Reading, Watching, Listening: Playing with Playster

Disclosure: I was offered a free seven-day premium membership to Playster in order to get to know the service. Some information included in this post is available in Playster’s press kit. This is a compensated review. Compensation does not influence my opinion.

Playster online entertainment

I was recently invited to check out Playster, a new service that provides a single source for every kind of online entertainment: movies, music, games, and books (e-books and audiobooks). In its own words, here’s what it offers:



  • Find everything you’re looking for – music, movies, books and games,
  • From timeless classics to the newest blockbusters.
  • Get unlimited access to millions of titles and counting. Spend as long as you like enjoying your favorite titles and discovering new things.
  • Bundling your movies, music, books and games together saves you money.
  • Easy to use and compatible with virtually any web-enabled device,



Playster’s movies and music range across a variety of genres, but at this time, many of its offerings are backlist and/or less-familiar titles from smaller labels and studios. I would expect its partnerships in these areas to expand to include more current brand-name content down the road; for now, those who enjoy browsing and random discovery might find the selection intriguing. (I don’t play computer games, so I can’t speak to the quantity or quality of Playster’s game catalog and would be unlikely to use that component of the service)



Playster’s publishing partners include HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Harlequin. The ebook selection is wide-ranging, but again, it’s heavily backlist; I recognized a few titles in the “New Releases” section from last year, and the New York Times Bestsellers may have been on that list some time ago. This isn’t necessarily a weakness–after all, most streaming services offer primarily backlist content, and the only truly “new” stuff on Netflix is its own original productions–but you should be aware that you might not find last month’s “it” book on Playster just yet.



Audiobooks are the most recent addition to Playster–they’ve just launched within the last couple  of weeks. The selection in this category made the best impression on me–there’s current content, and I spotted quite a few titles I’ve either already read or plan to read soon–and I’m sure it will expand and get even better over time.



Playster is still in beta and, therefore, a work in progress, but I think it shows a lot of promise, The convenience of a one-stop, one-payment shop for such a variety of entertainment is undeniable, and as Playster’s offerings expand, I’m sure its value will as well. That said, you should consider whether or not it’s a good fit for the ways you consume entertainment. There are three ways it’s not an ideal fit for me right now:



  • I rarely browse for online entertainment or shopping–I usually go to a site or open an app looking for something specific. If I don’t find what I came for, I may do a little searching for something related, but I tend to be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options that browsing without an agenda can yield…and so I quit. I’m just not “discovery”-oriented. I “discover” entertainment by hearing or reading about it elsewhere, which then sends me off to look for it.



  • I read ebooks and audiobooks through apps (I have several for each). Playster’s iOS app is still going through Apple’s approval process, and there’s no projected launch date yet. Its website is mobile-friendly, but for now, iPhone and iPad users will be reading, playing, and watching their Playster media in Safari (or other preferred browser). Android users can get Playster’s app for that platform now at Google Play.



  • With some exceptions (mentioned next), Playster’s content is streaming and not available for download. I read ebooks on my iPad, and listen to audiobooks on my iPhone in the car. My iPad is WiFi only, so I’d be unable to read Playster ebooks anywhere I wasn’t connected. And without WiFi in the car, I’d need to stream audiobooks via my cellphone signal, which can be unreliable. (They’d also eat into my cellphone data plan, which could get expensive.)



  • Games on Playster are available for download now. Offline access to other content should be available via the Android app by the time you read this, and Playster is working on enabling that for all platforms soon.



The first two items I mentioned aren’t dealbreakers, but the third really doesn’t work for me. I’m fine with streaming music or video, but because of the way I read them, I want to be able to download my books. I’m glad to know that’s on the way.



I appreciated the opportunity to explore Playster. I’m not sure it’ll be for me until that offline content and iOS app are ready, but it could be just great for you right now. If you’d like to check out Playster for yourself, please use this referral link to sign up for their 30-day free trial subscription!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,318 other subscribers
(Audio)Book Talk: NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman, read by the author

(Audio)Book Talk: NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman, read by the author

Neverwhere: The Author’s Preferred Text Neil Gaiman (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author William Morrow (2015), hardcover reprint (ISBN 0062371053 / 9780062371058) Fiction: fantasy, 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Harper Audio, 2007, ISBN 9780061549113, Audible ASIN B000XSAXXS) for the Neverwhere Readalong (#NeverwhereRAL), October 2015   This post contains affiliate links to Indiebound.   —————————————————————————————————–     My official line is that I rarely read “genre” fiction. I’ve recently realized that my only real support for […]

Show and Tell Sunday: Back From a Bye Week

Show and Tell Sunday: Back From a Bye Week

Well, hello there! It’s nice to be back after a not-entirely-accidental week off that I didn’t tell you was coming. Mid-month tends to be the busiest time at my day job, and during October, it was compounded by a couple of staff departures, transistions, training, and a hiring process. Reading and blogging understandably fell behind with all of that going on, although I did get a couple of reviews for next month submitted to Shelf […]

Book to Movie: THE MARTIAN

Book to Movie: THE MARTIAN

WARNING: The following may contain potential spoilers for the novel and film The Martian, depending on your definition of “spoilers.” —————————————————————————————————————- I haven’t talked about movies on the blog in quite a while. That’s because most of the movies I’ve seen this year have been enjoyable but not terribly significant, while the one that did knock me off my feet in nearly every way-–Mad Max: Fury Road–-also left me pretty much speechless and unsure of […]

(E)Book Talk: LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE by Jessica Knoll

(E)Book Talk: LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE by Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel Jessica Knoll (Twitter) (Facebook) Simon & Schuster (May 2015), hardcover (ISBN 9781476789637) Fiction: 350 pages Source: Purchased ebook (iBooks, ISBN 9781476789651) This post contains affiliate links to IndieBound. The discussion contains potential spoilers for the novel Luckiest Girl Alive. High-school humiliation, shocking tragedy, personal reinvention, the conviction that the “right” old-money marriage will change your life; we’re all pretty well acquainted with the plot points of Jessica Knoll’s first novel, […]

Book Talk: PRESCHOOLED by Anna Lefler

Book Talk: PRESCHOOLED by Anna Lefler

Preschooled: A Novel Anna Lefler (Twitter) (Facebook) Full Fathom Five Digital (2015), trade paper (ISBN 1633700712 / 9781633700710) Fiction, 336 pages Source: ARC provided by the author I have known Anna Lefler since 2008, when we met as contributors to the Los Angeles Moms Blog, and consider her a friend. I was happy to be offered an advance copy of her first published novel, and while I admit to being predisposed in its favor, I […]

(Audio)Book Talk; SECONDHAND SOULS by Christopher Moore, read by Fisher Stevens

(Audio)Book Talk; SECONDHAND SOULS by Christopher Moore, read by Fisher Stevens

Secondhand Souls: A Novel Christopher Moore (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Fisher Stevens William Morrow Books (August 2015), hardcover (ISBN 0061779784 / 9780061779787) Fiction, 352 pages Source: Audiobook borrowed from Los Angeles Public Library via Overdrive (Harper Audio, August 2015; ISBN 9780062374103) ————————————————————————————————————-   There’s a colony of ghosts inhabiting the Golden Gate Bridge, and they’ve started talking to Mike Sullivan, the bridge painter. A banshee—harbinger of death—has been visiting retired police officer/reluctant soul-recoverer/bookselling Death […]

Show and Tell Sunday: The Short Version

Show and Tell Sunday: The Short Version

I’m not doing all 31 days of #31bookpics and I’m a few days late getting started with it, so I’m taking this opportunity to do a little catching up! 1. Current Reads The Witches and Charned Particles sound like they could be related, don’t they? But they’re not. The “particles” referenced are quarks; one of the main characters in Chrissy Kolaya’s debut novel is a physicist. And we are fortunately mostly past attributing scientific wonders to witchcraft. That said, they do […]

(Audio)Book Talk: IT’S WHAT I DO by Lynsey Addario, read by Tavia Gilbert

(Audio)Book Talk: IT’S WHAT I DO by Lynsey Addario, read by Tavia Gilbert

It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War Lynsey Addario (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Tavia Gilbert Penguin Press (February 2015), hardcover (ISBN 159420537X / 9781594205378) Nonfiction: memoir/journalism, 368 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Blackstone Audio, February 2015: ISBN 9781481505833, Audible ASIN B00SYNWZBC) This post contains affiliate links to IndieBound.   —————————————————————————————————————       Photojournalist Lynsey Addario has done much of her work in a post-9/11 world, in the part of the world […]