I have been sussing out audible.com lately after gasping at the price of some of the audiobooks on iTunes.

Have you ever used it or joined with one of their plans?

If you do listen to audiobooks and don't use audible then where do you get your audiobooks from?

I've been thinking about joining, but it goes against the grain to pay that much.

I get most of my audiobooks from the library - we have a system here where we can order books from any library in the province. They get sent to our local branch, and we just have to return them there. I also check out garage sales and thrift shops, and have gotten a lot that way. Used bookstores tend to be a little too pricy for me, too (Lord, I'm cheap...) but sometimes I'll pick up something there. Online, you can go to Libravox, which is free but the quality is very very uneven - basically, it's just people reading public domain works into a mic.

I don't use audible but seen it. I have brought a lot of my talking book CDs from Amazon over the last two or three years, I find them very reasonably priced. I also use the local library for talking books too

There's a book I've been reading my son at night and it's really quite a hard read - there's some tough words but it is a good story (Eragon if you're interested lol). I'll get through this one but there's three more books in the series and I am going to lose interest soon LOL I'd prefer to grab them on ausdio book and go onto somethign a bit 'lighter' for night time reading!
To get one of those books on audio book on iTunes would be $27 each part and there is two arts to each book. Audible has a special on at the moment for $8 (ish) a month for the first three months then $15 after that . .cancel at any time .. blah blah blah. Each month you get one book. So I'm figuring that I could get the books and then just cancel. I guess the catch is people forgetting about it and still paying the membership. I'd really love ot get those books but REALLy don't want to pay iTunes prices for them!

Talking about that particular series - from what I understand, both from kids I know who've read it, and from what I can tell from quizwriters, it goes downhill pretty fast, and you probably don't want to read the whole thing. First two books are the best.

Ohh righty-o. Just about to finish listening to the second one. Might just go for the abridged reading from now on.

A friend gave me an audible subscription for three months for Christmas so now I can play around and see how it all works Great gift idea and so far I'm impressed. Lots chepaer than iTunes too.

Edit: I posted in the wrong thread!

As for audible: not for me at the moment anyhow, I *really* enjoy turning the pages, flicking back and forth in my book and rereading passages. Audible is what I went for when the kids were small, to keep their attention occupied on long car journies, but never for myself.

I have been using Audible for years and now use it more than Kindle since the Kindle model went from $9.99 for best sellers to $12.99. I found that I was very comfortable with the $9.99 price point for my books. So I signed up for a pre-paid one year subscription which allows me 25 book credits at less than $10 a book.

I take advantage of any Audible sales when they sell books at less than $9.99 and pay for those rather than using my credits. So accept for a rare book that goes for more than one credit, I am always under $10. But I never, never do any abridged versions!!! I was never a Readers Digest Condensed Version reader either.

I started using audios before the libraries carried them, back in the 1980's. Back then, I would rent by mail from Books on Tape and Recorded Books. I use audios during commutes, excercise, shopping, household chores etc. Since I work full time it is the only way I can get in enough reading.

I even listen to books for by book club and except for the fact that I can't cite to specific pages, I can discuss as much as anyone else (and more than some).

I have found one disadvantage to audio since I joined FunTrivia (I only joined in December.) It is really hard to write quizzes as you don't know how some of the characters' names are spelled. I actually have a quiz waiting unfinished because of that.

Hi Bg and welcome to the forums. Thanks for your input too.
I did like audible but let the subscription lapse - I found it just too hard to pick a book! I know it's crazy and I should just dive in a get one but the last credit I had I ended up getting a Star Wars book for my son ... he loved it but really, what a waste!

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, Bg, and the solution for quizzes is to look it up on the internet. Depends on how popular the book was, but there is usually a character list someplace. Or, go to the library and just page through the book finding out the odd little things you need to know.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll get that name eventually. The book has been out every time I have stopped by and the name wasn't mentioned in the reviews.

But I must admit that until I sat down to write the quiz, I had not found an actual disadvantage to audibes. That is unless you count bad readers of good books.

My talking book library.

I did end up going back to audible and really do quite like it.
I used to be such a bookworm but I can barely remember the last book I properly read. Crafting and the computer seem to take my reading time.
But I do exercise nearly every day and that's when I can do my 'reading' - can still very easily lose myself in a book.

I picked up an "audible" on cassette in a Charity shop and played it in the car and my children loved it. It was the best driving experience for me in a long while too - an added bonus. Since then I have checked out the cassettes for more books, but they are few and far between.

Unfortunately my car is still off the road so I have not been able to listen to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, but I have a paper copy and watched on TV last week.