Is an Audible subscription worth it?

[Crystal Eitle]

I keep getting offers from Audible.com in my inbox and they're starting to look pretty tempting. I notice that for $14.95 a month I can have one periodical subscription plus one audiobook per month. I'd like to hear from people who subscribe to Audible. Do you like using it? Do you feel like you're getting your money's worth? And what periodical would you recommend? (I'm thinking of getting This American Life, the New York Times, or Morning Edition).

I live close enough to work that I can walk if I like, but the half-hour walk gets boring (even listening to music). I could see myself walking a lot more often if I were listening to an audiobook. I've never done the audiobook thing before, though, so I do wonder if it's an enjoyable "reading" experience.

And also, to fit a subscription to Audible into my budget, I'd have to cancel my Rhapsody subscription....

[Sunnyone]

I have a subscription. I find my listening habits go up and down. I listen a bunch or hardly at all. Once-in-a-while I've forgotten to choose and download my content for the month. :? When I subscribed (quite a while ago) you were allowed 2 selections of any kind and I've yet to choose a periodical. I find I use it most when exercising, commuting or when cleaning up around the house. The price for content is a lot more reasonable with a subscription than without, that's for sure! As for how I like listening to the content, I like it a lot.

[Crystal Eitle]

or when cleaning up around the house.
Ooh, I didn't even think of that! This could make housework way more tolerable. I like to keep my mind busy all the time, but sometimes I get worn out listening to NPR 'cause it's too depressing. If I could listen to a novel or a book on history or science and get stuff done at the same time, that would be super-cool.

[racerx]

I had a subscription for a while when I had a 90 minute commute. I listened to the Wall Street Journal on the way in and the other books on the way home. I found that the unabridged titles were best for me. There are many titles over 12+ hours long.
Even now, I listen to books while doing yardwork or working out. My listening ebbs & flows too, but I find it a nice change from MP3s.

[csterns]

I've been a subscriber for a couple of years at $29.95/mo. That's 5 books or whatever per month. The value far exceeds the real cost. Pick out 5 books and see what it cost. $29.95 is real cheap in comparsion. I have quite a collection of books filed away.

By the way, it's the only way I get any books read. Printed books tend to make me sleepy and they're tough to read if you are driving, running or doing anything physical. I love the concept and they are very entertaining.

[bigkingfun]

I've been a subscriber for a couple of years now. I really like the system, but there are a couple of things I'm not crazy about. First, like someone else mentioned, I do tend to forget to download my selections every once in a while. It would be nice if they sent a reminder email a week or so before the rollover date. I'm also not crazy about their software player. If you have the desktop software running on your PC, the PPC player starts itself up automatically every time you cradle your PPC. It's not a big deal, but I just find it annoying.

I've also had a lot of issues with activations. They will only allow a certain number of devices to be activated on your account. I tend to change my PPC every six months or so, not to mention hard resets that require me to reactivate, so I've had problems activating my PPC a few times. An email or phone call has always fixed it, but it's a pain having to wait for a response before I can use the player again.

In spite of the few problems I've had, I would still recommend the service.

[mandream]

I've been considering subscribing for awhile myself.

I'm a big audiobook listener. I always listen to a book on my way to and from work - about 45 minutes each way. I definitely prefer unabridged books - in fact, I won't even listen to abridged books anymore. They just seem way to short and I feel like I'm missing far too much.

I haven't subscribed yet since I get a practically endless supply of books from my local library for free. Ok, I don't own them and they're on cassette, but I go through about 4 per month.

Mike

[Crystal Eitle]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I just got some EXCELLENT customer service from Audible.

When you sign up, you get a choice of free gift. You can get a free audiobook or a free Otis audio player. Well, since my Pocket PC can play audio, I decided to get a free book.

But then I remembered that my iPaq 1910 only gets about four hours of use per charge. What if I was on a long plane ride and I wanted more listening time? I read some reviews of the Otis which mentioned that it gets 10 hours of battery life and is small and light. I wanted an Otis, but I had already chosen an audiobook as my free gift.

So I contacted Audible's customer service and explained that I had changed my mind. This was Saturday night. This morning I had an email in my in-box. They've canceled my initial membership, signed me up again for free, and are sending me the Otis audio player. I had already downloaded my free audiobook (Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris), as well as my book selection & periodical for the month. Now that they've set me up for a new subscription, this means I get to choose another audiobook and periodical for this month without paying! 8O

So for once, my indecisiveness has been a benefit for me and not a problem. I wouldn't recommend that other people do what I did; no sense trying to cheat the system. But I was pleasantly surprised that Audible chose to handle my request the way they did, and quickly, too.

Way to go, Audible!