Audible.com
| Audible.com Summary Review | |
|---|---|
| Our Rating |  |
| Site Format | Audio book MP3 downloads. No CDs or cassettes. You may also purchase digital products. No "rentals" available, since all media is in digital format. |
| Free Trial? | Yes. You can try the AudibleListener Platinum plan for 14 days risk-free. You'll also get 3 free audio book downloads to try out the service. If you cancel within 14 days, the books are yours to keep. |
| Pricing | From $9.95 per year to $22.95 per month. |
| Positives | One of the largest selections of audio books on the net. Compatibility with over 230 portable devices, and can burn audio books to CD. Once you download the audio books, they are yours to keep forever. |
| Negatives | Available only in limited countries, site is sometimes slow to load. |
| Overall | Best download site value overall, with plans starting at only $9.95 per year. |
Complete Review of Audible.com
Offering audio book downloads since 1997, Audible is by far the largest audio book download site on the net. There are over 35,000 audio book titles to choose from within a large variety of interesting categories. There are over 80,000 hours of audio programs from 270 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, podcasters, and business information providers.
Site Functionality
The way Audible works is pretty straightforward. Upon signing up for an account at the site, you can either use your iTunes software to manage your audio book downloads, or install Audible's proprietary software to interface with your digital audio player. Next, browse the site to find the books that you want to download and then upload them to your player. You can also burn the audio books to CD if you prefer.
Available Plans
One of the positive benefits of Audible are the wide variety of plans that are available. You may also purchase audio book downloads if you do not prefer to join as a member. Non-membmer prices are generally much lower than what you would find at a retail outlet.
Some plans are associated with "credits" and one credit is equal to one audio book download.
AudibleListener: AudibleListener costs $9.95 per year. There are no credits with this plan. Instead, users who sign up for the Audible Listener plan receive deep discounts on purchasing audio books over the regular Audible prices.
AudibleListener Gold: This plan is $14.95 per month and you get one credit per month ($14.95 per credit). Alternatively, you may purchase all 12 credits at once for $149.50 ($12.49 per credit).
AudibleListener Platinum: This plan costs $22.95 per month, and you'll get 2 credits per month ($11.47 per credit). You can purchase all 24 credits at once for $229.50 ($9.56 per credit).
Finding Your Audio Books
Finding your audio books at Audible is incredibly easy. You can search by keyword, title, or author. There's also a large number of best-sellers from a variety of categories listed on the main page. In addition, you can browse by an alphabetically-listed categories list.
Additional Features
In addition to audio books, you can also find magazine and newspaper subscriptions in audio format as well as podcasts from a wide variety of authors. There are also gift cards avaiable for purchase. Redeeming a gift card is easy - simply enter the 10-digit code from the card and you're all set.