I’ve become an evangelist for Audible, the audiobooks subscription service. In fact, if Amazon had conveyed the benefits of membership more effectively, I’d have joined years ago.
In a matter of months, I’ve come to love it on a number of levels. Here, then, are my top-five reasons.
It’s convenient
My eyes aren’t getting any younger and reading books in print isn’t getting any easier.
Ebooks, such as those on the Kindle, are convenient, but staring at a screen for long periods isn’t healthy either.
I’m quite fond of text-to-voice apps that enable my smartphone to read to me. The downside of that is that even with AI technology, they still sound slightly unnatural and robotic.
What’s great about having Audible’s audiobooks on tap is that I can pop my earbuds in and listen to books while I’m in the gym, at the supermarket or doing the washing up. Multitasking!
It’s cheaper than you think
Before I saw the light, the turnoffs of Audible membership for me were (a) I didn’t want to give Jeff Bezos any more money, and (b) buying a £7.99 credit every month, for one book, didn’t seem like great value.
I can’t do much about (a), but I was completely misinformed about (b).
The crucial point I was missing, and which I don’t think comes through in the marketing, is that while you’re subscribed, you can listen to thousands of books from the Audible Plus catalogue.
I’m enjoying this so much that watching television and films is becoming a secondary activity for me.
As it happens, my four-month trial will end any day now. When it does, I don’t necessarily have to sign up to the £7.99 monthly plan.
With annual membership, you buy 12 or 24 credits in one go. That works out much cheaper – as little as £4.58 per credit, in fact.
Considering that to buy a new hardback that everyone’s talking about might cost you £15 or £20, this is a really cost-effective way to stay in the loop.
It brings the classics to life
A number of the titles in the Audible library are classic novels that are out of copyright. Needless to say, there are cheaper ways to get hold of these, including the free LibriVox app, which utilises public-spirited volunteers to read the books. Few of these are professional actors, however.
For personal reasons connected with a long trip to India I made 20 years ago, I wanted to read Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Unfortunately, I find Kipling a real chore – and with all due respect to the LibriVox reader, the free, home-made audiobook didn’t engage me.
By contrast, Sam Dastor’s reading on Audible Plus is bursting with character. Granted, I still didn’t particularly enjoy it – but at least I finished it.
Lately I’ve been listening to an anthology of HG Wells’ science-fiction novels, which is more my cup of tea. I’m even eyeing up a Jane Austen anthology, which leads me to my next point.
I’m growing more adventurous
It feels so liberating to try unfamiliar genres and authors on Audible Plus.
Take KL Slater, a British author of psychological thrillers. If four of her novels hadn’t been set to leave the free platform, I wouldn’t have discovered how terrific she is.
The Mistake, about the long-term after-effects of a child’s murder on a Nottinghamshire pit village, hooked me from the first page – so much so that in the next several days, I devoured two more of her books on double speed.
That’s another advantage of Audible, by the way: you can raise the tempo without the reader sounding like a chipmunk.
It’s educational
Searching Audible for books that would help me acquire a new work-related skill turned out to be more rewarding that I’d expected.
Some were already free on Audible Plus, while others I’d earmarked on my Amazon wishlist, and fully intended to pay for, became free the next day. Job done!
So, dear reader – what do you think?
Photo by Distingué CiDDiQi on Unsplash
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