April 6, 2016

Audible Channels Launches with Free Premium Audio Content for Members

The Audible mobile app has a new section which will surely interest fans of audio learning. It’s in beta mode right now and it’s called “Channels”. We’re not sure if it showing up for all Audible app users yet, but we’ll give you an overview of what is probably coming soon to an Audible app near you, if it’s not already there.

The new Audible Channels section of the Audible app on iOS and Android features about 90 channels of relatively short audio content that is free to members to listen to via streaming or you can download for offline listening. Many of the channels are categories such as comedy, meditation, business news, etc. Each of these categories features a playlist of short audio related specifically to that category. This audio content is coming from publishers and partners of Audible including excerpts of audio books and articles from a number of publications that Audible partners with such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

There are also channels featuring professional audio recordings of new articles from Audible’s partner publications and we’ll list a bunch of the publications that have channels: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Harvard Business Review, Smithsonian Magazine, Forbes, cNet, McSweeney’s Fiction, MIT Technology Review, The New Republic Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Science News Magazine, Scientific American, and The Washington Post. There is also some original audio content such as episodes of Charlie Rose, the best TED Talks, Marketplace, BBC Newshour, PRI’s The World, and The Onion Radio.

And then there are some channels that seem to be premium audio shows that Audible has developed including Hot Mic with Dan Savage, Hold On with Eugene Mirman featuring funny live stories, How to Be Amazing with comedian Michael Ian Black as he interviews intriguing people, Limelight Illuminating Comedy, and a few others.

Audible’s Channels free section gives one even more incentive to become an Audible member as it will surely grow into an amazing new way to get premium audio content that isn’t currently in audio book form. If you’re not an Audible member, you might want to check this out. You can subscribe through Amazon (which owns Audible) right now and get two free audio books:

Try the Audible 30-Day Free Trial and Get Two Free Audiobooks

Audible’s Channels section is an interesting move for Audible who’s main focus has been in promoting unabridged audio books and generally longer form audio content to purchase via its memberships or a la carte from its site or on Amazon or on iTunes (who it partners with). Audible has amassed 180,000 titles over the years which has completely dwarfed their competitors in audio book retail. But I’m sure they have seen the magnificent success of over 200,000 free podcasts on iTunes and felt the need to somehow get into that space. Audible tried to get into podcasting 10 years ago with the failed Audible Wordcast. But now they are an Amazon owned company with much more money and power, and with Audible Channels they might give traditional podcasting a run for the money. Will they lure over top podcasters to their subscription service so podcasters can finally start making some serious money? Only time will tell. In the meantime they’ve got some great premium audio content that you won’t find anywhere else and it’s all free for Audible members!

Here is Audible’s official announcement of Channels and you can browse the channels they offer:

Audible’s Intro Page to Channels

Here is Audible’s new video introduction to Audible Channels: