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FWIW I went on a deep dive earlier this year on these book summary audio apps. Tried blinkist, headway, and shortform. I also have audible which is great but that's for complete audiobooks so not really the same category.
Blinkist and headway are pretty comparable - but I think blinkist has been around longer, has a larger library, and generally a slightly more polished product. The summaries were similar (I listened to some of the same books on both) but I think blinkist was a little better overall. I also don't like that headway uses robotic TTS voice for a lot of the summaries, vs blinkist mostly uses voice actors (though they do have some AI TTS now too - but it sounds better than the headway one).
Shortform is on a whole different level. It is a significantly more expensive product, the app interface is terrible (at least on android), it has a smaller library - but the summaries completely blow both headway and blinkist out of the water. Listening to atomic habits on all 3 of the apps, I was blown away by how much better shortform was. They are longer summaries, often 1-2hrs, which IMO is really necessary to get the full value of the content of many of these books. There's only so much you can condense into 15 minutes and a lot of the books on headway/blinkist start to all sound the same. Shortform also fact check authors and compare/contrast statements against other literature, peer-reviewed studies, etc throughout the summaries and include stuff like critical thinking questions at the end.
So I'd say shortform>blinkist>headway, but if your goal is just to listen to as many book summaries as possible, blinkist is probably the way to go, and IMO very good value to try out at this price. I pulled the trigger.
This may be obvious but I'll also note that these apps are all best for nonfiction/self-help genre content. I did listen to a couple of fictions, and while they weren't terrible I just don't think you can get the full effect/enjoyment from good literature in condensed form like this.
I tried this about a month ago and appreciate the "15 minute Cliff's Notes Podcast" that are the recaps. I'm good at buying books, especially business books, but never finishing them. Recommending this, especially for $15 for the year.
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I tried this about a month ago and appreciate the "15 minute Cliff's Notes Podcast" that are the recaps. I'm good at buying books, especially business books, but never finishing them. Recommending this, especially for $15 for the year.
I did held off for the $25 deals on Blackfriday.
Canceled my current plan renewing tomorrow and bought the deal from OP. Great offer $13.5 w/no taxes (just write a different country even when paying with US CC)
Great find OP đ
Can someone using this compare to the book summaries available on hoopla (offered free by many libraries)? It doesn't show the catalog so hard to compare.
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Also , is it worth considering when you have audible membership?
I have both. I've got a 1.5-2 hour round trip each day and find blinklist pretty good for productivity and self help stuff. Not going to do a 9 hour audio book for some of that where they keep beating the crap out of a few common themes. Down side is audible is a much larger selection.
EDIT: So yes I recommend both for different things/needs if you have commuting time to kill.
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Try QuickReads, it's blinklist free alternative. They have channel on YouTube and includes every book summary for free, They have app too but its sucks !
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Blinkist and headway are pretty comparable - but I think blinkist has been around longer, has a larger library, and generally a slightly more polished product. The summaries were similar (I listened to some of the same books on both) but I think blinkist was a little better overall. I also don't like that headway uses robotic TTS voice for a lot of the summaries, vs blinkist mostly uses voice actors (though they do have some AI TTS now too - but it sounds better than the headway one).
Shortform is on a whole different level. It is a significantly more expensive product, the app interface is terrible (at least on android), it has a smaller library - but the summaries completely blow both headway and blinkist out of the water. Listening to atomic habits on all 3 of the apps, I was blown away by how much better shortform was. They are longer summaries, often 1-2hrs, which IMO is really necessary to get the full value of the content of many of these books. There's only so much you can condense into 15 minutes and a lot of the books on headway/blinkist start to all sound the same. Shortform also fact check authors and compare/contrast statements against other literature, peer-reviewed studies, etc throughout the summaries and include stuff like critical thinking questions at the end.
So I'd say shortform>blinkist>headway, but if your goal is just to listen to as many book summaries as possible, blinkist is probably the way to go, and IMO very good value to try out at this price. I pulled the trigger.
This may be obvious but I'll also note that these apps are all best for nonfiction/self-help genre content. I did listen to a couple of fictions, and while they weren't terrible I just don't think you can get the full effect/enjoyment from good literature in condensed form like this.
Hope this helps!
One day I'll get my sweet revenge.
Insider tip: If you immediately cancel your recurring billing, it'll offer you 50% off the next renewal as well. Cheers. đŠ
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank orionsd
One day I'll get my sweet revenge.
Insider tip: If you immediately cancel your recurring billing, it'll offer you 50% off the next renewal as well. Cheers. đŠ
Canceled my current plan renewing tomorrow and bought the deal from OP. Great offer $13.5 w/no taxes (just write a different country even when paying with US CC)
Great find OP đ
One day I'll get my sweet revenge.
Insider tip: If you immediately cancel your recurring billing, it'll offer you 50% off the next renewal as well. Cheers. đŠS
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It is obviously a very condensed down version of the book. Similar to reading a quick review on a book.
But as expected doesn't touch the depths we want it to.
Haven't used it alot since I don't get much out of a quick summary of a 500 page dense book
EDIT: So yes I recommend both for different things/needs if you have commuting time to kill.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank hannajayms
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