Audiobooks ?

[Psamathe]

I tend to read a fair bit (often getting through a book in 2-3 days!). I enjoy reading but book I'm reading now is part of a trilogy and the 3rd/final part is not yet published in paper, but is available as an audiobook - which made me start thinking. Amazon do this audible thing which I can't get my head around as everything I've seen from Amazon is vague; you pay a subscription but all they seem to talk about is a free trial then £7.99 a month. £7.99 is quite expensive and nowhere seems to say exactly what you get for that £95 per year (e.g. do you still have to buy each book, is it like a library).

I generally hate Amazon and avoid them as fat as possible. With their Audible thing it seems as you'd expect it's their proprietary format, their app, download, everything - you are completely tied in.

I've seen a couple of free audio book downloads elsewhere but nothing I found particularly interesting.

Other sources of audio books seem really expensive ($100+ for a book).

Does anybody use Audible or anything else and is it any good, how does it work, and good sources (e.g. public libraries)?

I enjoy printed paper books so I've no reason to change, just this one book prompted a thought process. Generally I end-up buying the 1p + 2.80 p&p. I do wonder if it's an "immature" market that is still finding it's place and best ways to work.

Ian

[mercalia]

there are places with free audio books - but obviously not latest but eg classics. I like audio books I put a few on my minidisc portable for when I go away eg King Solomons Minds, Princess of Mars

I dont know how Amazon works but I suspect they are encrypted and you have to login to an account to move them from one device to another

CD's another matter as easy to rip them to pc
I have borrowed a few from my local library on cassette and cd and copied them to my minidisc


https://www.thebalance.com/free-audio-books-the-15-best-sources-online-1357952

[kwackers]

AFAIK you still have to buy the books.
According to this you get one free book a month (I guess that's what the 'credit' is).
After that there are occasional sales etc.

Up to now I've only ever purchased an audio book as an 'add on' for one I've bought for my Kindle.
Now I'm back to cycle commuting though it does occur to me that I could listen to books (reading on the train was the upside of using them).

[Psamathe]

AFAIK you still have to buy the books.
According to this you get one free book a month (I guess that's what the 'credit' is).
After that there are occasional sales etc.

Up to now I've only ever purchased an audio book as an 'add on' for one I've bought for my Kindle.
Now I'm back to cycle commuting though it does occur to me that I could listen to books (reading on the train was the upside of using them).

Buying seems expensive; book that made me consider (available for pre-order on paper) is £6'ish for printed paper but £21'ish for audio book (unclear is Audible subscription gives you a discount).

With a subscription I note you can "Exchange for free. Swap any audiobook, anytime for any reason." so maybe the £95 a year is more to make the system into a "library" where you can take out 1 book at a time?

Ian

[julied3]

It seems you are not very familiar with Audible. It allows you to return books if you do not like them. Which allows you to reach many books. And it also offers you some free audiobooks. You can check this: [url="https://www.tuneskit.com/audiobook-tips/return-audible-book.html"]return Audible books[/url]. It tells you how to return them.

[grufty]

We use Borrowbox at our local library, which has quite a number of audio books available as well as ebooks.

[peetee]

I had a free trial from Audible and was allowed to chose two books in the month. I overlooked the need to cancel the arrangement so had to pay for the next month but cunningly looked for an extended work. I chose the complete Sherlock Holmes stories which runs for 71 hours! Quite a bargain, I thought. It’s ideal for when I am in the workshop. The books remain downloaded on your device after your subscription ends so as long as I have this device (and enough internal memory) I can listen whenever I chose, internet connected or not.
Right now, Audible are offering me another free trial!

[mercalia]

if you dont want to read but listen many ebook readers will also speak the text. The speech is tolerable once you get used to it. There are lots of sources for free ebooks. And many libraries have ebook libraries but the problem there is they are encrypted so your reader needs to be one that the library supports.