Audiobooks and Audible

NOTE: I am not affiliated with Audible in any way. I just like the service.

I promised to share some of my thoughts on Audible, so here they are:

Last week I wrote that Audible has become my new best friend, and it’s true. I love the fact that I can listen to a book during my commute, which turns all of that time sitting in traffic into useful time.

This alone is enough to have me singing the praises of audiobooks.

For a long time before now though, I’ve been on the fence about whether I like audiobooks or not. I felt that there are too many added factors that can affect the way I experience a story when listening to it, rather than reading in written form.

First and foremost among these is the voice of the narrator. Regardless of whether I think a narrator’s voice suits a certain character, story, genre, or author’s voice, the fact still remains that the voice you hear is different than the one (or ones) you’d hear in your head when reading. As someone who’s done a fair amount of reading, I feel qualified to say that Your own personal voice plays a significant role in how you perceive the work as a whole. Hearing someone else read for you is quite different if you’re not used to it.

There’s also a difference between navigating through a text vs. an audiobook. If you  want to re-read a sentence, it’s pretty easy to do in text form. However, skipping around an audio file can be inconvenient. Audible has a feature that allows the listener to skip back 30 seconds, but even that can be a pain.

Still, I think the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks of audiobooks.

One might ask, “Why is Audible better than listening to books that I’ve bought individually?” I shall tell you.

Audible makes a surprising number of titles available across a wide variety of genres. Having a library like that all in one place is extremely convenient. If I find myself without a book somewhere, I can browse through the library and download a new book to my phone on the spot, then begin listening right away.

Audible is also comparatively affordable, especially if you listen to a lot of audiobooks. With one book per month included in the cost of membership ($14.95), and Audible’s new lending program for Audible Originals, you could theoretically listen as much as you’d like without paying more than the monthly subscription fee.

It’s also worth mentioning that the books you buy remain yours even if you cancel your subscription, so you’ll still be able to listen to them if you decide Audible isn’t for you.

With all things considered, audiobooks are a much better option than listening to the same six songs on the radio over and over again over the course of your commute. Anyone else agree? Feel free to chime in in the comments.