Audio books have been popular for many years now, especially for those that commute, going back to the days of cassette tapes. The largest seller of audio books,
Audible, Inc. recently launched a mobile store for iPhone/iPod touch users that makes the buying of such books easier than ever.
Built into the
free app of the same name, Audible now allows easy access to their mobile site for purchases of audio titles, which currently number 85,000. Prior to last week's app update, the only books you could listen to in the app were those purchased previously on the audible.com website from your computer. Now, the company's entire library is available for purchase right from Apple's device.
For existing Audible app users, an update is required to make this feature available.
For first-time users, the app contains a number of audio excerpts that can be played without establishing an audible.com account. This is a great way to test the service. Excerpted titles include recent releases: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Once you get comfortable with the service, you can establish an account and begin buying and downloading audiobooks immediately. A Wi-Fi connection is required for all files over 20MB (most are larger than 20MB). Since each book is downloaded directly to your iPhone, I would suggest that once you are done listening to a book, delete it from your device to free up space. You can always download the book again, since you have full access to your audible.com library.
As an added bonus, each new user to the service is given a free 30 day trial of the audible.com "gold" membership which includes one free audiobook. You can cancel this membership at any time during the trial and pay nothing.
However, be aware of the audible.com subscription model. You need to pay $14.95/month just to download audio books. This price includes one monthly "credit" good for any audiobook book plus 30 percent off any audiobook purchased without a credit. This can be extremely pricey, especially for those listeners that don't plan on purchasing a lot of books each month.
Plus, in getting your 30 day free trial as part of your in-app account purchase, you give up another promotion that might be better for you. If you sign up for a "gold" membership directly from the audible.com website, you get the service for $7.49/month for three months and then $14.95/month thereafter. By taking this route, you won't get a month of service for free, but you will be able to establish a membership at a discounted price for three months.
Regardless of what plan you choose, an audible.com membership can be canceled at anytime. And, you will not lose access to your existing audio books, which is nice.
Since Audible is owned by Amazon.com, its membership is tied directly to your Amazon account.
Each membership also includes a subscription to free audio content such as audio books and newspaper subscriptions. You can choose to have the audio version of The New York Times or Wall Street Journal downloaded daily to your iPhone, Monday thru Friday, according to the audible.com website. However, when I selected the Journal, I actually received today's audio edition plus The Weekend Journal too, so this is confusing. Regardless, this is a nice bonus.
While much of the content is contained in the app itself, the actual mobile store is actually web-based. However, I didn't find this cumbersome, nor did it take away from the app. If anything, the transition from the app to the web browser was seamless.
I am enjoying my free Audible membership, and I find it a great way to listen to audio books in my car. I encourage our readers to download the app and give it a try for 30 days. You've got nothing to lose. The
Audible app is available in the App Store.
