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Spotify brings shared audiobooks to Family and Duo plans, but there’s a catch

Audiobook access on Spotify has always been limited to the account owner, meaning that even for Premium Family or Duo subscriptions, only the person who set up the plan could actually use the included hours each month. That’s about to change, depending on where you live. Two add-ons for Individual, Duo, and Family plans Until now, Spotify’s audiobook access has been limited to the primary user and capped at 15 hours per month. But this week, Spotify announced that Premium subscribers in select

Spotify’s new 30-hour audiobook plans are too short to finish long books

Spotify has launched two new Audiobooks Plus add-on subscriptions that allow Premium users to double their audiobook listening limit to 30 hours. They’re available to individual Premium subscribers and users who manage Family and Duo plans. Other users on Premium accounts can now also request 15 hours of audiobook access from their plan manager. However, the new plans are still too short for those who prefer to listen to longer books. The 30-hour limit won’t get you through titles like George R

ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year

ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year, research shows Valeriya/iStockphoto/Getty Images Health insurance premiums are going way up next year for people who buy their insurance on Healthcare.gov or the state-based marketplaces, according to an analysis out Friday. The average person who buys Affordable Care Act insurance will be paying 75% more for their premium, according to the analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group. The insurers' narrat

Peacock announces its steepest price hike in its short history

TL;DR Peacock is raising the prices of its Premium and Premium Plus plans. The Premium tier will go up to $11, while Premium Plus will cost $17. The price hike will go into effect on July 23 for new subscribers and August 22 for existing members. Another day, another subscription service raises its prices. The streaming platform Peacock will soon raise its subscription rates for both new and existing customers. According to Bloomberg, Comcast Corp has announced that it will hike the cost of

Like clockwork, Peacock is raising subscription prices again

Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming home for The Office and Love Island USA, is going to cost a good bit more starting on July 23, Variety reports. The streaming service's two existing tiers will cost an additional $3 per month, and Peacock will also start testing a cheaper $7.99 "Select" tier that includes access to NBC and Bravo shows and a limited number of titles from the NBCUniversal back catalog. With the new price hike, Peacock's ad-supported "Premium" plan will go from costing $8 per mont

Peacock Streaming Price Hike to Arrive This Month

We know many of you have been using your Peacock subscription these past few weeks with Love Island season 7 airing, but now it's time to get ready for another surprise: Peacock's hiking its prices. The streaming service announced on Thursday that the cost of its monthly and annual plans will increase beginning July 23 for new and returning customers. Prices will increase in August for current subscribers. With a bump of $3 more each month for Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus, the rates

Peacock is raising its prices by $3

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. A subscription to Peacock is about to cost more. NBCUniversal announced on Thursday that it’s raising the price of its ad-supported Peacock Premium from $7.99 to $10.99 per month, while its ad-free Premium Plus plan will go from $13.99 per month to $16.99 per month, as reported earlier by Variety. For new customers, the price increase will go into

Spotify's Audiobooks+ add-on is now available to some Premium subscribers

It’s likely that you predominantly associate Spotify with music and podcasts, but if you’re a Premium member, you also get 15 hours of audiobook access per month. For some members, though, that clearly isn’t enough, as Spotify has introduced a new add-on subscription that doubles that listening time. Audiobooks+ was first trialled in Ireland and Canada, and is launching initially for Premium Individual and Plan members in a number of countries in Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. On

How to Easily Watch YouTube Videos Offline

There's a good chance you've used YouTube to watch a video at least once in the past month. Over 2.7 billion people use the online video platform every month, according to research from the digital marketing firm Global Media Insight. If you're going somewhere with limited internet or just trying to conserve data on your phone plan, you might want to download some YouTube videos to entertain yourself. Luckily, there are a few ways you can download YouTube videos to watch offline. Subscribing to

Prime deal brings first price drop on the Amazfit Active 2 fitness trackers

Ryan Haines / Android Authority Summer is the time to work on your fitness goals, and Prime Day has thrown up a great chance to save on a motivational companion to your journey. The Amazfit Active 2 Premium is currently available for just $99.99, down from its regular price of $129.99. That’s a 23% discount relative to its retail price, making it its first-ever price drop. Amazfit Active 2 Premium for $99.99 (23% off) If you’re more allured by the Amazfit Active 2 Sport, it’s also subject to a

YouTube Premium offers many more perks that I didn’t know I was paying for

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority I’ve been subscribed to YouTube Premium for many years now, and yet I didn’t know what I was exactly paying for. In my mind, I always associated Premium with an ad-free experience; being able to get rid of all those pesky long and interrupting ads before or while watching a video is alone worth the price. Adding the family benefits for my husband, and the fact that this works everywhere, including on our TVs, makes it more of a no-brainer. Even though I don’t

These Are the Easiest Ways to Watch YouTube Videos Without Internet

There's a good chance you've used YouTube to watch a video at least once in the past month. Over 2.7 billion people use the online video platform every month, according to research from the digital marketing firm Global Media Insight. But if you're going somewhere with limited internet or trying to conserve data on your phone plan, you might want to download some YouTube videos to entertain yourself. Luckily, there are ways to download YouTube videos to watch offline. Subscribing to YouTube Pre

Paramount Plus Is Basically Free for 2 Months With This July 4th Deal

There’s no shortage of streaming services out there, which makes it tough to stay loyal to just one. Apple TV has Severance, Netflix gave us Squid Game, and Yellowjackets is a must-watch on Paramount. If you’re tired of hopping between subscriptions or just want to save a few bucks, there’s a limited-time Fourth of July deal that might help. Right now, you can snag Paramount Plus Essential or Paramount Plus Premium for just $0.99 per month for two months, down from the usual $8 and $13 a month,

Paramount Plus slashes prices to $2 for two months

If you’re looking for an affordable way to kick off your July 4th weekend, Paramount Plus has a deal worth checking out. Just in time for the July 17th premiere of the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, new subscribers can enjoy two months of Paramount Plus Premium (normally $12.99 per month) or Plus Essential (regularly $7.99 a month) for just $0.99 per month as part of the Summer Sale. Either deal includes all the features of the base Paramount Plus Essential plan, but the Paramou

Here’s why everyone is using YouTube Music — even if they don’t love it!

Joe Maring / Android Authority Not many years ago, if you mentioned YouTube Music in a room full of long-time Google Play Music users, you could probably hear their collective sigh from space. Google retired its beloved service in 2020 and replaced it with something that, at the time, felt underbaked to be a true music player. Fast-forward to 2025, and while the groans haven’t completely died down, nearly everyone we know, including our readers, is using YouTube Music. This revelation came str

Nothing Phone 3: Bold new flagship or $799 mistake? Tell us what you think

Nothing launched the Phone 2 at just $599, and it quickly earned a spot as one of the best value flagships around. But things have changed since then. The new Nothing Phone 3 starts at $799, and with that price tag, Nothing is clearly announcing that it’s ready to go toe-to-toe with Samsung, Google, Apple, and the other big names in the premium smartphone space. Is the Nothing Phone 3 worth $799? 143 votes Yes: It's innovative and delivers good value 17 % No: That price doesn't match the compro

Gear News This Week: The Repairable Fairphone 6 Arrives and Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked Is Up Next

The sixth generation of Fairphone arrived this week, featuring a modular design built to last from ethically sourced components in a climate-conscious way. It has been a couple of years since its predecessor, the Fairphone 5, and the Fairphone 6 is refreshingly smaller and lighter. It boasts a 6.3-inch OLED screen with a 120-Hz adaptive refresh rate, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor, and a 4,415 mAh battery that Fairphone says is good for up to two days. You also get a 50-megapixel main

YouTube adds more AI, but not everyone's happy about it

The big picture: Is YouTube becoming harder to navigate as the platform increasingly embraces AI-generated "slop"? As many users start to ask that question, the Alphabet-owned company is doubling down, introducing even more AI-powered features aimed at enhancing search and enabling conversational interactions. Google recently confirmed that two new AI features are coming to YouTube. The company says the updates are aimed at helping users find what they're looking for more quickly and efficientl

You Can Still Watch YouTube Videos Offline. These Are the Easiest Ways

There's a good chance you've used -- and uploaded content to -- YouTube. According to research from the digital marketing firm Global Media Insight, over 2.7 billion people use the online video platform every month. YouTube says over 20 billion total videos have been uploaded to its platform, with over 20 million videos uploaded every day. If you're going somewhere with limited internet or trying to conserve data -- like hopping on a plane -- you might want to download some YouTube videos to en

YouTube has a new trick to help you find what you’re looking for faster

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR YouTube is rolling out an AI-powered search results carousel for Premium members on the mobile app. This carousel may appear when you search for queries related to shopping, places, or things to do. The platform’s conversational AI tool is also opening up to some non-Premium users in the US. YouTube is getting two AI-related updates to make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for and get more information. One of these updates is exclusive for

Dell announces new Premium replacement for the XPS line

After going through a controversial branding change that eliminated the beloved XPS name, Dell has launched its replacement. The new Dell 14 Premium and Dell 16 Premium Windows 11 laptops represent the high end of Dell's business lineup and offer features like Intel Core Ultra 9 16-core CPUs, NVIDIA RTX 5070 GPUs and battery life up to 27 hours. The XPS name may be gone but last year's design largely remains. Both models keep the simple and elegant wedge-like form from before, with slightly big

Topics: 14 16 core dell premium

Dell’s new Premium laptops are here, for the XPS rebrand nobody asked for

After scrapping its XPS branding earlier this year, Dell has now launched two of the new “Premium” laptop models that are replacing it. Aside from being refreshed with Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 Arrow Lake processors, a slightly revised Dell lid logo, and a few other spec changes, the Dell 16 Premium and Dell 14 Premium are nearly identical to the popular XPS 16 and XPS 14 that preceded them. “The new name signals a fresh chapter — one that makes it easier than ever to find the right PC while

Topics: 14 16 dell premium xps

New code in Spotify’s app references the long-awaited ‘lossless’ tier

It’s been over four years since Spotify first announced its plans to launch a lossless audio tier that has yet to arrive. After numerous leaks and teases from company execs, we know better than to start hoping that the long-delayed service could be finally nearing arrival. But newly added references in the music app’s code suggest the lossless service is at least still under development and could even be getting closer to launch. According to technologist and reverse engineer Chris Messina, a

Nothing says an Essential Space premium tier could be in the cards in the future

In the interview, Pei describes the code we found as “zombie strings” that were left there during development. He adds that in its current form, Essential Space will remain free. However, he doesn’t rule out the possibility of a premium tier being added in the future: So I think that’s what happened, somebody got their hands on an older version of the APK and they decompiled it and saw that there [were] some strings related to charging for Essential Space. That was never in the production softw

Patreon is raising its fees for new creators soon

Patreon has announced an update to its pricing, consolidating its Pro and Premium plans into a single offering starting August 5th. The new plan will take 10 percent of creators’ earnings, rather than the current eight percent for Pro and 12 percent for Premium users. That will mean a price increase for many new users, though existing users won’t see any increase, nor will anyone who signs up before the change takes effect. And for access to all the features from the old Premium tier, you’ll nee

Anzu advances in-game ad offerings with Amex Ventures investment

Advertising solutions company Anzu announced today that it has received a new investment from Amex Ventures. The undisclosed amount will accelerate Anzu’s mission to provide intrinsic in-game advertising to premium companies. Amex Ventures joins Anzu’s existing investors, a list that includes PayPal Ventures, WPP, Emmis Corporation, and NBCUniversal, among others. According to Anzu, this investment will help to build out its solutions, scaling intrinsic ads in games while also providing measur

YouTube Premium Lite set to launch in the US, offering a cheaper ad-free experience

Something to look forward to: It's been almost four years since YouTube piloted a more affordable version of its premium subscription service in some European countries, but it was axed in 2023. Now, it seems YouTube is preparing to bring back Premium Lite – including in the US – which will remove ads from most uploaded videos. According to a source familiar with the plans who spoke to Bloomberg, YouTube's Premium Lite tier will be announced soon in the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand. La

YouTube May Finally Offer a Cheaper Way to Get Rid of Ads

Folk who want to watch their multi-hour-long YouTube documentaries without an ad break every few minutes may finally have a cheaper way to do it. The Alphabet-owned streaming service has long been testing a cheaper ad-less subscription tier called YouTube Premium Lite. If the latest reports can be believed, it may come to fruition in 2025, though it probably won’t offer all the perks of the $14-a-month Premium subscription. The last time we heard about Premium Lite was in October last year. You

Google’s cheaper YouTube Premium Lite subscription will drop Music

YouTube dominates online video, but it's absolutely crammed full of ads these days. A YouTube Premium subscription takes care of that, but ad blockers do exist. Google seems to have gotten the message—a cheaper streaming subscription is on the way that drops YouTube Music from the plan. You may have to give up more than music to get the cheaper rate, though. Google started testing cheaper YouTube subscriptions in a few international markets, including Germany and Australia, over the past year.