Jump to content

Audible - is it worth it?


Lumo

Recommended Posts

I have decided not to join.  Reading audio Immersion books is easier for me, where the audio reads with the text.  Most of my 2016 TBR are Immersion reading and if I buy the book, I get the audio for cheaper.  For example, the audio for Alison Weir's Life of Elizabeth I is 36 dollars on audio, but only 19 if you buy the book and the audio.  Not only do I get the digital book, but the audio as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Janet, here's what I've done with Audible ...

 

Once you've set up your account, logon to the website and select a book you're interested in.  On the right hand side, under the button to Add to Basket, I click on the + sign for Add to wish list.  Try adding a book that doesn't have Whispersync and one that does that you've already bought the Kindle edition of so you can compare the difference.

 

At the top of the screen next to the Audible logo, there's a menu of options including Wish List - click on this option.

 

You'll get a table of all the books in your Wishlist.  The table will show the Price in the right hand column.  If it's available as a cheaper option for Whispersync, you'll see it will say Special Price in red.  For an example, I've downloaded the Kindle edition of The Woman in White (which is actually a free download - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0082Z447U), and I've added the Audible edition to my wish list (link to this book here - http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Classics/The-Woman-in-White-Audiobook/B004FU3WYW/ref=a_wl_c1_1_3_ttl), so my Audible wishlist shows it as Regular Price £42.00 or 1 credit, and the Special Price as £2.49 or 1 credit.

 

If you decide you want to buy it, click on Add to Basket.  I don't have any credits at the moment, so I can't see exactly what it would look like, but I think I remember correctly that you get the option to tick a box to say if you want to use a credit to buy it, or uncheck it if you want to pay the price in the You Pay field.  A credit is going to be £7.99 (if you've signed up for one book per month), so I tend to buy these at the Special Price of £2.49 and save my credits for full price books.

 

​You don't have to buy them at the same time - as long as Amazon knows you've bought the Kindle edition that is linked with a Whispersync edition, it will always show it with the Special Price for you when you select it in Audible.  They're such good value, that it's often worth looking up a Kindle edition to see how much it is and what the Whispersync edition would cost if you bought them together as it can be cheaper than the price of one credit - The Woman in White is a good example, as the Kindle edition is a free classic, so even if you don't intend to read it on the Kindle and only listen on the audiobook, you'll get both copies for £2.49 instead of the £7.99 price of one credit.

 

Hope that all makes sense!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info, Claire.  :)  I shall read it properly at the weekend and then try to work out if I can turn off my ad-blocker for BCF so I can click on the advert (that I can't currently see! :giggle: ).

 

I'm glad you're benefiting from it, Abby.  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks again, Claire.  :)  I've signed up (I used a different browser without an ad-blocker so I used the advert on the top of the forum, Michelle  :)  ) and have got Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell as my free book.  There isn't a whispersynch version so I'll just listen to it. 

 

Now I just need several weeks of sunny days so I can go out walking!  :giggle2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Despite Audible emailing me to tell me that my iPod Nano is compatible, it doesn't seem to work.  :(

 

I'm following their instructions, only they tell me to 'click on 'apply' at the bottom right hand side of the iTunes preferences - and I don't have an 'apply' button.  If I click on 'Books' or 'Audiobooks' it says I don't have any.  

 

:(

 

Edit:  I phoned their support line and a man talked me through it.  :)  His instructions bore no resemblance to the ones they emailed me!  :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you got that sorted out! :D

 

I actually used the Whispersync on my phone yesterday.  I started listening to a book in the Audible app, then switched to the Kindle app later on and it asked me if I wanted to go to the place where I'd finished listening.   I then noticed at the bottom of the Kindle app, it had a link to the Whispersync option, and I clicked on that and it downloaded the audio version again, but this time while I listened, it turned the page in the ebook as it went along, so it was always synchronised with the audiobook.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I am trying the free month, and I'm loving it already, and my wishlist is getting to the stage that I'll try for the subscription. It's great to chop and change from eBook to audiobook, and I have bought two of the Daily Deals as well. :smile:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I had my Audible sub, I did similar, downloaded radio series as well and had a list of books I wanted in that format, so the free offer and the £7.99 a month was more than worth it for me at the time - but eventually (I think after a year, or maybe a bit less) I reached the end of what I wanted from them. But its certainly a great service when there's stuff you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
8 minutes ago, DelilahSh said:

 If I don't like the voice, I can't listen to it.  

I certainly agree with you on that, the style of the narrator is crucial. There have been a couple of times that I really wanted to listen books, but when I tried the audio sample, I couldn't listen the narrator's voice.

Edited by Marie H
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

I'm toying with the idea of signing up to Audible, as I have a hour drive each way to work and often don't feel like listening to music.

 

But, is it distracting to drive while listening to an audiobook? I imagine it's the same as listening to talkback on radio, but you're more likely to get 'drawn in'.

 

Also, how would I listen while driving? Do I download the books to my phone and listen via Bluetooth? What about books I already own in Kindle version....can I buy the audible version at a reduced price? Does the £7.99/month fee mean I can download as many books as I want per month for no extra charge? 

 

Sorry for all the questions, but the Audible site isn't very clear and I don't want to start a free trial unless I know what I'm actually doing. :blush:

 

Edit: I found the Help section which answers most of my questions. So, the £7.99 gives you credit for one book a month? If I want to buy two books then the second one will be at full price (which isn't cheap!)? Do they still do Daily Deals, per the pinned thread?

Edited by bobblybear
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, they still do a Daily Deal. 

 

I don't know if you have a Kindle, or if you like classics, but if you do, once you download the free Kindle edition, the price of the matching Audible version drops, so for example Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens is currently £40.39, but by downloading the free Kindle you would then get it for £2.99.

 

They often do '2 for 1' offers, although the choices are limited.

 

If you download the Audible app to a smart phone you can listen on that via Bluetooth or a wire (I don't have Bluetooth in my car, but I do have the facility to play it through the Aux setting on my car stereo).  The app will remember where you are in the story between listening - and if you do have a Kindle, lots of them 'Whispersync' between devices, so if you stop reading the book on page 275, the next time you listen on Audible it will sync to that point.

 

It is possible to buy a package that includes two (or more) books, but obviously that's more than £7.99 a month.

 

If you have your free book, make sure you cancel the trial within the time allowed - they will then offer you two books (one each for the next two months) at the reduced price of £3.99 to try to convince you to stay.

 

Personally I don't find them any more distracting than listening to the radio.  :)

 

Edit - I can see from your signature that you do have a Kindle!  :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Janet! I've noticed on many Kindle books that I buy, it says I can add Audible Narration for £2.99 (or whatever). I've also gone back to look at some Kindle books that I have already purchased and it gives me the option to add Audible narration as well, which is very handy. Do you know how this works with the £7.99/month? I take it that the £7.99/month means I can get credit for one Audible book, rather than a credit to add Audible narration to a Kindle purchase? ie. I'd have to pay for that separately? 

 

Whispersync sounds handy because I probably would prefer to read and listen to the same book rather than chop-and-change. Or maybe some books are easier to listen to than read. I think I'll wait till I've finished the few books I've got lined up to read, then give the free trial a go. What have I got to lose?

 

Thanks for the reply, Janet. :)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found an Audible subscription good value.  I did most of my listening in the car whilst commuting (not now, I'm retired), and it was no different to listening to the radio (I also used it whilst decorating the house, and it certainly made that process a lot less tedious - far better than listening to music too!). I only bought unabridged books, and built up a sufficiently big backlog that I've temporarily suspended my sub until I've worked through it (a useful facility).  Like Janet, in the car I run the book through the Aux socket from my smartphone.

 

I don't know how the reduced deals work with an Audible sub, but ideally, I would pay for the reduced deals, and keep the Audible sub for book I purely want to listen to, or where, as Janet suggests, a book can be downloaded for virtually nothing and then the audiobook price is massively reduced.  Personally, I couldn't swap from one to another - it's either reading or listening.  For me the narrative voice is critical, and it would spoil it swapping from my internal voice to another and back again.

Edited by willoyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, bobblybear said:

Do you know how this works with the £7.99/month? I take it that the £7.99/month means I can get credit for one Audible book, rather than a credit to add Audible narration to a Kindle purchase? ie. I'd have to pay for that separately? 

You can choose either - you're given the option to use your credit or to pay the reduced fee. I tend to use my monthly subscription for non-reduced books and pay the reduced price by card.  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Willoyd and Janet. Yes, that makes sense to use the credit to pay for the non-reduced books.....get your money's worth.

 

Anyway, I have now signed up for the trial and have chosen The Fellowship of the Ring as my first book. I love the Lord of the Rings movies but have never been able to read the book, so I'm curious as to how I will get on with the audio version. The reviews for it are very favourable, and apparently the narrator does a very good job so fingers crossed!! :D

 

Willoyd, I've thought about the 'reading and listening' and I think I am going to stick with one or the other, rather than trying to sync and combine the two. That would probably muddle me about and I've also found that my Kindle sync doesn't always work perfectly!

 

Hopefully I can get it to work via Bluetooth; if that's the case I will be able to listen on the way home this evening. :D 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Janet. The Lord of the Rings is going well, and I'm finding it very easy to listen to while I drive.

 

I might give the reading/listening thing a try, as there are a couple of books that I already own on Kindle that I wouldn't mind listening to (11.22.63 by Stephen King and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

I have been an Audible customer for a number of years. I enjoy having several series’ by the same author and/or narrator. Due to the lack of consistency in naming titles in the same series, it is nearly impossible to listen to a series sequentially.  This inconsistency also prevents me from picking up where I left off in a series. For instance they use “Book 4” and “Book IV” interchangeably. Sometimes this installment number is only viewable when you select “More Info”. There are actually too many problems caused by naming conventions for me to go into. It also makes using Alexa a nightmare. I have to start a book on my phone first. Then I can just ask Alexa to play my audio book, without needing to recite the name. The non uniform naming convention impacts Alexas’ ability to locate and play titles.

The author’s choice of title and format can be maintained, but IMHO should not be arbitrarily used in the Audible Catalog of Titles Or the users Library. The phrase adapted for Audible is apt. Naming conventions should be standardized for the Catalog, so that customers can easily find the title and position in the series from any device, on the main library screen. This would most likely increase sales and customer satisfaction.  I’d describe this all as extremely frustrating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I've just re-started my Audible membership thanks to an offer and discovered that Audible Plus is now included. There seems to be loads available in the Plus catalogue that I would listen to. Anyone know when they added the Plus part for UK customers as I didn't notice it when my cancelled my previous subscription about 6 months ago?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About 10 days ago

15 hours ago, Brian. said:

I've just re-started my Audible membership thanks to an offer and discovered that Audible Plus is now included. There seems to be loads available in the Plus catalogue that I would listen to. Anyone know when they added the Plus part for UK customers as I didn't notice it when my cancelled my previous subscription about 6 months ago?

About 10 days ago. I've been having a lovely time binge listening!

 

The catalogue is quite difficult to wade through as  typical Audible, the categorising of books seems to be quite erratic, finding a classic in Sci Fi and Mystery for instance. The classic section is very good (I already had quite a few in my library) and they have most of Bryson's books too.

Edited by France
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...