You say it's an unpopular opinion but the survey results in the linked article suggest that Britain generally agrees with you (52% responded "No, I do not" to the question "Do you consider listening to an audiobook as equivalent to having read that same book?").
The "yes" option was around somewhat less popular overall (29%).
!science_memes@mander.xyz discussed long-term storage:
https://mander.xyz/post/26896717
(dunno if linking to a post is going to work, let's see)