xigxag: Audiobooks, but Better 12+

Absolutely fantastic in every way!

I rarely write reviews on the App Store but this service is so good I don’t want people to miss out. This is such a great alternative to Audible when it feels like there aren’t many other options. Xigxag have a feature called Xbooks which give you both the ebook and audiobook in one which is fantastic if you want to look up a word or spelling. They have a great range of titles to choose from despite not having every publisher just yet and they’re adding new ones every month and will have the whole catalogue soon im sure. Such lovely customer service incredibly helpful and quick to respond and they’re recently announced they’re the ethical pick for audiobooks AND they’re B-Corp certified which makes my Earth conscious heart very happy!

Developer Response ,

Wow - thank you for such an enthusiastic review. We really appreciate the xigxag love! 💜

Expectations Shattered

First let me say the app works well, the book choices are superb and the fact that it can be used without a subscription is excellent. Unfortunately I downloaded the app with the expectation that I could purchase both text and audio for any book. This is not the case. Not one of the books I was keen to purchase comes with text. NONE! I’m not looking for obscure authors, I am a Terry Pratchett fan and wanted to have access to his novels on the go. I already own a collection of his work but they are all hardback volumes which are too cumbersome to take on every bus/train/plain ride. Moreover some are signed copies and therefore precious to me. The adverts for the app extolled the ability to switch between text and audio in Xigxag’s xbooks, unfortunately what I have just purchased for 7:99, in my haste to get my hands on my first Pratchett book, is ‘audio only’. For a moment I thought I had clicked the wrong button; that there was an option to purchase audio only but no, audio is all I could buy. This is not what I signed on for and that first book may end up being the last I get from Xigxag. With so many Terry Pratchett books available I may have to bite the bullet and subscribe to Audible, at least until I have acquired all the books I want. At least then I could get what I hoped to get with Xigxag; both text and audio. Right now I’m getting only half of what I desire.

Feeling very disappointed.

Fantastic in every way besides one

This apps is awesome, the service itself if great, for someone like me that wants to own their audio books rather than rent them via other services. One small thing that’s missing and that’s a basket to add multiple books and buy in bulk. For me I’m looking to buy the Terry Pratchett discworld collection (there’s a total of 41 of those.) and having to buy them individually would be a nightmare. I understand that with the decrease in pricing every 6 audiobook might cause issues but maybe a limit to have 5 books max in a basket would be handy. Either way it’s not a deal breaker and I’ll be collecting the books slowly, just a thought is all.