Penguin Random House Audio Reviews

Better search function and general design, but, unlike it’s predecessor Volumes, this one has an echo of you listen at more than 1x speed. Terrible at 2x.

PenguinRandomHouseAudio logs you out just about every time you pause it, and if you listen faster than 1x the audio quality is terrible. I never had these issues with Volumes. Hard to see why this new app was necessary. It makes it extremely difficult to review books.

The platform is okay but if an add or Map directions or anything goes off on your phone, it will stop the audiobook and not restart. You have to go back into PenguinRandomHouseAudio to play again. It can’t even be restarted from the audio drop down on your phone because PenguinRandomHouseAudio fully stops

I previous had a 1 star review because of lots of technical issues with PenguinRandomHouseAudio. The developers listened and the current version is much improved. The sound retains quality when sped up and PenguinRandomHouseAudio doesn’t automatically log me out every time (though it still does log out regularly). Hopefully future updates include better interplay with Apple Car Play and the ability to further customize the playback speed.

Love their audiobooks, well produced with some of the best narrators yet PenguinRandomHouseAudio has one issue that really annoys me. When I stop listening for a while (even just 20 minutes) then restart PenguinRandomHouseAudio the book goes back about 5 minutes. This usually doesn’t happen if I bookmark but otherwise I either have to relisten to about 5 minutes or try and FF to where I stopped. Otherwise PenguinRandomHouseAudio is fine.

Currently can’t listen faster than 2x speed which is a huge bummer to audiobook listeners who listen quickly. I was told there were quality issues but that they don’t know if/when they will ever have faster speeds. Until then, PenguinRandomHouseAudio doesn’t do it for me.

Update: actually using PenguinRandomHouseAudio doesn’t work either. Constantly loses my spot, quits randomly, or starts over. Pointless.

Improving upon Volumes should not be too difficult and PenguinRandomHouseAudio does just that. As someone else said, it does log you out frequently. The interface is much better and easier to read though. Must must must get CarPlay support.

Can you update PenguinRandomHouseAudio to keep my speed preference when I pause the audio book. Every time I start after pausing I have to bump back up from 1.0 to my faster speed. Thank you for considering!

The limit for playback speed is 2x, which is just too slow, especially for anyone who needs to finish ALCs in time to promote them when they come out.

App is very easy to navigate, and the audio quality is now improved. Love it!

I really wish PenguinRandomHouseAudio went faster than 2x. As someone who regularly listens at 3x any slower feels so slow. I wish they would update it and then I would absolutely love PenguinRandomHouseAudio.

PRH has a exceptional library of audiobooks, especially good for tweens and Star Wars fans.

Really needs full CarPlay app interface.
Also, Playlists.

Thanks PRH

I have to keep signing in. Very annoying.

I am loving my current audiobook but PenguinRandomHouseAudio is super frustrating. It logs me out at random - at least it’s set up for facial recognition which help but it’s annoying and inconvenient. I see in the last notes that bug was fixed but as of 6/12/22 it still does it to me. It also doesn’t save my playback speed - typically 1.25. I am constantly resetting the speed even when it doesn’t log me out. I use Libro.fm and Libby apps for audiobooks as well and they both seem to work flawlessly. I’m sure I’ll keep listening because I enjoy the selections but hope some app upgrades are coming soon.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to be an influencer for the Penguin Random House, audio app, however, I have a few suggestions to make PenguinRandomHouseAudio even better for fellow readers. My first suggestion would be to have other options for playback speed. I would love for the playback speed to increase beyond 2x. I would also appreciate if there was a visible percentage. also, there are times when I pause the audiobook, swipe to another app, and then when I come back to PenguinRandomHouseAudio, it needs to completely restart. Again, I love the audiobooks on PenguinRandomHouseAudio, but there are just some areas where PenguinRandomHouseAudio could improve in order to make a comparable to other audiobook apps.

This is a pretty solid audiobook app — has all the standard features like sleep timer, quick buttons for rewind/skip, and speed adjustment. My main complaint is that the speed is capped at 2x, and I normally listen at 2.5-3x (I know, it’s fast). Also, playback resumes as soon as I open PenguinRandomHouseAudio , which is sometimes annoying if I’m in public and haven’t gotten my headphones in yet. But otherwise, really nice so far!