Audible

[Halicarnassus]

I recently joined Audible and got three free titles. (December 2016)
It costs $15 pcm but I do find it cracking value for money. Some brilliantly narrated titles on offer. I get to 'read' so much more by listening whilst driving. A new phenomenon for me.

[Urbandreamer]

I long refused to join Audible because I'm idealogicaly opposed to DRM (though I support copyright).

I gave in about a year ago and like you I've found it fantastic. I went for the basic 1 credit a Month, but there are methods that you can use to really stretch that. ie buying ebooks from Amazon and ticking the box for wispersync often costs £9. The daily deal is also worth keeping an eye on. I picked up "The decline and fall of the Roman empire" for about £4, all 126 hours that they normally charge £47 for.

Stateing the obvious though, audio is a different media. Of my 60 or so books there are two that work better in print. "The 100 year life" used graphs and charts, while another book made intense use of elipsoids to swap scenes and view point character (confusing enough when you can see the elipsoids).

While Audible do a free trial, can I suggest a different method to try their quality without signing up. The publisher Baen books does a podcast every week and tacks a serialisation of an "Audible" book on the end. You can download a year or more podcasts and listen to authors talking about their work to get the book for free (ie start with June 6 2015 "Under a Graveyard Sky). Or you could just listen to a couple and then try the Audible free trial.

http://www.baen.com/podcast

I listen to the podcast every week for the bit befor the book anyway. I do feel that I should warn you that while Audible is not genre specific, Baen is. Hence the book serialised will be SF, but you might like it anyway.

Oh and Baen also do a free library
http://www.baen.com/catalog/category/vi ... ry/id/2012

[Halicarnassus]

I have also got some great deals on the amazon kindle daily deal that have very inexpensive whispersync audio upgrades. The 1 credit per month seems to be about right for me at the moment. I do have some purchases that are pretty lengthy like Roy Jenkins' Churchill biography and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales which means that with my 3 free starter books, I've yet to catch up and always have something to listen to.

[Halicarnassus]

For instance recently I purchased Natural Born Heroes for $1.49 and the audio upgrade was only $2.99. Great book and the audio well narrated.

[redsturgeon]

Just downloaded my first audible book "jay Rayner's Ten commandments.

I have jury service next week and I'm told there can be a lot of waiting around...

John

[Halicarnassus]

You won't be disappointed (with audible). You may be lucky and avoid it altogether. I was a PO in HMP Brixton many years ago and had the mind-numbing task of sitting in the dock at the Old Bailey, Southwark CC with remand prisoners on trial. That's what you call sitting around

[Urbandreamer]

Just a quick note. Like Amazon (of which it it a subsiduary) Audible is both publisher and retailer. Hence many "audio books" are produced by other firms.

I've recently taken a liking to the "Great courses" series of non-fiction lectures (which is not produced by audible but is sold by them). Finance, economics and politics are what I enjoy of the choice, though I'm sure that their history etc is equaly riviting.

BTW, I came to audiobooks looking for something to entertain the family during long car journies when on holiday. Since then I have found that my wife prefers audiobooks to the written sort. Surprisingly she seems very happy with the fiction that I pick (I haven't exposed her to the likes of "An economic history of the world since 1400").

[Halicarnassus]

Just a quick note. Like Amazon (of which it it a subsiduary) Audible is both publisher and retailer. Hence many "audio books" are produced by other firms.

I've recently taken a liking to the "Great courses" series of non-fiction lectures (which is not produced by audible but is sold by them). Finance, economics and politics are what I enjoy of the choice, though I'm sure that their history etc is equaly riviting.

BTW, I came to audiobooks looking for something to entertain the family during long car journies when on holiday. Since then I have found that my wife prefers audiobooks to the written sort. Surprisingly she seems very happy with the fiction that I pick (I haven't exposed her to the likes of "An economic history of the world since 1400").

I've had my eye on the Great Courses too. They look excellent. I've used them to support my teaching when I used to work in Secondary Schools.

[Satsuma]

If you are new to Audible, keep an eye out for deals on cashback sites. I managed to get a 3 book offer for £7 with cashback of £5 (or something like that). I know Quidco allows you to "favourite" retailers so you get emails for new offers, others probably have similar.

Of the books I listened to, I cannot recommend Sue Perkins' autobiography, Spectacles, highly enough. Among the general entertainment (she self-narrates) is a section about her dog that had me choking up.

I would also recommend Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald. Excellently evocative listening material, as is Free Country by George Mahood.

Sats

[Halicarnassus]

If you are new to Audible, keep an eye out for deals on cashback sites. I managed to get a 3 book offer for £7 with cashback of £5 (or something like that). I know Quidco allows you to "favourite" retailers so you get emails for new offers, others probably have similar.

Of the books I listened to, I cannot recommend Sue Perkins' autobiography, Spectacles, highly enough. Among the general entertainment (she self-narrates) is a section about her dog that had me choking up.

I would also recommend Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald. Excellently evocative listening material, as is Free Country by George Mahood.

Sats

I have read Holy Cow back in 2008. I did enjoy it. Maybe because I was a vegetarian at the time. Not now.

[Halicarnassus]

I've just used my monthly credit on....

The Complete Essays of Montaigne

Written by: Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , Donald M. Frame (translator)
Narrated by: Christopher Lane
Length: 49 hrs and 39 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:20/09/2011
Publisher: Brilliance Audio

[carrie80]

I too am an Audible fan. With first person books in particular I find that audio versions can intensify the experience - mostly for the good, but I've also had stronger reactions against first person characters I didn't like than I think I would have done in written form.

I'm always interested in recommendations of good audiobook productions. Spectacles is going on the to-listen list. My top two audiobook productions are Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys narrated by Lenny Henry - both good books and excellent narrations.

Some other audiobooks with good narrations I've enjoyed include David Attenborough's autobiography (long, but episodic so easy to pick up and put down), Seanan McGuire's Newsflesh trilogy, Melina Marchetta's On The Jellicoe Road, Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword (an "illuminated" production, with sound effects and full cast for some scenes), MC Beaton's Agatha Raisin series narrated by Penelope Keith, Emma Newman's Split World series and Mary Robinette Kowal's Shades of Milk and Honey.

As to bad listening experiences, I haven't had many, but I really didn't like James Marsters reading of the first Harry Dresden book. I've read praise of it elsewhere, but I found that he paused in odd places in the middle of sentences, and couldn't get through it. Oh, and occasional pronunciation irritations in books I've otherwise enjoyed - in one book the narrator called the protagonist Zo throughout and I'm convinced it should have been Zoe...

I also recommend Big Finish (https://www.bigfinish.com) to any science fiction spoken word audio fans. They do full cast audio plays, mostly of Dr Who and spin offs, but they've also picked up various other classic series (Blakes 7, The Avengers, Dorian Grey, Survivors among others). Their range can be a bit overwhelming to a newcomer - they often have weekend sales, so I mostly pick up audios from these, with some help from https://thetimescales.com/ for ratings. Mary's Story is not a bad place to start - it's an 8th Doctor (Paul McGann) and Mary Shelley story playing on Frankenstein and at 99p and around half an hour, it's not a big investment.

[midnightcatprowl]

I joined Audible a few years back but must admit that after the first few 'listens' I dropped the idea again.

I wanted to listen to books while driving for my business, but I was driving a van and even modern vans are much noisier than cars (because of the non-sound proofed load space), so to listen to a book you have to turn the volume up a lot and I find this very irritating (only listen to music on the radio for short period when driving for the same reason).

audio books seem to fall into a space between acting and reading. So, generally speaking, you get one person doing the voices of the different characters. I can't quite decide if I find men doing women's voices or women doing men's voices the more unpleasant! Unless the book is going to be properly acted out by a cast then I'd prefer the reader to do just that i.e. read the story rather than trying to pretend to play all the parts. Thinking about it the only audiobooks I've really enjoyed have been non-fiction so the reader simply reads it.

audio books seem to take so long to get through. For example if I'm reading a book and the characters are having a conversation then I'm reading at about the same pace as a normal conversation would go but in audio books the same conversation seems to be stretched out so it has to be a very good story indeed to keep my attention and for the story to seem real.

I suppose if I was doing long non-driving commutes I might enjoy audio books better but probably I'd simply read more especially now that e-books mean you no longer have to lug physical books around with you.

[Halicarnassus]

audio books seem to take so long to get through. For example if I'm reading a book and the characters are having a conversation then I'm reading at about the same pace as a normal conversation would go but in audio books the same conversation seems to be stretched out so it has to be a very good story indeed to keep my attention and for the story to seem real.

Interesting point and I think you are correct in one sense that they are acted out to a degree by the narrator. That can be seen as a plus by some. Nonetheless the audio book does have the advantage of being utilised when doing activities such as driving. Better still, they can keep us going past drier parts of books where we might just have laid a physical book down.

[Urbandreamer]

I suppose if I was doing long non-driving commutes I might enjoy audio books better but probably I'd simply read more especially now that e-books mean you no longer have to lug physical books around with you.

I listen while walking to and from work. Also when mowing the lawn etc.
Ironically I came upon the idea of listening to an audio "book" while doing mindless chores in a paper book that I once read.

*The example was to learn a new language.

[Halicarnassus]

We bought my late mother a subscription to Audible. She lost most of her sight and as a previously voracious reader of anything she could get her hands on it was a huge problem for her. A combination of ebooks over the web from the county library service and an Audible subscription gift from us and she was very happy.

Good on you mate. Full respect to those who look after their parents' contentment.

[carrie80]

midnightcatprowl wrote:
audio books seem to take so long to get through. For example if I'm reading a book and the characters are having a conversation then I'm reading at about the same pace as a normal conversation would go but in audio books the same conversation seems to be stretched out so it has to be a very good story indeed to keep my attention and for the story to seem real.

I generally find there's a start up time to get into a story, but when the momentum builds then I'll listen every minute I can and the length doesn't seem a problem. I do actively choose shorter audiobooks though, and I mostly choose to start them when I know I'll have a good chunk of time available over a few days.

Listening to spoken word audio works best for me when I'm doing something else, but which doesn't use any verbal attention - walking, taking a bath, washing up, cooking, knitting, even doing a sudoku. Otherwise I do easily get distracted and tune out. My commute is my main listening time - with a change and walking at both ends, audio works better for this than visual reading. While I like audiobooks, I spend more time listening to podcasts and I think these are easier to maintain attention for, at least when they involve multiple people talking.

The voices thing mostly hasn't annoyed me. I'm wondering if a lot of the books I listen to are either 1st person or tight 3rd person narratives, where I think it feels more natural that the other characters. Some books I've listened to with multiple main first point of view characters have used two narrators (Feed, Code Name Verity), and I think this works well. A good narrator makes such a difference.

[Satsuma]

William Roberts narrates several Bill Bryson books and does so fantastically well. He seems to just "get" BB's tone and intention.
The first time I heard him was on "Neither Here, Nor There: Travels in Europe" and I remember being on a train and trying not to cry with laughter!

I also tend to pick books I can dip in and out of, so I can have one on the go for months and just pick it up every so often with no ill effect.