Audible Channels is Now Free for Amazon Prime Members

Audible Channels—a unique feature of the Audible service that provides short format original programming and exclusive content and podcasts to the audiobook service—is now free for Amazon Prime members, Audible revealed.

“Channels offers a variety of episodic programs, distinctive comedy, lectures, and audio editions of standout articles from the pages of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Foreign Affairs, McSweeney’s and other leading periodicals,” the Audible app description reads. “Audible Channels also showcases Audible Playlists, 20 signature listening experiences hand-selected by Audible editors to suit every preference and updated daily, from essential stories of the day, meditation selections and commute-sized comedy to accessible and engrossing compilations on science, history, technology and more.”

Audible Channels launched back in April, and at the time I noted it was free to Audible members, which is to say those people who are already paying Audible a monthly fee. (As I do; I’m a Gold member.)

Those who are not members can pay for Audible Channels, however. The cost is $60 per year or $4.95 per month.

But now, there’s another way to get Audible Channels for free: You just need to be an Amazon Prime member. As you likely know, this service costs $99 per year (or $11 per month) and it includes an incredible range of physical and digital benefits that make it a no-brainer for many.

The basic gist of Prime is free two-day shipping: Most of the items you purchase from Amazon.com will ship to you in two days at no additional cost. You can get free same day delivery in certain locations, and even free two-hour delivery for certain items. You can also pay $3.99 to get two-day items even more quickly in a lot of cases.

But on the digital side, the list is growing and growing. With Prime, you get Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, Kindle First, and more. And now you get Audible Channels too. (Audible is owned by Amazon.)

(There are of course some location-based restrictions to these services. For example, the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is currently US-only.)

In any event, I’ve not spent much time with Audible Channels yet, which is a shame. I did spend the time “following” certain playlists and downloading content to my phones for whenever that does happen. But given the amount of time I have for spoken-word content—walks, traveling, and so on—I’ve been sticking to audiobooks and the occasional podcast so far. This is a nice reminder to check out this feature though.

Audible Channels is available in the Audible mobile app on Android, iPhone and, yes, Windows phone too. No, really. It is.