Post Punk Kitchen Forum

For Christmas my mom got me a book on cd that I've been loving because I spend 2 hours in my car daily for commuting. The book isn't even the best, but it's fun because I spend so much time driving that by the time I have to get out of the car I'm kind of reluctant to just leave off in the middle of what I was listening to. I was looking to buy another for when I'm finished and remembered all those npr ads for audible.com, which looks great, but I don't know if I want to sign up for a membership for something I don't really think I understand fully. Does anyone have any experience with it? Loves? Hates? Wastes of moneys? Good selection of books?

My local library offers audio books for loan. I think you just download it and the license expires after two weeks, but I'm not totally sure since I've never done it. You could also try out LibriVox, http://librivox.org/, but that's only books that are in the public domain and read by volunteers, so some of the readers are awesome and some aren't so much. I've never tried Audible, but those options are free, so...

I've never used Audible, but they advertise heavily with tech podcasts that I listen to. They often have special ad URLs that come with free books or free trials, like if you sign up with their URL, you get a free book or two. If you listen to one of these episodes, you're almost certain to get an Audible ad. http://twit.tv/show/this-week-in-tech

Awesome! I had forgotten that libraries are hip and cool and new age and have audio books, and librivox looks like it has a lot of good options.

I love audible. I have the $19 plan still from ages ago, for 2 credits a month. I think it s $22 now. If you get new or long books, it's a good deal. I tend to get new best sellers like John Grisham, Michael Connelly, etc, so it costs me less than I'd have spent on the new hardcover book. This saves me on my commute.

If you end up needing or wanting more, they have a lot of specials too, so sometimes I get an extra book for $5-7. Their selection has gotten really good over the years, and now they seem to deal with most publishers. They also let you exchange a book if you hate what you got (I just did this for the first time recently, and it was painless). The quality is great, and they have a new iPhone app that lets you access your entire audible library directly instead of downloading and syncing.

My library doesn't do audiobooks except on cd, and I don't have a cd player. Some libraries have enormous selections of books on cd though, so check that out.

So, basically, I'm a pretty big audible fan.

Eta: you can cancel the membership at any time and still have full access to your library, so there isn't any real risk to signing up. The only downside is they only roll over 12 credits, so if you forget about it for a while, you lose the credits. Also, don't forget that the credits cost you $11 and then waste one on a book that is on sale for $8. I've done that and then feel dumb.

You can also sort by length to fill your commute. I just got a bio of Einstein that is something like 18hrs long. It's by the same guy who wrote the Jobs bio, and is pretty good. It was still only 1 credit.

I also have the 2 books/month plan and sometimes I take advantage of the deals LW mentioned. I've never had a problem finding the book I want. It's been great for books I know I'll never get through (like long nonfiction stuff) and for books written by comedians and read by them (like Bossypants). I almost exclusively use the iPhone app so I can listen while I'm standing at work or at the gym or plugged into my car stereo. My friend and I have also shared our audible login info so we can listen to each others' books too.

I'm a pretty big fan! One of the best ways I've spent money recently.

I subscribed so that I could have something to listen to in order to make the dishes less painful to wash.

Always make sure you listen to a sample first. Some people just have horrible voices that can ruin a good book. But yeah I don't think it hurts to sign up (you should be able to get a free book with it somewhere) and see. Just remember to cancel it if you stop using it.

That's what great about the exchange policy! I got one that I just couldn't listen to.

I'm a fan. Having plenty of audiobooks has made raking, mopping, and other tedious tasks much more bearable, plus allowed me to hear some long books I might not have slogged through in print.

My public library shares digital audiobooks using the OneClick Digital app, but it's horribly frustrating for me--- and the book selection is really disappointing.