Audiobooks saved my sanity during crazy commuting times. I used to spend about 3-4 hours in my car every day, going to and coming back from the office. Sometimes traffic jams were so serious that I started to bring books with me in the car, thinking I’d read some on my way. That’s wrong. If you just sit there and do nothing, waiting times seem like ages. When you do something, such as reading or putting on makeup, the same waiting times seem much shorter. Reading books while stuck in traffic is non-sense. Drivers behind you won’t let you finish your sentence. If the line moves, you have to move with it and be fast. Then I made a fantastic discovery: audiobooks. The first audiobook I bought was by one of my favorite authors, Mircea Cartarescu. He was the reader and I found that to be cool, even though I had imagined his voice different. I thought it was amazing to have the chance to listen to how a writer interprets his own writing. The best of all was that I was able to use my commuting time in a pleasant and entertaining way.

Audiobooks downloads: cheaper than audiobook CD or books on tape

At first, each time I wanted a new audiobook, I would buy the CD. It was expensive, the average price for an audiobook CD was $30. At that time there were no audiobook downloads websites, so buying from bookshops was the only option. Today there are multiple options. Among the most convenient are membership sites. You pay a monthly or a yearly fee, then you get access to an entire library of audiobooks and you download the ones you like. Usually you get one or multiple free downloads as part of your membership. You may also get extra downloads for discounted prices. A good example is Audible.com with their Special Offer – Get Your First 3 Months at Audible for $7.49/month!. They have an impressive online library of more than 85,000 audiobooks, which you can download and listen to on your iPod, iPad, iPhone and other such devices. You can either buy and download audiobooks one by one, as you want them, or you can choose a membership plan. Such plans give you a certain number of credits which translate into up to 75% discounts for all audiobooks, audio newspapers and magazines in their database.

Audible features I like most

Audiobooks are grouped in 27 categories such as Arts & Entertainment, Bios & Memoirs, Classics, Fiction, Business, Kids, Health & Fitness, Language Instruction, Romance, Religion & Spirituality. Each category is divided in subcategories. This makes it very easy to find titles in the genre you want.

All audiobooks come with samples you can listen to for free. Then there’s the publisher’s summary, then reviews from people who downloaded the book. Reviews are useful, they either describe the book or comment on the narrator’s voice. Here’s an example:

BTW the narrator (Angela Dawe) is wonderful. One of the few females that can do male voices without making the male characters sound a little creepy.

Each audiobook is available in four audio formats: AM Radio, FM Radio, mp3 and CD. This means the sound quality is similar to the above mentioned options, not that you can listen to the book on the radio. There’s a table with all these, giving info on the file size and downloading time. If you are not sure what format to choose, you can look at the table and listen to samples of each one. Depending on the device you want to download to, you’ll see what formats work. This can be a little confusing at first, but if you know you only want to burn CDs to listen to in your car, that’s the option you always need to choose.

AudibleManager, the proprietary application that comes with your subscription, automatically downloads and syncs your subscription content with your playing device. This is very easy to use. I believe my mom could use it, too, and she knows almost nothing about computers.

There’s a special bestseller section. I like that because I’m always curious about the latest bestsellers, and I can find them very fast in Audible.

Last but not least, you can benefit from this Special Offer – Get Your First 3 Months at Audible for $7.49/month!, which is half of the regular membership price. You get one credit per month, which means you can download an audiobook for free. Very few titles are worth more than a credit. If you want to use more than the assigned credit, you’ll benefit from the 30% member-only discount on all your downloads. Read more about this and Download audiobooks to your iPod, iPhone, Blackberry & over 500+ devices. Save 50% for 3 months, only $7.49/mo. by clicking on the previous link.

I’ll quote from the Audible website the promotional offer details:

AudibleListener® Gold Membership Details
Get the first 3 months of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan for just $7.49 per month, which includes one credit. For your convenience, your membership will automatically renew each month and the monthly membership fee will be billed to the credit card you used when you registered with Audible. After the 3 months, your credit card will be billed the regular membership price of $14.95 per month. With your membership, you will receive one credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. Cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle.

Automatic billing is convenient if you like the service and wish to continue using it. However, if you feel like giving up, you need to remember to go and cancel your subscription. This may seem a bit naughty, but it’s common practice for many membership communities. Anyway, if you want to check out Audible and their impressive library, here’s the Special Offer – Get Your First 3 Months at Audible for $7.49/month!.