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Audible - is it worth it?


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#1 Duncan

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Posted 24 September 2011 - 05:53 PM

I like audiobooks when travelling or sitting about for a long time and when I am a bit tired to read a book for hours on end but need some entertainment to pass the time.

I'm a big fan of librivox and podiobooks and have heard some excellent books from there. I also look on eBay for bargain second hand audiobooks.

I'm thinking of signing up to Audible - what do people think about this service - is it worth it?

I have some specific questions: do I get to preview a narrator before buying a book? If I get the one book a month service and want a second book, do I need to pay full price or is there a membership rate?

Is there another source of reasonably priced audiobooks?

#2 Michelle

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Posted 24 September 2011 - 07:22 PM

I love Audible - most of the time I pay for 2 books a month, but you can change back and forth between 1 or 2. Any over that you pay full price for, but they often have special offers on. Recently they've had 100 books on offer for £5.99 each, and sometimes they offer a third (I think) off all books for a while. And yes, you can preview each book.

#3 poppyshake

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Posted 25 September 2011 - 11:12 AM

I love Audible :) To make the most of my subscription, I try to always pick long unabridged stories ... something like 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' which is over 32 hours long and costs about £52 to download ordinarily (though it is cheaper on itunes at £31) so to get it for £7.99 is excellent value. You can listen to samples which gives you a chance to hear the narration which is so important .. bad narration can ruin a story.

I miss it at the moment because I've taken a payment holiday (due to husbands redundancy) but I hope to start it up again soon.


#4 Isandriena

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Posted 25 September 2011 - 02:19 PM

I have to say I have never been interested in audio books. I don't feel like I'd get the same feeling I get from reading a book.

#5 Duncan

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Posted 25 September 2011 - 04:01 PM

Thanks for the replies, I think I will give it a go before I travel next.

Being able to preview is great and I was also thinking of only getting unabridged longer books. At the moment first on my list is The Help, however that might change when I browse through the site, I'll probably see many that I want.

#6 Michelle

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Posted 25 September 2011 - 04:26 PM

The Help is really good as audio, they use 3 different narrators.

#7 busy91

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Posted 25 September 2011 - 06:45 PM

I have been a member of audible for a few years now. I really like it, I think it is worth the cost if you are an audiobook fan.

The Help was the best audiobook I've heard.

#8 Duncan

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Posted 26 September 2011 - 04:43 PM

I think The Help will be the first one I get then.

I was also quite tempted by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, having never read the book, however, I have seen the 1970s BBC TV version of it, my attention drifted for a moment and then I realised I had no idea what was going on and who everyone was...

#9 tunn300

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Posted 17 December 2011 - 07:57 AM

Duncan, A quick piece of advice if you want to keep the cost down. Take the one month free trial and download your first book for free. Then when your trial is nearing the end click on cancel membership and they will always offer you a deal to try the service for longer at a reduced price. This is normally another 3 months at £3.99 a month. Try it for these four months and it will cost £12 to get 4 audiobooks and then you can decide if it is worth continuing at £7.99 a month.

#10 Duncan

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Posted 17 December 2011 - 02:13 PM

Hi tunn300, I actually bought the 3 month membership at £3.99/month and received £7 cashback via quidco. After 2 months my credit card expired so they stopped taking the money, as I haven't finished the audiobooks I have I haven't entered the new card details yet. However I will probably do that this week and get the last month of the £3.99 intro price. I'm not sure if I will keep the membership at £7.99/month or not, the audiobooks are good, but at the moment I don't seem to be listening to them. Good to know they offer incentives to keep the membership going, I was thinking I would probably have it for a few months then cancel it for a few months, so if they also send offers that's quite handy.

#11 onetwothree

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Posted 29 March 2012 - 09:55 PM

Mate I would suggest you hop on iTunes, check out "librivox" - they offer FREE audiobooks in loads of languages.

If you don't have iTunes I think you can downlaod through their website

#12 Arukiyomi

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Posted 30 March 2012 - 11:34 AM

bad narration can ruin a story.


check out "librivox" - they offer FREE audiobooks in loads of languages

librivox is an excellent service. I have used it for years and listened to tons of books off it. But as "bad narration can ruin a story" remember that librivox books are read by volunteers and quality varies even chapter by chapter. There is one woman who has a voice like crushed gravel and who should have been banned from any form of public speaking, let alone audio books. Unfortunately, she seems fairly prolific on librivox. Another thing I hate on librivox is Dickens or Stevenson being read with a US accent. Just doesn't work for me. But hey, it's free...

I have to say I have never been interested in audio books. I don't feel like I'd get the same feeling I get from reading a book.

well, are you interested in hearing great stories at times when you can't physically read a book. I can't tell you how many books I've finished over the kitchen sink or in the car, or out jogging, or in bed in the dark... it isn't the same as reading a book no, but there are so many books out there and we have so little time. Audio books give us a way to pack as much literature in as we can manage!

#13 Janet

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 06:56 PM

This thread hasn't been posted in for a while and I was just wondering, does anyone still use Audible?   I'm tempted to try it.  Is there a choice of file extension or is it just MP3 format? 



#14 Michelle

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 07:06 PM

I love it Janet, and have a huge audiobook library on there. What would you use to listen on?



#15 Janet

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 07:27 PM

I'd like to listen on my Nokia 520 but it only appears to play files in .wma format. 

 

I tried putting Nicholas Nickleby on it (from LibriVox) but for some reason chapters 1 and 5 (of the first 10 chapters) wouldn't show up, but when I tried dragging them again it said they were already there!  

 

I don't have an MP3 player since my iPhone died. I have considered maybe buying an iPod or something - but if I could use my phone instead then obviously that would be better. 



#16 Michelle

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 07:34 PM

http://www.audible.com/dc

 

Sadly it looks as if Nokia's aren't supported. 



#17 Timstar

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 08:04 PM

I still use audible a lot, It's a great service! I listen on my iPod though.



#18 Janet

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Posted 30 April 2014 - 08:13 PM

Ah, that's a shame.  Thanks, Michelle.  :)

 

I guess I will have to rethink.






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