posted
My apologies if there is some other thread out there that specifically addresses this, but a quick search while at work didn't produce any results in the first few pages...
I have a couple great resources for renting/borrowing audiobooks, but I was wondering if any audiobook listeners out there could recommend certain sites to purchase audiobooks at a more affordable price than what you'd pay in-store? I'd prefer the type that is not downloadable but would be open to that type if the price is right.
Thanks for any suggestions in advance!
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
What he said. Audible.com's normal prices are similar to other stores, but they have frequent sales and if you go with their subscription model the books work out to about $10 each.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Love me some Audible! Plus, you can burn them to CD or put them on an mp3 player, which saves a ton of space since unabridged recordings are often 6 or more cds long.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
That looks really cool. I guess the only downer is that the particular books I'm currently looking for (The Dresden Files), only the most recent is available. Hmm... Lots of google searching isn't bringing up much else either. Still, thanks for the rec! This could be very good for other audiobook purchasing!
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Keep looking. The first four dresden books are available from Buzzy Multimeda, but up until the most recent, the rest have not been available. According to Butcher's website, the rest are due out this year (I think). So except for the first four, the others aren't available because they don't exist, not because the website doesn't have them yet. Keep checking back.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by andi330: Keep looking. The first four dresden books are available from Buzzy Multimeda, but up until the most recent, the rest have not been available. According to Butcher's website, the rest are due out this year (I think). So except for the first four, the others aren't available because they don't exist, not because the website doesn't have them yet. Keep checking back.
Thanks for the bit of news on expecting the later ones! I did keep coming across the first four (and Small Favor), just don't want to pay so much for them. X] At this point, it'd probably be best to wait so many years until places like the library (Maryland has a great audio/pdf book site that allows you to burn select audiobooks) or audible offer them.
Posts: 691 | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thought I'd notify those still looking. The Dresden Files books 1-4 and 9-11, in other words, all those that are currently available as audiobooks are now available at audible, as I discovered when I went to make my monthly purchase today. The rest of the books are due out this fall, and hopefully this means that audible will be getting them when they are released!
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Alternately, emusic has an audiobook subscription service. I don't personally know how it compares to audible, but it might be worth looking at.
quote:eMusic audiobooks are encoded in high-quality 64 Kbps bit rate -- twice the audio quality available from iTunes and Audible. As with its music service, eMusic offers audiobooks at a great value. Customers can sign up for monthly subscriptions priced at $9.99 for one book or $19.99 for two books — and get one bonus book as part of an introductory offer.
posted
Audible has a much larger selection of books, likely because they focus solely on audiobooks and not on music as well. Just checking the numbers audible has 24,215 unabridged books in their catalog, emusic has only 2,662. In addition, audible has multiple formats that you can choose from in sound quality, including the new audible enhanced sound which is cd quality sound (I can't find the Kpbs rate) that uses 28.8 MB of data for each hour of sound.
At least for now, for selection audible is the better offer. I believe that their new audible enhanced sound is actually better, or at least equal to the quality of sound at eMusic, and because you can choose your format, you can choose how much space your books take up on your computer.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
No, it's good to know other companies that sell them, because they don't all have the same selection. For example, iTunes is the only place you can currently get the Harry Potter series, they have an exclusive contract, but for a monthly subscription, I prefer the store that has the largest selection available, particularly of unabridged books, because I hate abridgments.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:eMusic audiobooks are encoded in high-quality 64 Kbps bit rate -- twice the audio quality available from iTunes and Audible.
This is not true- it must be very old information. Audible, and I believe Itunes as well, now offers quite a lot of their content in 224 or 320, which is a whole hell of a lot more than 64.
Problem is for that crisp clear bassy sound, a 6 hour program is like 250 megabytes. Still worth it.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by andi330: I thought that didn't look right. Especially with the new audible enhanced audio format.
The enhanced format doesn't actually say what bit-rate it's using, but there's really no way it's under 192, and I'd put it closer to 320 to my ears. maybe 224. The files are just to big to be less than that, aren't they?
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
