---
title: "Why I Canceled Scribd"
description: "When the idea of subscription book programs first started, a number of people asked me about them. It seemed like a natural fit for me. I read a lot of books, these are subscriptions for unlimited boo..."
url: https://bookwi.se/why-i-canceled-scribd/
date: 2016-05-04
modified: 2016-05-04
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Kindle Tips"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Why I Canceled Scribd

![Scribd-200](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Scribd-200.png)When the idea of subscription book programs first started, a number of people asked me about them. It seemed like a natural fit for me. I read a lot of books, these are subscriptions for unlimited book reading, what is not to like?

I tried [Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited](https://bookwi.se/kindle-unlimited-review/), [Oyster’s](https://bookwi.se/oyster/) (out of business), [Scribd](https://bookwi.se/scribd-a-review/)‘s and a [couple other plans](https://bookwi.se/entitlechristian/). The problems are usually similar. They often have books you want to read, but not all of them. All of them are rental plans, so you do not keep the books, just borrow them, similar to a library.

In order to make sense of a rental style subscription plan, you need to read a lot of books each month for it to makes sense, at least three but probably five.

What made Scribd different initially was a large selection of audiobooks. The audiobooks for a while kept me subscribed. But then Scribd had to restrict the books until now you can only listen to one a month. (Because they were losing money.) With a price of $8.99 to borrow one audiobook (there are still ebooks you can borrow) the price no longer makes sense. I pay just pennies more than that per book from Audible and that is a purchase program. And Audible has a much better selection of books.

I think subscription plans still make sense for some people. But it is unlikely to be a very large group of people. And at this point, the only real option is [Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/sign-up/ref=nav_shopall_ods_eink_con_ku)[subscription plan](https://www.amazon.com/gp/kindle/ku/sign-up/ref=nav_shopall_ods_eink_con_ku). Amazon still does not have a large audiobook selection (not quite 3000). But it has a pretty good ebook selection.

Subscription plans need to be thought of as a month by month option. Get it one month, put it on hold for a month or two and then come back to it.  Scribd did have a good vacation hold option. I have been putting my account on hold so extended it for a lot longer than I probably should have.

But in the end, I am back to purchasing books through Amazon and Audible.