Hello There! Let Me Help You Decide: Audible Plus or Premium Plus

So you‘re intrigued by Audible and all that this vast audiobook and podcast platform has to offer. But in choosing between their two paid membership plans – Audible Plus and Premium Plus – differences around price, credits, ownership and more have left you scratching your head. Well my friend, you‘ve come to the right place!

As an avid Audible member myself for over 5 years and audiobook nut with hundreds of listens under my belt, I‘m going to clearly break down exactly what you‘ll get with Audible Plus compared to Premium Plus. My goal is to help you grasp where each plan excels so you can decide which one best matches your listening interests and lifestyle.

By the end of this walkthrough, the differences will make total sense and you‘ll be 100% confident picking the perfect Audible tier for your needs – along with some hot audiobook recommendations to jumpstart your listening! So grab your headphones, let‘s dive in!

A Quick History First

To understand the Plus vs. Premium choice today, a quick history lesson will help set the stage…

Audible has been around since 1995 as an early pioneer in digital spoken audio content, offering listeners endless audiobooks across every genre imaginable – from business to sci-fi, celebrity memoirs to educational courses and everything in between.

Up until August 2020, Audible only had two paid membership tiers:

Gold: $14.95 per month for 1 audiobook credit
Platinum: $22.95 per month for 2 audiobook credits

With these credits, members could redeem any audiobook from the entire 500,000+ title Premium catalog – think of credits like cash to grab anything regardless of regular price. For example, I once used a credit to get the mega popular "Atomic Habits" audiobook that retails for $27 – scored for free! Nice.

The rest of the huge Audible library outside your credits required paying title-by-title without a membership discount.

Then in late summer 2020, some seismic shifts occurred…

First, Audible introduced an entirely NEW tier: Audible Plus, positioned as an affordable $7.95 per month gateway with access to a smaller Plus catalog of over 11,000 titles and no credits.

Additionally, they rebranded Gold into the upgraded Premium Plus plan with slight tweaks like keeping unused credits up to 1 year rather than just 6 months.

This brought us to the now reigning paid tiers still in place today:

🔸 Audible Plus
🔸 Premium Plus

Okay, got all that? Great! Now that you‘ve got the backstory, let‘s examine exactly what you‘ll find in 2023 with these two membership choices…

Audible Plus Explained

The $7.95 per month Audible Plus plan grants you unlimited access to stream over 11,000 titles exclusively living within the Plus catalog.

Compare this to well over 500,000 titles available to Premium Plus members and you can see why the catalogs differ drastically in scope here.

Now 11,000 books is still an awful lot! What kinds of titles make up the Plus collection exactly?

The Audible Plus library consists of:

❏ Audible Originals: exclusive podcasts and audiobooks you won‘t find elsewhere

❏ An assortment of classic literature books like Pride & Prejudice

❏ Celeb memoirs – think Amy Schumer and David Spade

❏ Niche nonfiction spanning finance, parenting, health subjects

❏ Documentaries, meditation programs and sleep tracks

I‘d estimate about 60% of the Plus catalog skews towards entertainment and lifestyle subjects compared to more premium best sellers and newer releases only accessible on higher plans.

Regardless, there‘s ample content here keep your ears busy for a long while!

Unlike the big Premium vault however, with Audible Plus you‘re really just renting access rather than owning anything permanently in your library.

That means no downloading titles for offline listening or access when membership lapses. Poof! Gone.

But no sweat – while active, you can stream to your heart‘s content from the 11K Plus collection on almost any device you own:

📱 iOS and Android phones & tablets
🖥 Laptops & desktops
🎧 Alexa devices
📺 FireTV
🎮 Gaming consoles

It‘s seamlessly accessible entertainment 24/7!

And since there‘s no credits with Plus, you can hop around exploring ALL categories totally risk-free without that nagging "but I paid for this credit!" feeling. Stream sample after sample until you discover binge-worthy gold worth sticking with for hours.

Alright, let‘s shift gears to the Premium Plus tier now so you can see exactly what more you‘ll gain by upgrading…

Premium Plus Perks

Really the biggest incentive to spring for Premium Plus comes down to two words my friend: more & credits

More titles…Over 500,000 more to be exact, unlocking the full Audible library compared to just sliver you get with Plus.

And credits…One free audio redemption for ANY premium title per month, saving you $10, $20 even $30 or more each time.

These two key selling points truly redefine the listening experience.

With vast catalog open for business, the latest chart-topping summer beach reads, hotly anticipated memoirs by stars like Matthew McConaughey, page-turner thrillers and tempting self-development courses all enter the chat.

Your options expand massively to indulge any mood, from light & laugh-out-loud to somber & thought-provoking. Quintuple your queue!

Then each month arrive juicy credits to redeem a audiobook 100% free regardless of retail value. Last year alone this perk saved me over $350! For the same $180 annual fee as Plus, Premium feeds you 12 audiobooks instantly building up an owned library.

Beyond the credits, a few other fabulous bonuses unlock too for the premium set:

Discount Diving: 30% off sale titles lets you score audiobook deals and maximize credits further

Forever Access: Unlike transient Plus streaming, premium titles stay purchased in your permanent account

Bonus Listen Modes: Adjust narration speed or try text-to-speech voices on premium picks for next level utility

When comparing the steady value being delivered across these perks month after month, the $7 premium sticks out as an exceptional bargain in the streaming universe.

And that‘s before even considering how exponentially more robust and current the content selection itself becomes as well!

So now you‘ve got the full lay of the land when it comes to what each Audible membership includes. Let‘s get you thinking about applying this intel to YOUR personal listening profile…

Audible Plus tends to appeal more for light or casual listeners drawn to comedy, celebrity content or short-form picks. If you anticipate streaming just 1-2 titles monthly, the Plus catalog should sufficiently whet your appetite.

Premium Plus caters better to frequent power listeners aiming to smash a new best seller every week with credits plus dive deeper into backlist classics between. Think 3+ books monthly.

If you drive all day for work, stream during long workouts or reading is fundamentally your prime hobby – the unlimited, credit-boosted Premium Plus experience was tailor built for you!

For me, the permanent ownership + improved selection + deep discounts make Premium Plus by far the sweeter choice payoff wise in the long run.

But every listener‘s taste buds differ a bit. Think critically about your patterns.

Are you content blazing through a smaller pool of included titles like Plus offers quarter after quarter?

Or do you expect your appetite for immersive stories to intensify over time? If so, the credit fueled endless buffet upgrade makes perfect sense.

Hopefully breaking down exactly what access and incentives each upgraded paid Audible membership actually includes for you helps come decision time.

Stay tuned next for some hand picked book suggestions guaranteed to satisfy no matter which plan you ultimately land on!

For now though, I want to gift you 1 audiobook FREE through my subscriber outreach program because…hey, who doesn‘t love free?

Talk soon,
[Your name]