Friday, August 29, 2014

Thoughts on Audible.com

Audiobooks are expensive. Audible charges $14.95 per month/book and therefore, I wasn't even vaguely interested in joining. When I registered my new Kindle, I was given the option of two free Audible titles (normally it's just one) and the right to drop my membership at any time. Since I'd been wanting to buy a pricey audio Bible, the offer was too hard to resist. I decided to get my free books and hang around for a couple of months to buy a few more at the regular price.

As I cullled through the titles I discovered many favorites at rock-bottom prices. Without using either of my "expensive" credits, I bought two favorites: Jane Eyre and Persuasion. Through their summer kids' book sale I got Peter Pan. At their anniversary sale I got two Shakespeare plays for 99 cents each. Also, there are some deep discounts if you already own the book version on Kindle. Did I mention that most of these titles are done by outstanding British voices? Top that with their beyond excellent customer service, and I'm one happy camper.

The final results...

ESV Audio Bible - Free Credit (I would not recommend this version because of navigation difficulties.)
Classics of British Literature (24 lectures) - Free Credit ($250 on The Great Courses website)
Jane Eyre - $2.99
Jane Austen's Persuasion - 69 cents
Psalms (KJV) - $2.35
Peter Pan - $2.99
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar - 99 cents
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - 99 cents
Paid Credit #1 - With a Buy-One-Get-One-Free I purchased Part One of The Lord of the Rings (19 hours!) and Higher Call, a WWII title I've been wanting to read.
Paid Credit #2 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
Wind in the Willows - $2.99
Richard Burton reading Poetry of John Donne - $4.95
Screwtape Letters - $1.95

Summing it all up: If you get your free title(s) and several deals along with a few regularly priced books, it's VERY reasonable. (For around $50 I got 13 books and 24 lectures.) Well-produced audiobooks at about $4 each are quite a bargain.


1 comment:

Barbara H. said...

I love Audible. I think my first encounter with them was a 3 month trial, and I thought $14.95 a month was pretty high at first, too, but the sales and reduced prices they have on other books make it totally worth it. I save my "credit" each month for the more expensive ones. But I decided, too, that $14.95 was totally worth it even if I only bought one 10-hour audiobook - that's the same price as a couple of tickets for a 2-hour movie and much more entertaining. :-)