The Question of Digital Ownership

A recent news article about Audible caught my attention, especially since I have been an Audible member in the past. From what I recall, Audible has long maintained that even if you cancel your subscription, all the titles you’ve purchased will remain accessible and playable. This assurance has shaped my belief that digital assets like audiobooks can be owned outright, provided you take the right precautions.

I’ve just recently advocated for safeguarding digital purchases against risks such as obsolescence, company shutdowns, or censorship. Tools like Libation and Audiobookshelf can help users protect their audiobook libraries by allowing them to back up and manage their collections independently. This approach assumes that you truly own the audio files, enabling you to legally remove DRM protections and use alternative services to listen to your content in the future.

Of course, there are online stores that sell DRM-free audiobooks and encourage buyers to create backups, offering a more secure sense of ownership.

The unfolding legal developments around Audible’s practices are definitely worth monitoring. If the allegations hold true, this could discourage consumers from making future purchases on Audible and other platforms that seek to lock customers into their ecosystems, raising important questions about what it really means to “own” digital content today.