Is Scribd Worth It?
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- čas přidán 11. 11. 2019
- NOTE: This is a review of my personal experiences with the service. I have paid for the service with my own money, and all opinions are my own.
I have mixed feelings about Scribd but it is ultimately a service that I enjoy and would recommend, so long as you know the limitations of the offerings & the app. What do you think about Scribd??
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So I was just listening to an audiobook on Scribd and paused it to watch this video...... then when I tried to start listening again it gave me an error message and said the audiobook couldn't be opened. I'm annoyed, but the timing is very hilarious to me 😂
You probably dont care but if you are bored like me atm you can watch all of the latest movies and series on Instaflixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend during the lockdown =)
@Muhammad Vivaan Yup, been watching on instaflixxer for since december myself =)
Perfect timing! I just got the free trial.
One thing that no one ever mentioned and that was quite a nice surprise is that they also have sheet music which is really handy.
I think it's a nice addition for me because while my library has a great english selection considering it's a german library I still often find myself frustrated when I want something specific. I think I'll try it for a few months and see if I use it enough.
I do also think the ambiguity regarding the limitations is really iffy though. I love how you do these videos, they're so informative.
With the “saving” hack... that is exactly what I do! It really helps and has stopped the issues of getting halted on listening.
I like Scribd and I use it mostly as an e-reader. I agree they need to improve their page save feature. I don't save many books so I have not had the same issues that you have experienced. I appreciate your clarification on now many books that you can read per month. I am excited for your end of the year videos.
I found scribd very frustrating because when you search a book they SHOW you they have the book! And then you see a little note next to it saying "not available in your country". Or else you'd add a book to your shelf and then they'd remove it from selection. Arghghh
when I had it the first time they would prevent me from getting books I wanted, I think they were angry I read too much, then they actually admitted it...heavy readers were penalized! BAD business model!
Thanks for doing such a thorough review...much appreciated!!
I had no idea what Scribd actually was before this lol. This was helpful! It sounds like there's definitely some major struggles with it. I find I don't tend to make it through audiobooks particularly quickly, so my library seems to be the better fit for me.
I've been using Scribd for a year or so and I agree with everything you just mentioned. It is still my preferred e-book/audiobook subscription service despite of these issues.
The saved list is a big problem. I've found if you keep your titles under 30, things usually don't go wrong when you go to listen to them. There is also the fact that if you finish a book, rate it and remove it from your saved list, you will still be recommended that book over and over again because the app doesn't recognize that this was something you read and perhaps didn't like. And it will still recommend you titles based on that book and has no regard for your past ratings 😐 it's a shame
This is such a great video ...everybody who wants to do more audiobooks needs to listen to this. I'm also a Scribd user and I learned all about negative things on my own skin.
Tremendously helpful review! Thank you for the thorough detail on your personal pros and cons. Cheers!
Thank you Mara. Another excellent and helpful video.
I enjoy Scribd and I'm a total bookworm. Thanks for your always on target critiques!
Wow- thanks for explaining this way better than the company does. Great video. I may go back to them now that I have the correct expectations.
I agree with what you’ve pointed out. Sometimes I have an issue with a downloaded book stopping and trying to reload.
I personally don’t care for the time remaining feature. I like Libby and Audible where you can clearly see the hours and minutes left in the audiobook.
But overall I can get a few audiobooks from it a month so it is worth it in the end.
My library’s audiobook selection is very limited (at least for books you can stream) so Scrib’d is great for me. I have trouble carving time out to physically read lately as a student, but have a job and a drive to campus where I have a TON of free time to listen. They tend to always have the books I’m reading available (or say they’ll be available a week or so out from when I search for it). It’s so worth it to me, but I agree with all your criticisms of it!
I love Scribd! I don't use audio books and I've been wondering what the limits were, because I knew there were some. They have a lot of manga too and I wonder if they find they have to limit those titles in the same way. I read from a variety of publishers so I haven't come up against any limits yet. I agree they should be clear about how the limits work.
Superb review! Excellently delivered and quite enough to get me to subscribe to your channel! Thank you!
Also, YES! The fact that it can't remember where you stopped drove me crazy, especially when driving because I would have to toggle between my GPS and Scribd and it would lose it's place each time. I hope they fix that issue.
Thanks! Great review. :-)
Your general level of criticism of the service you will continue to use is how I feel about Goodreads, albeit GR is not a paid service - but it is a daily used essential tool in my reading life. TFS :)
Oh Mara you're from BC! Although I am in the Cayman Islands now I'm a South Okanagan girl. Love hearing that one of my fav youtubers is a BC'er. Thanks for your videos. I am trying SCRIBD for free for 90 days so hopefully that goes well. There really is a good selection of audiobooks now, better than there was in the past.
Sadly, I don't live there any more :( - had to come back to the States
@@bookslikewhoa Oh that's so sad! Well I hope you get to visit BC soon again. Vancity is really lovely. I hope you got the chance to experience the wine country, Okanagan (where I am from). It's the best part of BC.....totally bias.
Yes, it is more than worth it. I have been subscribed to Scribd for a very long time now and now I can't imagine where I would be without it.
I started about 4 months ago so far i enjoy it,often i wish if im looking for a specific audiobook n its not there or coming on later date. But with the time I've used its been so much cheaper comparing with audibooks with audible.
I have p much the same thoughts you do. I don't care that it's limited, I just wish there was more clear cut rules as to how many books one can access a month. One month I listened to a single audiobook and all audiobooks were limited for the rest of the month. I also have issues occasionally with the audiobook starting completely over which is frustrating as well. With that being said, I will continue to use it. I have been able to skirt around getting limited with trying to get my newer/more popular titles from my library or not starting them on Scribd until the end of my month.
So I dove into a series that isn’t like super popular. Used my two free audible credits for the first two books. Checked scrib’d after this video, and the rest of his series (14 total books) is on scrib’d!!!! Heck yes. Thanks for this video. I’m deleting audible and just gonna use scrib’d since I can listen to all of his series for 11.99 instead of one book a month.
I work in quality control for a construction company. I sit in a lab alone, hundreds of miles from home for 14 hour shifts. This has saved my life! I have incredible access to a ton of awesome books to keep my mind busy while I’m working these lonnnngggg shifts. I went through 2 audiobooks today. Audible just cannot provide the level of audio I need lol.
I've thought about trying out Scribd for a while, but I already have both audible and something called storytel or mofibo in Denmark. With that service I've never had any issues with accessing the books, and I read about 7-8 titles from there a month (always audios - so far). They don't have everything, but they have over 150.000 and a really good selection of books in English including new releases, which is great. Then I use Audible/my library's overdrive for those I can't access from that, or finally I'll get a physical or ebook if it isn't available anywhere else.
I use it very helpful. Just because I'm not a audio person but for the price of the app it works pretty well 😊
thanks for the hack, I have recently begun noticing the jail when I have titles saved as well. And you're right the app is clunky but I do believe it's well worth it because I get to read way more books now than when I was reading only physical or ebooks I owned, now I have access to ebooks of authors I've never tried before and if I don't like them oh well I didn't pay for it so move on.
I love Scribd. When I first started it I try to binge read Agatha Christie books and I found myself restricted after 3 or 4 listens. However since I started to include other genres besides mysteries I have not found myself restricted at all. I now use it for mysteries, sci fi, non-fiction, and occasionally a middle grade or a general fiction book. I listen to about 6 to 8 books a month at Scribd. I also occasionally read an eBook through them. I listen to more non-fiction than fiction at Scribd.
I do have problems with their app. For a couple of months my pause and sleep button would disappear at times and I do not know if this was an experiment on their part to restrict heavy users or whether it was a glitch.
I also use Audible and Kobo but I think now that I use ascribed so much I will probably let Kobo go.
Thank you. I came by the "title unavailable" and it's back the day after my free trial ends. I got very upset. I have been reading a series. So obviously I was frustrated. But this clears it up. Thank you
Thank you for the information! As a user who lived in China, this app can be quite temperamental if you're using it there. Firstly, I always needed to turn my VPN on when I wanted to read (not a big deal but still annoying). Furthermore, I always needed to be connected to the internet even after I'd saved the title and downloaded it (audiobooks and ebooks). Needing to be connected to the internet is still the case even though I'm back in Canada (and Ireland). However, please note that I haven't used the app with a VPN in either Canada or Ireland, so I can't speak to how the app works in either country with a VPN.
Thank you for this video! If I may add my opinion, I agree with all that you've said, but I really love Scribd. I'm a Brazilian who is regaining my habit of reading, especially via audiobooks, and I don't have easy access to a full library, so Scribd is perfect for me. I'm not an avid reader, and at the same time, I prefer to read/listen to audiobooks in English, so Scribd really seems to be the best solution. For the price of one ebook/paperback, I have access to this wide catalogue of books/audiobooks, including new releases! It has been a game changer in my reading life. Most of the books I want, they have, and while I agree that the app is a bit unstable, it only let me down, like, one time in about 7 months or so. Overall, I've had a really great experience with it and I can't recommend it enough, if you are in a simar position as me. You have put it perfectly: if you don't have access to a library, Scribd might be a great solution for you.
Also, I agree that their limits on how many book one can consume is not clear enough. I've contacted them about it (and about what happens when I abandon a book: does it count toward my limit?) and here is what they replied:
"I'll be happy to explain it all the best I can. The system is set up so that if you only read a few pages and decide you don't like it, it won't count as a read title. No matter if it is an audiobook or an ebook. As far as the exact number of books you can read or listen to per month, that gets a bit more difficult to pinpoint. There are several factors here to keep in mind. How new the book is, whether it is an audiobook or ebook, (they are counted separately). I know you are looking for a more specific number, but each book has a specific value paid out to the publishers. The lower the value, the more you can read. So as you can imagine, newer or more popular books require a higher value, so less of them are available in a given month."
Hope that helps!
Ah, good to hear what they have to say directly! I'm glad you enjoy the service!
I agree. I use Scribd all the time (using it for several genres helps to minimize early restrictions as well), but the kinks and nebulous terms make me feel iffy. From my experience, the search engine doesn't show every available title. Sometimes I have to click on a hit, then on the author and on the author's page there are more titles available than what the search engine showed before. Like what? This is especially the case if I search for translated titles from an author. They don't come up when I search (even with the correct filters), but are listed on the author's page. Annoys me so much!!
Gorgeous make up 📖🧡
You are right, saving is recognized as you having read the entire book already. It is the same with looking ahead: If you click on the link in contents to go to the last chapter it registers that you have read all the pages in between. Again, if you list a book it automatically saves it and registers that you have read all the pages in the book. So I am keeping the list of books I want to read outside of Scribd, not saving anything o other than the book I am reading, all this to minimize the number of pages I am recognized as having read.
Girl, them brows 🙌🏻
I’m in my free trial month it was great at first then it took all my options away but I’m going to hang on to see if things improve once my fee kicks in
100% agree with your review
Thanks for this video. I keep cancelling and then restarting my subscription every once in a while because I can't get a particular book/audiobook from my library. The amount of throttling is so frustrating!
Oh goodness, the bugs in their app. That is the main thing that keeps me thinking about if I really want to continue using the service. But at the same time, it is so nice to have access to some of those titles.
I just got Scribd account this month. The thing to notice is that it has a lot of reference material in it. I just started learning Italian, and was able to find a lot of material to help with the language.
Thanks i am football coach and i need to create a playbook this help alot
I've been looking into this service for a little while. Of all the videos I've watched to try to gather info, your video has by far been the best. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!!
I love Scribd! However, I find after I listen to a couple of titles that I have to wait until the tenth of the next month before I can listen to lots of other titles. I have found though that some older titles haven't been restricted and that I can listen to those. That is good because there are many backlist titles I haven't read yet.
Ugh, yes the metering Of content on Scribd is not great. I hadn’t noticed the publisher connection. I am a big user of audiobooks, so I figured it had to do with the number of audiobooks listened to in a certain time period. I always download and save the audiobook that I am currently listening to so I don’t have the problem of the app not remembering where I am at. I have noticed all my saved books come back on my membership date each month.
Weird, the issues you've stated as well as many others I haven't experienced and I've been using scribd for probably like 9-10 months now. I've never been cut off in the middle of a book to say it would not be available anymore, I've always been able to finish it. However, if I get partly through the book I'm currently reading and I've got my cap, it will make many of the other "hot" titles unavailable to start. But I can always finish my current one. Also, there seems to be a limit of 3. I can listen to 3 audiobooks before it greatly reduces my selection until the start of the next billing cycle. I've never had a problem with it not saving my place or glitching out, really, in general, with the exception of the app crashing when I try to "see unavailable titles." But it just closes the app out, it doesn't affect the book I'm reading. It does say unlimited because you always have access to content, it just might not be what you want. If I've reached my audiobook cap, it starts recommending me the same titles in my saved list in ebook format, but I prefer Kindle for ebooks, I don't like them on my phone. But yes, if you get capped out on audiobooks you are interested in, you can still read some popular titles on ebook too. In that sense it truly is unlimited, but I do agree they could be more transparent. But I like it, Audible is so much more expensive and you only get one book! And I have no desire to own the audiobook because I will buy it physically if I like it enough, so it is a great deal.
This has been my experience as well. I get throttled, but it's never taken away a book I was in the middle of. And when I do get throttled, there's enough selection of stuff I'm interested in to not be an annoyance. I think it's a good bang for your buck.
i love Scribd but my biggest issue with them is that they count books that you don't finish or are just doing a taste test of to see if you will like it count as books read and then you get stuck on that wait list for other titles. there needs to be a way to sample books so that this doesn't happen.
Just a question with the subscription would you also be given access to the magazines as wuell again if tt was just the standard package? Thanks love your vid. I am looking to get a package.
I've been paying for mine through gift vouchers. So I'll buy five months in advance and then just renew when it times out. I've found that if I do that, books don't mysteriously disappear or become unavailable.
I am still bothered by the unlimited that is limited. Most of the time when access to a book goes away it always seems to conveniently be available the day after you pay them again if doing monthly which angers me. As a whole I like it better than audibles as I can still get more audio in a month for a cheaper price.
I have trouble with focus. Where can I get books to read while listening along? 🙏. Should I get ebooks along with audiobooks. What do you recommend?
I love scribd and the new update is much better imo. My audiobooks would ALWAYS lose their spot unless I bookmarked and now it doesn’t do this. It also used to buffer or “think” a lot more and is much faster now. So many books are on scribd but I wish audible would release a more comparable version besides kindle unlimited. I’d subscribe if audible had a $15 a month subscription that allowed more than one book.
Love your videos and special thanks for this one. I recently canceled my Audible subscription. I find 14.99 Usd for one book/month too expensive. I will not comment on their selection in audible originals... it does not count for me. Or, am I missing something with Audible? Anyway, love audio books, so will try Scribd, although expecting many problems including “not available in your country”. This is something I often face when it comes to buying ebooks, or audiobooks. Do not understand it. Book Depository never told me that they do not deliver certain books to my country. p.s. I live in Hungary.
Rosie BC I return my audible books once I’ve finished them to get the credit back and get a new one. You can only personally return so many but if you contact them via the chat function on the webpage they will return them for you. I usually save up a couple and return them together so I never run out of credits
Thanks for the info. I do agree with saving on their site. Can you use Scribd on your Kindle?
I remember I used oyster SO MUCH when it was a thing and now I’m looking for a replacement and it makes me sad
Love you videos
Here's another reason you may not have thought of as to why someone might want audio books; if said person is blind/visually impaired as I am. I'm trying the free 30 day trial. I haven't had any issues with books not keeping their place once saved, nor have I run into limitations as of yet. Just got it though so there's still time. I would overly love it if it truly was unlimited. Hope they make improvements on the app. I like that it's voiceover compatible. I also like the idea of being able to download the books for offline listening if need be.
100% agree!
The UI needs A LOT of improvement. It's really frustrating. But I still use it too, once every a couple of months, because I think it's a good deal.
i have also noticed that about the saved books. Those are the ones that tend to disappear. I still get to listen to several books, more than I could on audible per month, but the fact that I can't depend on being able to listen to the book on my saved list when I want to makes me frustrated.
Still a good service for the value, but the communication about how this works could be improved.
I totally agree about the stability of the app. But I've been using the website lately and I don't have as "many" issues with losing my place. I really dislike how you can't tell how much you have left or % completed very clearly on the page where you're actually listening to the book.
I'm done with Scribd. It's such a scam. Literally can't even play any audiobook that was published after 1990, yet they advertise "unlimited books and audiobooks!!!" The whole company is a scam - any book before 1990 you get unlimited downloads, but any book after that time frame you may only BEGIN a book or audiobook once a month (if you pause/ close the book or close the app altogether at any point after opening the book/ audiobook, you lose all of your privileges for 30 days. Like....?... What the f***? lol) It's such a joke, I'm surprised people aren't outraged by this. Someone should sue them for false advertising.
I’m a novice at audible books and just started a subscription. However, is there an app that lets you read from e-book and hear at the same time?
When I can listen to a book on Scribd that I can’t get anywhere else it’s great! However, they aren’t very honest about how available the books will be! I learned pretty early not to put lists on Scribd of anything extra I was interested in. I just list 4-5 at a time and even those disappear! It’s very frustrating but I do have certain books I really want and then I’ll just quit for awhile! And I won’t quit until right before the renewal!
I didn’t know this was an audio book site ! My friend told me he uses it to learn anything he wants to know . I’m confused ? I thought it was a learning app? What makes this better then Audio Books? If it just books ? I was exciting the way my friend says he can type in anything he wants and learn whatever the topic is ?
tnx help a lot!
What was the music in your into? it sounds so familiar
I uploaded 5 documents and I set them all as public, pity only 2 went public and Im not sure what happen with the rest
I am legally blind. I have used the service to find books that I cannot find through the national library service for the blind and print disabled…. The thing that bothers me is it’s not totally screen reader accessible. It’s very annoying.
Hi! Wonderful video on the Scribd subscription! I’m wondering if you or anyone else can help me out with this. I’m planning on buying my first e-reader & I’m a fan of what Scribd has to offer. I’m wondering what you use to read things from Scribd? I have an iPad, but there’s the issue of eye straining of course & I can’t stand reading on it for a long period of time.
FAQs are difficult when it comes to products and services because they can constitute a contract, implied or express. It doesn't allow a business to be flexible and nimble to spell out absolutely everything so I very much doubt that they update them. For my work we have client provided FAQs that sometimes we have to wait months for, as they make the rounds past their lawyers. It's an irony that in order for them to be air tight they need to have as little substance as possible while still meeting the legal requirements of keeping the consumer informed.
What about payment? Is very expensive?
I thought it was 8$ but they charged me 80.xx $
I thought this was a better version Of that learning app that has classes
I found the app to be a dealbreaker for me. I used the free trial while I was on a road trip, and every time that the GPS would say anything, it would cause scribd to crash and make us lose our place lol
Hello, can I pay annually with scribd? Or just month to month?
books that was available after were Amy Harmon books , stolen , since you've been gone .. I think we should have a website to tell each other about good books that are available after the list shrinkage 🤣💔
I did not know you could get a masters degree in romance novels, lol
Keep it short and to the point
Can you do an update video on scribd plz
The tansparency is an issue, but for me Scribd is great. Where i live the libary system is not very good (New Brunswick) and scribd makes it so that I can get my hads on some books that I want to read at a low cost. I am not a power reader though and have never come across being blocked from a pulisher. I tend to listen to afew audio books and mayber read 2-3 books a month.
Sometimes when I read a series I read the first one and search the second one and then they are all gone:(
RoyaleFendi he’s! That just happened to me! I checked if the series I wanted to read was on there and it was and I finished the first book and then the other books disappeared. I later found them but they weren’t available for another month!
I downloaded it yesterday and now I'm going to delete it thanks for the video
oh scribd 🙂🔪 .. I get 4 audiobooks "best sellers" a month , then all I'm left with is classics and some titles I usually don't want to read , and the saved feature thing is true however last time I listened to an audiobook without saving it cuz I wanted to complete the series they didn't make titles unavailable but they deleted them all together from my account 🙂
Yes, yes it is.
and Audible has a return service now and a 6$ for 3 month each offer so 🤷🏻♀️
So it’s just books?
so... if SCRIBD isn't really "unlimited" then how can Kindle call itself UNLIMITED when it really isn't??....lol
This is like Overdrive, except Overdrive is free and it's actually unlimited.
Overdrive is only free if your library uses it for their ebook source. Lots of small library systems can't afford to pay for overdrive. Unless there's another way to get it that I'm unaware of...
Yeah, I guess I've lived in big library system areas. Maryland, Long Island, Cape Cod, Omaha. (Anyone in all of New York State can use the NYPL library one.) Usually, the small libraries make consortiums so that they can do things like Overdrive.
Can you read from this app on a paperwhite?
Not that I've found, but could be wrong!
@@bookslikewhoa bummer but thank you!
Audible has gone on record as saying they "dial back your available options as you reach an amount of use that makes it unprofitable to them" so basically they can't really be clearer since it all depends on what you're actually consuming since their costs on different books vary.
Ps. I use scribd for Audio books exclusively and can tell you your hacks don't really work. After I listen to so many titles all access to Audio books disappears for me. I can still see my saved list that will become available but all Audio books on the site go away and become unwatchable to me.
I was charged for a subscription and I never subscribed. I had to get my charges blocked! Beware!!
Hi! I think i might have the same thing right now going on and i could use some help with it.!How do i cancel it when it says in my account that i'm not a member ?Did you delete your account? Does it help?Sorry for all the questions, but i just really don't know what to do. Since i don't speak english as my first language, it's hard to understand some of the instructions.
how can we get money from scribd ? can we? @bookslikewhoa
It is NOT unlimited! Don't bother
Could you add a summary of your review in description? A 20 mins+ review, people lose interest midway.
never subscribe to it