Audible vs SimplyE

Audible offers audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals across Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows. Its catalog includes bestsellers, new releases, exclusive titles, and Originals. In the mobile app, listeners can download titles for offline playback, adjust narration speed, set a sleep timer, and use Car Mode’s larger, simplified controls. The Cloud Player streams titles in a browser on a computer with an internet connection. Free or purchased titles can be played in the app without a membership, but an Amazon account is required. Audible also works with Alexa-enabled devices when both services use the same Amazon account, and supports Android Auto, Android Automotive OS, Apple CarPlay, and Waze. Alexa does not support clips and bookmarks, ratings and reviews, listening logs, or marking titles finished. Plans include Standard at $8.99 a month, Premium at $14.95 a month, and Premium (24 credits/yr) at $229.50 a year. The service was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

SimplyE was a free library e-reading app for browsing, borrowing, and reading e-books, with audiobook support from Findaway and OverDrive. Patrons could sign in once with a library card and reach materials from listed providers in one place, including OverDrive, Axis360, cloudLibrary, DPLA Exchange, EBSCO NoveList, BiblioBoard, Odilo, and RBdigital. The app connected to a library’s existing card web application and supported instant card sign-up through the app. Reading controls included font, font size, and background-color adjustments, plus OpenDyslexic and screen-reader compatibility. E-books could use Adobe DRM, while audiobooks used Findaway or OverDrive rights management. SimplyE was listed for Android, iOS, and web, but the app retired in August 2025. It did not render Kindle AZW files or Adobe-encrypted PDFs and did not work on e-ink devices. Library Simplified describes the platform as open-source and provides source code for organizational customization.