooks? Keep up the great work with this channel! :)
Actually Turkey only has Turkish and English.
There are countries that have Turkish and Arabic, and this is all the stuff I explore in the channel members' video.
@@daysandwords Thank you!
Why do I need a VPN with it? I tried creating an account, and it let me choose my country of residence.
Yeah so it depends on a few things.
1) What country's subscription you want.
Some countries actually don't let you create the account on the website, rather forcing you to download the app and subscribe that way. They are the cheaper countries, e.g. Colombia. So I found that to make a Colombian account, I needed the VPN on my phone (it may have been another country, I might have misremembered).
2) What languages you want books in.
On my Swedish account, almost every book in English is blocked, but not when I connect to Sweden or anywhere else in Europe (apart from UK). This is the same on my Mexican account... and basically any account.
But also, sometimes even SWEDISH and Spanish books are blocked, even though it's a Swedish or Mexican account (I have both), because it picks up that I'm in Australia...
So yeah, if you have a VPN anyway, which I obviously do because it's just a straight up no-brainer, then I just put Surfshark on my phone to sort this out too.
@@daysandwords ok I may need to watch those nerdy details. I'm in the UK but created a Finnish account (UK wasn't even on the list) in the app. This works fine, but there are no books in Portuguese.
I follow your advice. I tested Audible with my free trial first but I didn't like its "system". I prefer Storytel with its "Netflix-style" model. Thank you for your video :)
Did you know your French sounded like Chow in the french version of the movie the Hangover? 😅
Apart from that great video, thanks a lot! Continue doing that kind of stuff! 👍
so does it work on my new kindle paperwhite ?...i get the feeling im tied into amazon /audible..
l think speachfy is the best option to language learners use, because has 50 languages voices tu use in locals pdf files to read, its a software mostly use for persons with dislexical, but you can use for learning the pronunciation of your target language
Right, so... no actual CONTENT for the price, just the ability to have it read out loud, if you already own it?
Kind of comparing apples and amplifiers there buddy.
Hi, do you know if the French books on audible are from any real French people or is the book written in English and spoken in French and are these French books written with French Quebecois ou French franchise
Well it depends which book.
What you're asking is if they have translated books or books originally in French and the answer is both, of course. French people read books by French authors but also by authors of other nationalities that are then translated into French, so that's what is on Audible.
For the most part they'd be in Parisian French but I'm sure some of relevant books (i.e. books from Canada) are in Qubecois.
That was probably the most entertaining ad read I have seen. Loved the drive-by 'surfshark...' that you did a minute after the ad already ended.
For someone who wants to listen to English. What about Brazil
Storytel works in Brazil... and it's cheaper than Audible.
Storytel is significantly BETTER if you want to do anything that isn't in English. That was the entire point of this video.
How do I get Mandarin Chinese options to show up using this service?
Channel members' video answers this question. 😉
Hi. I have a Turkish account on Storytel and they only show me Turkish and English books and I want to access to German books. So in order to access German books on Storytel, do I need to use VPN to Germany and rebuy the membership on there?
Yeah Germany has Turkish but Turkey doesn't have German. That's why the highlight from the members' video says "If you're interested in English or Turkish then you might wanna consider signing up through Turkey".
I just want an audiobook+ebook “purchase one book at a time” app
There's Google Books, but there's no discount for buying both as far as I know. There's auto-narration, but it sounds a bit robotic.
The closest thing there is to what you're asking is Storytel. You pay less per month than you would for one book so, really, it's not gonna be better than that for a while.
@@daysandwords but they only have the audiobook for many items.
I'm confused, so do the languages offered depend on the country you choose? I'm inclined to go with Poland because I read a lot in Polish, but I want to be sure I'm not confined to certain languages.
Each country offers a different set of languages and price options. All the information is available in the members' video.
@@daysandwords gotcha, thanks for the precious information! I might actually end up subscribing
There’s an audible ad before the video even starts 😂
AWESOME.
That's a good sign, it means it's getting to the right audience.
Thanks a lot. I just don't understand. Do you have to change your country virtually with a VPN before you open Storytel. Or is that just necessary when you are taking the subscription? I'm from the Netherlands, and with Storytel /NL I couldn't listen Spanish spoken books. With my subscription via Storytel /ES it was the other way around. I'm a little confused now....
What do you mean by "I couldn't listen to Spanish books"? Does it SHOW the title but say that it's not available in your region? Or do the Spanish books just not show up at all?
If it's the first one then you need a VPN switched on to Spain while you are browsing. If it's the second one then you need to go into Settings • App • Languages and turn Spanish on. I have a Netherlands subscription right now and I can listen to English, Dutch, French, Arabic, Turkish, German, Spanish and Swedish.
@@daysandwords Thank you. In the list with the available languages Spanish did't show up so I couldn't turn it on. But maybe I was doing something wrong. A really weird question maybe: what has a VPN to do with an app? Or do you always use Storytel in the browser therefore 🤔
OK so just to be clear:
1. You created an account
2. You downloaded the app and installed it on a phone, and you live in NL?
3. You're logged into the account
4. You can't see Spanish in the list of available languages, even though you are signed in to an account that was created in NL?
Because if those 4 things are true, then I have no idea. Because my current subscription is a Netherlands subscription and I have all the languages you'd expect (En, Fre, Ger, Dutch) plus Arabic, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and Swedish. (I forgot to say Italian before.)
Is this on an iPhone?
@@daysandwords No, it's an Android phone. Weird... But I'll watch your longer video about Storytel. Maybe that will help. Thanks!
Did you create an account on the website first?
Maybe do that (if you haven't already paid) and use a new email address but do it through BELGIUM because although they have the same languages, it seems as though you're running into some automatic language selection based on your phone's settings and/or location.
From what you've said here, it seems to me that creating an account through the app might be the problem, because it's looking at your phone's settings and saying "Oh, a Dutch person in the Netherlands, therefore Dutch and English" whereas there's no way that it can do that if you create the account on the website, so it just has to offer all the languages that that country's subscription should offer (and therefore it kind of "kick starts" the phone to do that too).
That's my guess but I do want to apologise for not knowing this, since I did make myself out to be an expert. In Australia at least, when you create the account on the website, it "ignores" the fact that I'm Australian. My app is even IN Dutch, which is weird because on my Swedish account the app was in English. In fact, bizarrely enough, the app is laid out differently between Sweden and Belgium/Netherlands.
Edit: I'm stupid
I've spent about 5 minutes trying to see which languages they have books in. I'm now an expert on which languages you can use on the site, which languages they have customer services in, and which languages their multilingual AI works in. Oh, also I know which languages they have for the limited version, and that all available languages are in the ultimate version.
Which languages are part of 'all'? No idea. I give up. It was a nice idea, anyway.
Um...
Honestly your description of your experience is SO different to reality that I think you must have a different app or something. None of this occurs when I log out and re-download the app or put it on a new device.
Also, I did a 40 minute deep dive on which countries to sign up through to get various languages etc. and put it on my channel members section... If you wanted to get the info from someone who spent the equivalent of a week straight figuring this out for $3 Australian...
@@daysandwords actually this was all with the website, I un-gave up and tried downloading the app and I found it instantly 😅
Oh, yeah, the website is not very revealing on the languages that each country's subscription has, which is why I made my members' video.
If you tell me what languages you're after I can tell you which country would be best to sign up through (and it's "safer" to do that on the website).
@@daysandwords oh I appreciate it! I'm after Korean, it seems like it probably makes sense to just sign up with the Korean version? (I'm living in Korea now too, so I wouldn't even need a VPN).
By the way, the reason I was even looking for something like this was because discovering your channel and watching some of your videos finally pushed me into actually reading and listening to Korean content instead of always putting it off because I 'wasn't ready'. And shocker: it has been working great so far 👍
Yeah, so, in my spreadsheet, I've got South Korea as being the only country to offer Korean, at 11,900 WON per month, but that could be outdated. Lots of them are often offering deals of 3 months at half price or something. I'm currently on Mexican Storytel for 12 months at half price.
the variablity of languages is not really accurate. im in egypt and i downloaded the app and the only available languages arw english and arabic. i want to learn swedish but idk how to fix this problem with the audiobook app. is there a solution?
Yes, you've got to create an account on the website FIRST.
Lamont - “you’ll probably never listen to that book again”
Also Lamont - “I listened to that book 50 times and now I know Swahili”
You know what... I just paid a bit more than "normal" to go and see Into the Spider-verse again...
I mean, it's at the Opera House with a live orchestra, but still... that's gotta be some kind of record. The equivalent of 18 months of Netflix spent to see one movie that the person has already seen 59 times.
@@daysandwords quite the experience though! I’m assuming it was in English the time…?
It will be in English but it actually hasn't happened yet! I didn't even know it was happening until about 6 weeks after the tickets went on sale so we'll have to hope that the seats are OK (they look ok from the booking, but they probably wouldn't have been my first choice) - but yeah, I remember being at music college when those "Sydney Symphony plays... (insert famous film here)" concerts started happening (it all started with LOTR I think), and I remember thinking "I'd only go to that if I REALLY REALLY liked the music to a certain film..."
Lo and behold, 18 years later...
It's also cool that it's happening because it's not as "simple" as JUST an orchestra, it's requires a DJ on turntables and a bit of other random percussion and stuff... It must be quite the headache to organise live performances of it all over the world.
Can you please explain what,why,and how to use the surfshark .. I do not understand technology very well 😐 😒 but I would really like to use the storytell books for italian learning and just for the books
th-cam.com/video/79NIGp4c-Ko/w-d-xo.html
Was wondering if you could help me out, I can’t seem to figure out how to listen to the audiobook and read along at the same time on my phone. Do I need to have two different devices as mine pauses as soon as I click on read. Hope you can help me out! Thanks!
Yeah, it's stupid, I know. You need two devices. Sometimes the second device will even boot the first device out of it if you're on the same account, so my solution to that is, on the device I'm reading on, you put it in flight mode after you've downloaded the e-book.
@@daysandwords appreciate the reply. Suppose you can’t have everything 😂. I’ll give that a go anyway cheers
If a title on Storytel is both an audiobook and an ebook, can they be done simultaneously? I want to be able to read it while hearing the narration at the same time, that way I'm getting the correct pronunciation, vs. "mispronouncing it in my head" while I'm reading. Both Beelinguapp and Jiveworld do this, although they are based on shorter stories (Beelinguapp) or podcasts (Jiveworld sources Radio Ambulante). I would like to be able to do it with full-length books. If I'm correct and Storytel can't do that, what would you suggest instead? Thank you!
You can but only if you get a separate device, sign in on it, start reading the book, and then put it in flight mode while you get the first device and start listening.
@@daysandwords Thank you. Unfortunate to have to jump through all those hoops, but I appreciate the tip. :)
It sounds like more than it really is. But yeah I hope they change it.
I use Scribd for Spanish and German audiobooks. They don't have a lot of books in Swedish sadly.
There's 0 excuse for not having much in Swedish haha. Sweden records cereal boxes as audiobooks.
No link to story tell in the description?
I have no affiliation with Storytel and have had no contact with them so there'd be no reason to link to them in the description. If you google the name the website will come up.
Hi. I wanted to join your member group but the join button you referenced doesn’t exist-at least not at the moment. Have you shut down the group?
No, it should be there:
www.youtube.com/@daysandwords/membership
Jag är svensk men använder audible för ryska och utbudet är riktigt begränsat oavsett om jag är inne på amerikanska eller svenska . Tjänsten är känd här men trodde bara att dem hade titlar på svenska. Tack för bra tips!
Hi, I cannot see my preferred language in the settings. I only have 3 options. What do I need to do to have access to other languages?
Every country has different language options, so it depends where you signed up through.
What language do you want to see?
@@daysandwords I want to sign up from Turkey, but I want to have the option to read in Italian. I only have the options of English and Turkish. Or if i try to sign up in Italy I only have the options of Italian English and Spanish, I would like to have Turkish as well
@@aycazeynepcnar705There are countries that have Turkish and Italian but learning what they were and which ones were the best price for what you get took me a really long time so that information is available in a really long video that I made for my channel members.
Well, I've listened to _The Creature from Jekyll Island_ three times, so... . But I mostly think in terms of book content, not production quality.
There's a book from my childhood that I've listened to at least 80 times...
I tried to buy it on Audible. I paid. It was missing 2 chapters. I contacted them. They said they were "looking into it". They "looked it into it" for 2 years.
The book then got its 2 chapters back. The book I'd paid for. Then they removed it from their catalogue. Gone forever.
Storytel now has that book. With all its chapters.
My point is, listening to things multiple times is not a reason to go with a corrupt service that forces you to commit to one book every month or pay more to get more.
@@daysandwords I don't use Audible, anyway. I got that audiobook from the library.
If Audible really is "pay $10 a month to get a book every month", that's really bad. That's like forcing you to buy books you don't want!
That's exactly what Audible is. But it's Amazon, so they're just very good at using words that make it sound like a better deal than that.
Has anyone tried using a prepaid debit card thing (the ones you buy in stores)? My main card doesn't work with Storytel, wondering if this would.
When using the listen and read at the same time, does it sync? As in if I get lost and it's on the next page, will it flip to the corresponding page for me?
Yeah, I've heard a few reports of this (it not accepting cards from the US) but I've got other reports of people saying that they had 0 problems with paying via the US, and in fact paying IN the app where it converts it to a round US dollar number for you. So I think it might depend on the STATE... which would be bizarre but it might.
What state is this in?
At the moment it doesn't have the "narrate as you read" feature that you're talking about but it looks like it's not far away.
I do feel the same about you should be able to read while you listen to the book though
A quick glance at audible selection of Spanish tiles is very disappointing
Even though I use it with Paul Noble to learn Spanish.
Quickly I wanted to share with you how I do that sometimes I ride a bike or push a cart to gather water
And I use a Motorola Moto z4 which has a Bluetooth speaker attached to the back of it as opposed to put in Bluetooth earbuds in my ear so that I can still hear traffic as it's driving around me I put a necklace around my neck to hold up the phone.
The little kickstand that holds the Bluetooth speaker is great for watching TH-cam the speakers are clearly loud enough and they don't drain the battery as it supports the battery.
A Motorola Moto Z4 can be bought for as cheap as 100 to 120 bucks on Amazon and all the mods that you can put to it the fiveG mod Bluetooth speaker mod camera mod are very affordable.
I dont understand why you have to select the languages to get accses to their catalog?
It's a convenience thing. Some subscriptions offer 14 languages, so unless you actually spoke all 14 of them, imagine how annoying it would be to have to sift through content in the 12 or 13 you don't speak just to find the books you were looking for?
I explain that in the bit about Jane Harper. I don't want to search and author and be like "Oh sweet, they have her books!" and then realise that they are in Danish. So I just switch Danish off.
I live in the US and attenpted to sign up for the Brazil service for portuguese audiobooks but it requires thwir federal ID # to register.
You can probably sign up through Spain though, which has Portuguese. (And most of the books will still be in Brazilian Portuguese rather than European Portuguese).
@@daysandwords Thanks a bunch for taking the time to respond, I'll give that a try and see if it works.
Ah my apologies - I just checked my sheet and Spain doesn't offer Portuguese. Mexico and Colombia both do though, and they'll be cheaper than Spain.
@@daysandwords cool, no worries. I'll give those a try then.
Have you ever considered sharing the audiobooks (or resources in general ) that you listened to (worked with)? Super selfish question, I just started learning Swedish ;)
Also, fun to see that you keep your username shenanigans going :D
Honestly I should do that video because it'd be easy haha. I always get myself wrapped up in really specific projects that no one cares about.
Maybe I am using Storytel wrong, but I yet to find an audiobook with the corresponding ebook in French...
I'm not sure about French. There are many in Swedish and English, and quite a few in German and Finnish. The French don't seem to be very into audiobooks in general so it could be that.
In France and Belgium at least, all 7 Harry Potters are in French as a-books and a-books.
7:50 it has not improved. I got a free trial and was shocked at just how awful it was. I have 300mbps internet and yet pages took up to a minute to load. Even just idling on any page my computer fans would get really loud. When I hovered over the tab in chrome it says it uses a whopping 2gb. 2gb on what? low quality thumbnails? Its genuinely shocking how poor audibles website is. No one should ever buy that garbage.
I quickly checked the list of languages by country. It would be hard for me because I'm interested in a weird combination of languages.
Yeah, "quickly" being the issue there. The lists are actually wrong, I know because I manually checked them all. I spent 2 days working out which countries had which languages.
Which ones are you interested in?
@@daysandwordsGreek and japanese for me (and german and Spanish) ! Which country should i sign in from ? That’s great !
I am flabbergasted, this seems absolutely amazing
It genuinely is. And Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden are all offering discounts for new customers at the moment. The Dutch countries are doing 3 months at half price and Sweden is doing 45 days for 9kr (which is like $1 US).
Your videos are always entertaining. Thanks bruv
How can I use storytel with a vpn when it makes sign up for a subscription? I’m the united states
You don't need a VPN to create an account and subscribe, you can do that on the website and the country you do it for will be your subscription. Then you just need a VPN on your phone to access ALL the titles (but many with be available without a VPN anyway).
What language is this for?
@@daysandwords it’s for swedish 😌
OK, cool!
So, the only issue you MIGHT have with being in the USA is that I have heard of Storytel rejecting certain credit and debit cards from the USA, but I have never ever had that problem and I know many Americans who use it without a problem.
But, just go to the website, www.storytel.com/se - and they'r actually running a deal at the moment that means you get 45 days for 9 kronor which is like one US dollar. And you just create an account and sign up, remember what password you used, and then download the app on your phone and sign in using those details. When you search certain titles, you'll see it say "We're sorry, this title is not available in your region" and THAT'S when the VPN comes in. You have the VPN on your phone, go out of Storytel, connect the VPN to Sweden or Germany or anywhere in non-British Europe I think, and then go and search the book again and it should come up and have no problems. You don't have to do it every time, because once you've downloaded the book it just sits in the "Now Playing" window.
I often listen to audiobooks many times...
And you can still do that, but an affordable subscription platform makes a LOT more sense than a "one credit a month" system, especially when half the books or more don't seem to eligible to be chosen for that credit every month.
Russian text is Illusion of Death by Franck Thilliez (Иллюзия смерти Франка Тилье). I know you needed to know that))
I normally agree with most of what you say in your videos but this is not one of them. I’ve been using Audible for around 15 years now and there are so many things in this video that are inaccurate or exaggerated.
Audible can be super affordable if you know how to use it. I own almost 600 books and I average about $6 per book. I have some titles I’ve listened to 50+ times and can’t imagine not „owning“. Also, as someone who averages 60 - 80 hours of audiobook time per month, any kind of limit sounds absolutely terrible!
But thats why not every service/product is for everyone. I hope this video is helpful to others.
France is the only country that has a limited subscription as the only option with Storytel. Every other country has unlimited options, not sure where you got that the limits were normal/compulsory, because I never conveyed that idea.
Also not sure what inaccuracies I have in this video. $6 per book is a lot more than I pay, and Audible has stuff all in Swedish anyway. Besides, "knowing how to use it" basically sounds like you need to play the game a very specific way that Amazon decides the rules of. There are definitely cheaper ways to get books on Audible, but that's the impression they give you: "Just do these things (that most people are unlikely to actually do) and it'll be cheap." The fact that one person did them doesn't make it good value. By that measure I could argue that signing up through Storytel Turkey makes it absolutely crush Audible for value... but that's not a fair fight now is it?
I agree. I occasionally resubscribe to audible to see if they have anything new that’s good. Overpriced junk
I love my kindle and read on it. I tried audible but never really liked it.
Could you link a source for how to use Storytel? I’ve signed up for the trial through Italy, which is great because I read Italian books, but I also read English and can’t find them. And I can’t find anything about how to get the reading version of the book, just the audible. It’s a kind of a frustrating experience. By the way, storytel bought Audible in 2021!
You've already asked about my members section, which answers your other questions.
Storytel did absolutely NOT buy Audible... that would be like me buying Microsoft.. I thought it might be the other way around, but no, "Audiobooks was acquired by Storytel on Nov 12, 2021." - Audiobooks, not Audible. Not many letters different, but a very different thing.
Sadly Storytel will not accept payment from US credit cards, for me at least
Yeah, I've heard one report of this, but I've got other reports of people saying that they had 0 problems with paying via the US, and in fact paying IN the app where it converts it to a round US dollar number for you. So I think it depends on the bank/card.
I'd try a debit card vs. a credit card, or vice versa.
How do you get Japanese on this?
Weirdly, you sign up through an unlisted country. The channel members' video goes into this detail.
@@daysandwordswhat do you mean by unlisted country? Looking in the app I don't see that in the list of countries it seems like you have to pick a listed country.
Yeah, it's complicated, that's why there is a full guide in my channel members' video. And it's not even that I'm "paywalling" that video... but it's 28 minutes of detail about that stuff, so it doesn't really belong on TH-cam.
This is really cool! I loathe audible, it’s so clunky. Gonna give this one a go 😁
I use audible because it synchronises with kindle and highlights the words as the audio plays, which is an amazing feature
I addressed that in this video.
Storytel does that without having to pay for an overpriced Kindle.
Yeah… spending a monthly credit on an audio doesn’t mean you can play it anytime. If you cancel the sub, and that audio is off a higher tier (even if you’ve spent a credit on it), you cannot listen to it
See I didn't even know that. So basically it's a subscription AND a purchase... seems fair to me, and by me I mean Jeff Bezos.
Not exactly. You can download the audiobook, it stays downloaded when you cancel. In fact, I can even go to my account page--where it shows my subscription as ended more than a year ago-and click on "Library" and it shows the audiobooks I have bought, still with download links, I guess in case something happens to the device I have them downloaded to. Looks to me like a real commitment to the proposition that I bought the books and now own them. (Plenty of other things I don't like about Audible, tho...)
Who's the girl who says
_just be aware of that and make sure that you listen to the free sample before you actually decide on that audiobook_
? Not creeping, I just feel obligated to know every Northern Irish TH-camr.
Yeah, I just searched "Review of Audible" and she was on the first page.
Yo your looking really fit! Would love to see a video how you utilise your training as also a facility to inhance your learning! Great video and keep up the fitness, from an irish guy
Cheers!
I actually recorded the A roll for this BEFORE my last video so my last video is actually what I look like more recently... But it's amazing what a cricket top will do haha. But yeah I do want to do something like you suggested.
I think Storytel is called Mofibo in Denmark
Was surprised to find this to be correct... well, it's called "Mofibo - A Part of Storytel" but honestly I think it's just that all words sound the same in Danish anyway. That's probably just what the Swedes hear when the Danes say Storytel.
@@daysandwords Danish is an odd language but Sorytel - Mofibo aren’t that simular 😹 Anyway Mofibo is a big deal here because Audible and other services rarely have danish audiobooks - and when you can find them they are expensive
Haha I tried buying it via Turkey but my credit card company wasn't very happy about that
Yeah mine rang me about it too.
European Portuguese anywhere?
Plenty of the countries offer Portuguese as a language, and so long as you can get Portuguese, yes, some of the books will be in European Portuguese the same as some of the books are in British English, some are in American English, others in Australian English etc etc.
In other words, I can't say what titles happen to be in European Portuguese but I can guarantee there are some.
European Portuguese is significantly different from Brazilian Portuguese-more so than the varieties of English, and more so than the varieties of Spanish. Especially in the pronunciation (which is why I'm looking for audiobooks). Also, there seems to be more of a tendency for people on each side to see the other's grammar & pronunciation as just wrong. Or as not understandable. Considering that there are 200 million Brazilians and only 10 million Portuguese, it is natural that there's a TON of Brazilian Portuguese and very, very little European Portuguese. (But, due to details I won't go into here, it is possible for me to retire to Portugal and not possible for me to retire to Brazil--though I could live comfortably either place.) I was trying to locate a Storytel outlet that seems to consider Portugal as a market or sub-market. Spain (for example) is just next door, so you might think...BUT the Spanish site just lists a few language-learning books--with Brazilian flags all over them. @@daysandwords
Yes but you are misunderstanding me. I am not at all suggesting that they are the same. Whether they are very very very different or completely the same is IRRELEVANT. Read carefully:
- What you need is to test select of the countries that offers PORTUGUESE as a language. The fact that Euro Portuguese is different is irrelevant as long as they have the same name.
- Then, once you have Portuguese as a language selected in the "app" settings, you browse titles. I would start by looking for titles that are like "The History of Portugual" or something. Or you could look up a list of Portuguese authors and search their name.
- Once you find a single title in European Portuguese, click on the narrator. You keep going like that.
IF (and only if) European Portuguese had different names (like Norwegian and Swedish), then you could just search the language... but they don't have that, so you're going to have to do it the hard way, which I've just described.
Also, if you're after language LEARNING books... then I wouldn't recommend Storytel at all. I'm saying Storytel has BOOKS (actual books to listen to, not "language learning" books) in European Portuguese.
Thanks for the clarification. The needle-in-a-haystack method, btw, would probably work pretty well with, as you suggest, Portuguese authors. Less well with my initial methodology, which is translations of books I know well. (= My preferred way to get comprehensible input, since, well, show me a graded reader that has made a best seller list...they vary from not-too-horrible on down. In my cranky opinion.) @@daysandwords
Call me old fashioned, but I wouldn't want to see writers impacted the same way musicians have by mass adoption of subscription models. Sure, it benefits consumers in the short run, but look at the creative drought we're in with music. It's no coincidence that this era of mediocrity is a result of many talented people having to give up on their creative pursuits because it won't sustain them or by provide them a decent living. This is no way an endorsement of Audible, which I believe is worse.
Subscription models can absolutely benefit the artist IF the compensation model is fair. We know that Audible's is not, and I doubt that Storytel is exactly a saviour, but the small amount of info I could find suggests it is at least better.
Is it like bookbeat where you can’t read and listen at the same time ?
@@delightfulgenius4635 “ummm” lol “has access to” doesn’t mean can do both at the same time. I ask cuz bookbeat has the same feature but if you play the audiobook you can’t turn on the ebook. If you do it shuts off the audiobook and vice versa.
I talk about how to do that in the members' video. It IS like that but there's a workaround.
Wait so met me get this straight.. you watched a movie 50 times and now you're saying it doesn't make sense to keep an audio book because you'll never listen to it again anyway? Please tell me I misunderstood something
Yeah and watching the same film 50 times would really be a very normal thing to do that ordinary people who don't make language learning videos would do all the time...
Not to mention that audiobooks are an average of 6 times as long as movies. I've only ever listened to one Swedish book on this service TWICE.
@@daysandwords Maybe it's just me then but I enjoy re-watching/reading/listening to most of the recourses I've used because the second or third time I understand a lot more. Sometimes, a couple of months after listening to an audio book, I feel like listening to it again just to see the progress I made in the meantime. This is obviously more expensive in the long run but I also like buying physical books just because I "cherish" them more when I know that they belong to me and I don't have to worry about not being able to pay my subscription. There's also the fact that I still see audio books in my target languages as a learning source primarily and not as entertainment directly so yeah
That being said this app's pros definitely outweigh the cons and I'll definitely try it out so thank you for sharing it
Don't get me wrong - if Storytel didn't give you the option to relisten, then that would be a HUGE con for me... but it's not like you're paying for every time you rent the audiobook... It's the same as Netflix. That's what makes Audible such a scam... they act like it's a Netflix kinda deal but it's really a buy PLUS subscribe kinda deal where you get a "credit" each month that you then have to decide carefully how you spend. That's ridiculous and it's obvious that they do it because it's more profitable.
would be nice if they had japanese
They do. Watch the extended explanation.
@@daysandwords Ok, i like your content so I'll pay for a few months :D
9:00 Tycker du ja! 🤓
You need a VPN to get non-English content?
It depends which content and where you are. Given I have an use a VPN anyway, it doesn't really change the app for me.
@@daysandwords but the app doesn't allow me to log into that foreign account, even when using vpn...
@@tobisbesteI'm not sure what you mean by that. I have used the app to login to 7 foreign accounts over the years and I know people in the USA who have it working fine as well.
WHAT IS IT
if you learn to learn you can go faster lol
Have you made this comment on the right video?
Too bad there;s no English country included. Since I'm inter4sted in learning Italian I registered my account there. Not cheap, well, it is if you consider it's unlimited. But the cheapest plan., 12$ CA is only 10, hours a month. Should do.
There are cheaper ways to get Italian.
Ok I know this sounds like a trek to you, but I love all your videos, but I would really appreciate it if you could make a video of the best Irish learning apps that are free❤
I am in the process of reviewing some apps at the moment. Some are free, or freemium, and some of them have Irish I think.
great content as always, but i have one bone to pick 🤨 as a lifelong dodger fan, i find your hat soooo distracting. it’s like the only thing i can see. IFYKY. ⚾️💙
Sorry but my LA hat is too small, so it's my son's now. I wear different baseball hats in different videos.
First!
Nah actually someone got a LEGIT comment in before you wrote this!
knee wrote _"First!"_
Why is this even a thing? I've never understood it. There's no prize to be won... no advantage conferred... no points to acquire or discounts to earn or... wtf do people still care about 'first' in 2023 ???
If it's on a big enough channel (I don't think mine counts) then I actually get it.
You're just saying that you happened to have the video show up in your feed within a few seconds of it being uploaded... it feels kind of personal and close to the creator. I'm not saying it is the same as an ACTUAL achievement, but think about if you were just walking around in, say, Sydney, and you spotted Christopher Nolan scouting for his next film... You would tell people about that, even though it had nothing to do with your skill. It was just a random thing... if you are genuinely the first (which this comment wasn't anyway) on a video that will get a million comments (again, not this video), then it's kinda cool. It doesn't mean anything, it's just cool.