Amazon-owned Audible is the leading player in the audiobook market and has an estimated 63.4% market share. This dominant position allows the Amazon-owned company to collect large amounts of personal data on audiobook listeners, lock them into the closed Audible ecosystem, and impose unfavorable terms on authors.
When you use Audible, it collects information on your audiobook searches and purchases. It also collects information whenever you view, download, or stream audiobooks. This information is linked to your Amazon account which holds additional troves of data on your Amazon browsing and purchasing behavior.
Not only does Audible allow the tech giant Amazon to harvest even more information from you, but you also never truly own the audiobooks you buy. Audible uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to lock all of your audiobooks inside its closed, restrictive walled garden and force you to listen to audiobooks within Audible's proprietary apps.
This closed ecosystem also gives Audible the power to delete or edit titles that you've already purchased. Amazon has already demonstrated its willingness to perform digital book burnings and has quietly erased several titles from Kindle owners' devices, including George Orwell's famous dystopian sci-fi novel 1984. Other digital content, including Roald Dahl ebooks and Terry Pratchett audiobooks, have been automatically updated to censored versions or had trigger warnings added to them.
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