Aural Pleasures 101 – “Why” and “Where” | The Good, The Bad and The Unread

aural_pleasures “I remember it feeling odd and very cool to *hear* my books. I think audios are an amazing format–a wonderful variety of storytelling.” –Nora Roberts

Audio books have exploded in popularity. Consequently, more and more Romance books are now regularly offered in audio format– from best sellers to category romances to erotic romances [cue cheers and applause]. But you think selecting a book to READ is complicated? Well, selecting an audio book adds a whole ’nuther layer of decisions and dilemmas! They ARE worth it, though. So in this three part series, I hope to make audio book procurement a little easier. The first two installments are for all you Aural Pleasure virgins. If you are already an audio book addict, feel free to jump in with your own voice of experience.

Aural Pleasures 101 – “Why” and “Where” to buy Audio Books

I’m addicted to aural pleasures and NEED them when I’m doing the type of work that allows me to set my brain on automatic pilot. I can sometimes take a month or two to finish one audio book because I save it for those “special” mind-numbing, boring tasks that I almost don’t even notice I’m doing if I’m listening to a good audio book. Road trips and commutes become bearable, almost enjoyable, thanks to audio books. If I was one of those creative, crafty people, I’d probably enjoy listening to a good book while making hand-knit willy warmers. My oldest niece, LissaNY, has three little kidlets and can’t spare a minute to read a print book, but she can find time to LISTEN to a book while doing other activities. Of course, for those with vision problems, audio books have always allowed the same escape the rest of us sought with print books.

I wonder whether book discussion groups find that playing audio passages of that month’s book selection adds interest to their discussions. As I’ll discuss in the next two installments, listening to a book in audio format can offer a different perspective to a story. Do any of you belong to a Book Club? Do you play audio books at your meetings?

My niece is lucky– her local library is tech-savvy, so all she has to do is download her choice of audio books then send it to her MP3 player. Most libraries DO have audio books on CD and cassette available, but my local library has a pretty skimpy selection. However, I recently discovered they’ve now signed up with NetLibrary for eBooks and eAudio Books, so I’ll have to investigate that avenue (just as soon as I remember where I put my library card, but don’t tell Wendy I said that, K?). In the meantime, I’m stuck paying for all of mine.

I’ve scored several books on CD and cassette from eBay. You may not always find the latest releases for the best prices there, but if you are trying to collect all the audio books for a favorite series, or you want cassettes instead of CDs, or you are looking for older releases, I highly recommend ebay. Just be sure to follow all the “buyer beware” precautions. And it’s a great place to sell off some of the audio books you no longer want to keep– then you’ll have extra bucks to buy even MORE audio books!

The two most recognizable producers of audio books are Brilliance Audio and Recorded Books. Brilliance sells downloadable audio books through AudioBookStandDL.com or on CD/cassette through AudioBookStand.com, along with Amazon, Borders, etc. Honestly, the download price for a Brilliance audio book is outrageous and makes no sense, so, unless I’m desperate, I buy the CDs. You can hear a sample of many of the audio books (usually an introduction followed by an actual sample) at either AudioBookStandDL.com or AudioBookStand.com. Be sure to sign up for AudioBookStand’s email list because they have regular clearance sales that will allow you to pick up popular audio books on CDs/cassettes for really great prices, and while you‘re there, sign up for their reseller‘s newsletter to find out about upcoming audio book releases. Amazon will usually have a pre-order sale price on the most popular audio books, and while Borders/Waldens sells them for full list price, a 30% off coupon (just Google “Border’s coupons”) will often get you within a buck or two of Amazon’s pre-order price. That’s it for my local choices in brick and mortar bookstores (I love my Waldens). I know there are other chains and independents out there, but I don’t know if you can do any better with their pricing or not.

If you want to splurge and download your Brilliance audio book from AudioBookStandDL.com, you will first need to download The Overdrive Media Console®, which manages your downloads, playback, and transfers to portable devices or CD.

No matter where you purchase Brilliance CDs, you can listen to them as you would a music CD, upload them to your PC for playback or, once they’ve been uploaded, you can then download them to your MP3 player (theoretically, ‘cause I‘ve never done it). The CDs are usually divided into 99 tracks, which sounds odd until the first time you need to replay a scene or sentence, then you’ll realize that, without those short tracks, hitting the back track button could send you all the way back to the beginning of the book.

For Recorded Books, the best place I’ve found to score their audio is through Audible.com. In fact, when you purchase a downloadable audio book from Amazon, you are re-directed to Audible (usually member pricing through Audible is a bit better than pricing through Amazon). I have to wonder, though, if Amazon’s recent acquisition of Brilliance Audio will change all that. In addition to Recorded Books selections, Audible also offers audio produced by Harlequin Enterprises, Virgin Books Limited, even A&E Television and many more. The first 5-10 minutes of every audio book can be sampled before buying.

The first thing you will encounter at Audible is their monthly pricing plan– one credit equals one audio book and you pay a minimum of $14.95 per month to download one audio book a month, or $22.95 for two books a month, etc. Well, that’s all fine and dandy if that‘s what you want, but you can also do what I do– $9.95 per YEAR gives me the right to purchase any audio book at member pricing, which is significantly below list price. Watch for regular emailed special sales and stock up for even bigger savings.

You’ll first need to download the AudibleManager® software which allows you to download Audible audio to your computer, transfer audio from your computer to your mobile audio player, listen to Audible audio on your PC and manage audio on your mobile audio player. An additional software download is required to burn audio books to CD, and there are others that allow you to download audio books directly to your iPod. It’s all easy-peasy and non-techie (they even use pictures!) and they’ve got live phone support techs that actually know what they’re talking about (although I’ve only had to contact them once). Longer audio books will be downloaded in two or more parts– not a big deal unless you load up your MP3 player to take on a trip and forget to load part 2! [ACK!] Another nice feature at Audible is that you can purchase books on sale and just leave them in your Audible library until you’re ready to download them. In fact, you can re-download them whenever you want. Audible offers a listener rating system of 1-5 stars and listeners can also submit reviews. Gift certificates are available.

Although I’ve never purchased from anywhere else, note that there ARE several other sites that offer audio books for purchase. But whenever I come across one, a quick browse reveals that they don’t offer very extensive Romance sections. Still, it might be worth a Google or two to check them out. You can also buy or rent audio books directly from Recorded Books at bend-over-and-say-ouch prices.

I recently came across a site called On the Go Books which appears to work similar to NetFlix movies. You pay a monthly fee, place audio books on your rental list, and they mail you the next one on your list as soon as you return the previous one. Have any of you used On the Go or a similar service?

I’ve saved the best reason to “read” audio books for last. I don’t have time to do this too often, but sometimes ya just gotta grab a slice of Heaven here on Earth. A nice warm bath, a darkened room, maybe a few candles, and a good audio book. Now lie back, relax, and let the world go away while you soak. Reader Zen, I tell you! (And I find it quite easy to ignore the puppy-dog pleading look on my husband’s face as he repeatedly finds reasons to lurk.) I have the luxury of a whirlpool tub with an in-line heater so the water temp is maintained no matter how long I float away. If you don’t have that luxury, then you’re just going to have to muster enough energy to move your big toe and turn the hot water on every now and then (or you could just summon your personal bath slave). The last time I visited Reader Heaven, I ended up floating away for over 2.5 hours! But I walked (wobbled) out of there feeling as if I’d just spent a week lolling on a beach with not a care in the world. *sigh*