Spotify opens audiobook streaming to NZ – but it’s costly

In a bid to become the world’s most popular audio streaming service, Spotify has made 300,000 audiobooks available to New Zealand users for the first time. But you’ll need to pony up some serious cash to listen to them.

When The Spinoff browsed Spotify’s audiobooks landing page, listening to Stephen Fry narrate the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher’s Stone, for eight hours will set you back $58.95, while Frank Herbert’s Dune costs $61.40 for 21 hours of audio entertainment.

If you want to hear Friends star Matthew Perry diss Keanu Reeves, his biography Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing costs $55.90. Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming is a little more respectable at $31.90.

In comparison, Spotify competitor Audible costs $A16.45 per month. Or there’s always Auckland library’s under-appreciated streaming service e-Audiobooks, which is free to use for local residents.