For the last couple of years, I’ve subscribed to Audible for my audio books. For £7.99 a month, I get one audio book a month. I’ve got loads now.
I frequently listen to audio books when I have downtime or doing something mundane like garden work or dishes. Audible delivers the books in audio book format instead of MP3, so I don’t lose where I am in the book when I stop it and don’t have to go to a specific track when I pick it up again.
In the past couple of years, I’ve had a few problems with the service. They use a pretty strict DRM, and I’ve had trouble each time I’ve re-installed an OS or moved to my laptop. One month, I didn’t use my book credit and found that it was removed the following month. Their customer service resolved this for me but told me I have to use the credits or lose them. That’s fine.
They seem to be doing well. Every UK magazine I look at these days has an add for “Free Audio Book” to get people in. It’s not a bad service and I would recommend getting the free book.
But I’ve come to realise lately, that all the Audible books are on iTunes. Even some books that are produced by Audible in the US are available in iTunes and not the UK Audible website. Here’s the big thing– the audio books are cheaper in iTunes. Every book I’ve compared seems to be 2 or 3 quid cheaper if you bought them when you needed to. Besides, on Audible, I find that all the books I want to listen to lately cost less than £7.99– so it would be better to stop paying the subscription. This wasn’t the case a year ago.
Audible is a good service, but I think it needs to compete better with the same books it sells through iTunes. If you are looking to join Audible.co.uk, join for the free book, then buy them when you need to through iTunes (that is, if you are tied to Apple because of your iPod or iPhone).
