If you haven’t discovered Audible.com
yet, the time has come. This is an amazing service. Audible sells down loadable books,
magazines, and radio programs. No reading here. Everything is ‘audible’, hence the name.
I love to listen to books. I started out doing it because I have to drive a couple of
hours twice a week. Now I listen to books when I’m running, working in the garden, cooking,
doing really mindless busy-work, riding the bus…. You get the idea.
The selection at Audible is great. Books for all kinds of taste. Every genre of fiction,
loads of non-fiction, your favorite radio programs, even the New York Times. All read to
you by professional readers. You can buy programs individually or purchase a monthly
subscription. I have the Audible Basic subscription which provides me with one book and
one subscription (magazine or radio) per month for $14.95. Every once in a while I’ll buy
an additional book when there is a good sale, but generally what I get with the subscription
is enough (I do still read books, as well).
If you join Audible and commit to a one-year subscription, they have all kinds of
special offers for different mp3 players. I chose to get $100 off of and iPod, since I
wanted one anyway. I won’t even start in on how much I love my iPod! You can also live
stream the books on your computer, of course. Oh yeah, and anything you purchase from
Audible stays in your Audible library, so you can delete things from your computer once
you’ve listened to them – no need to take up lots of precious hard drive space.
Some important tips for using Audible:
- Never buy anything that isn’t available in Format 3 or higher. The
couple of things I tried to listen to in Format 2 were terrible.
Really poor sound quality. - Always preview the book before buying it. The reader can make or
break your listening experience. - Lots of things on Audible are abridged, so look carefully. I
always go for unabridged books. - I have three favorite readers. Check them out: Jonathan Davis,
Campbell Scott, and Jennifer Wiltsie. - Be sure to get your books and subscriptions before the next months
renewal date. They don’t carry over. It’s a use it or lose kind of thing.
Well, I could go on and on, but I think that about covers it. Join Audible.
You won’t regret it.
