Audio Books Online

So, now that we all know how great audio books are, let’s talk about my favorite place to get them: online. Now of course, you can get audio books on cd, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some people even prefer it as they have a physical product to show for their purchase. But what I like about getting audio books online is that it’s fast, you have a much bigger selection, and most services give you unlimited downloads of the product. So, for example, when your kids find your audio book cds lying around and decide to use them as frisbees, you are hooped. You’ll never have that problem with an audio book though. Dropped your iPod in the toilet? No problem! Download a new copy and put it on your new iPod! (unfortunately, you can’t download a new iPod. I tried, but couldn’t get it to work)

There are a lot of great online sources for audio books. My absolute favorite is Audible.com. They’ve been around for quite awhile and have an excellent library. They also have a good introductory offer for only $7.49 a month for 3 months, and $14.95 after that. That gets you the “gold” plan, which gives you 1 credit per month (1 credit equals 1 book, except in a few rare cases). You can also opt for the “platinum” plan which gets you 2 credits per month at $22.95 per month. The only downside to audible is that they use their own proprietary format rather than mp3s, so you’ll have to make sure your device is compatible (they’ve got most of them covered). However, the format is actually quite good, and the files are a fraction of a size of a similar length mp3.

Another great service is simplyaudiobooks.ca. They are a little unique in that they have 2 types of memberships: a rental membership where they send you physical cds that you rent from them, or a download membership that allows you to download mp3 or wma files. The rental plan is as low as $15 per month, and the download plan as low as $13 per month. They also offer a free trial of the rental plan, which is a great way to try them out. While they do not have as many titles as audible.com, they still have a very good selection and carry most of the books you are likely looking for. If you prefer mp3 format, they are a good alternative.

Both options are a great source of online audio books. You’ll find a lot of value from either one. Happy reading…er listening!

Audio Book Clubs

Like a regular book club, an audio book club is a club that offers members books at a discounted price. In this case, the books are audio books.

One of the great advantages of an audio book over a regular book is that you can listen to them any time while you are doing other things. They are especially great when you’re doing menial tasks; just put them on your mp3 and listen. Most of them come in mp3 format, but some, like the ones from audible.com, come in a proprietary format and you will need to take some extra steps to make sure they will work on your player. While this can sometimes be a little bit of a pain, the advantage is that the files are much smaller and are quicker to download.

Another great benefit is that you can purchase and download your audio book immediately so you can listen to it right away. No waiting for shipping!

A lot of audio book clubs offer an annual membership fee so you only pay once (or monthly) and have access to a certain number of audio books each month. This makes it easy for those on a budget, or to give as a gift.

I have really enjoyed my audio book club memberships and I tend to read a lot more books when I’m a member.

This blog will be dedicated to audio book club and book reviews. Enjoy!