I never used to like audio books—I’d try listening to one, at night, and invariably fall asleep. But ever since getting an iPod a while back, I’ve discovered the magic. It turns out that the magic is not in listening at bedtime, but in having something interesting to listen to while I sit at soccer practice or shop for groceries or sit in a tiny chair waiting to have a parent-teacher conference. And lo, I saw the light (heard the story?), and it was very good.
So here’s a nifty little thing, if you haven’t seen the light yet, or you need a gift for someone who’s hard to buy for: Right now at Barnes and Noble, you can pick up a Simply Audiobooks one-month subscription for just $6.25 (less, if you’re a member). This will allow you or the person you give it to to borrow two audio books at a time, up to as many total as you can use in a month. It also comes with a bonus story on CD.
I’m thinking I may just try this out. But I’m also thinking this would be kind of an awesome end-of-year teacher gift. (Remember, shipping is free on $25+ orders!)
Audio books are also magic on long car trips – especially for those of us too cheap and mean to have a DVD player in the car.
Hey Mir, if you want to give public libraries a little shout-out, many (including ours) now offer free downloads of audiobooks for both children and adults. It’s proven to be a very popular services, so more titles will appear every month.
I’m with Julie. Why pay? Public libraries are great for audiobooks.
Julie makes a great point (thanks, Julie!) but not all of us are blessed with public libraries that have the funding for large collections. Sigh.
I always automatically tune out when it’s NOT music playing, even if I wanted to listen (like for a school closing or somesuch). I don’t think they’d ever work for me! 😉
I’m an audiobook FANATIC, but I tried Simply Audiobooks, and while they had a great selection, it would take a REALLLLLLLY long time for the next book to come by mail, making it not really worth the money.
Instead, I will both agree and disagree with your above posters, who mention libraries. I get dozens and dozens of audiobooks each year from my library…I make serious use of the interlibrary loan system. But, unfortunately, the free downloads in a lot of library systems use some kind of Microsoft-based format that simply does not allow you to download onto a Mac OR to iTunes OR to an iPod. Trust me; I’ve tried it EVERY POSSIBLE WAY, because that would truly be the answer to all my prayers.
Not that I’ve thought about this a lot or anything.
Hm. I wonder if my blind kiddo could use this? MP3 players are tough for kids who can’t see the controls.
My husband listens to audio books on his work commute, and we too use the inter-library loan a lot. His favorite reader EVER is Jim Dale, who has done all the Harry Potter books. We listened to the first book on a 12 hour drive to Texas this summer and never once pulled out the dvd player.