Audible offers a wide range of audio download services for consumers on their site. These include a catalog of over 23,000 audio books, magazines, radio programs and newspapers.
The basic principle of the site is that you can download their content and listen to it on your computer, MP3 player or on other mobile devices such as PDAs. You can even burn the stuff you download on to CD if that’s what you prefer.
The Audible catalog contains all kinds of content. You can, for example, download business titles, fiction, kids stuff, radio shows, self development titles, speeches and poetry and much much more. The company estimates that they can offer over 70,000 hours of audio downloads at any given time and they are constantly improving and updating their ranges.
Audible have really thought about how the site works for their users. They have created a specific content manager software program called AudibleManager – or, if you like, you can simply use iTunes and Windows Media Player instead so you have plenty of choice here. You can use the store to just buy the occasional download if you like with no longer term commitment – even the occasional shopper will benefit from a great discount compared to buying these audio titles elsewhere in most cases.
But, if you join their monthly AudibleListener plan then you can save even more money. There are two types of plan here.
- BasicListener - Here you pay a monthly fee and automatically receive one audio book and one magazine, radio show or newspaper a month.
- PremiumListener - Here you'll get two audio books a month for your money.
In order to meet their obligations to rights issues and conditions this site encodes its content as .aa (otherwise known as audible audio). So, you won’t find any of their downloads available in MP3 as this format is virtually impossible to rights protect. The .aa format is well protected and cannot be converted to MP3 unlike other kinds of audio format. This also means that downloads from the site can’t be passed on to other people.
This use of .aa also means that not all portable audio devices are compatible with the service. The site does list a wide variety of players that do work with the technology (and easy to use comprehensive guides to using them) so it’ll be worth while checking them out before you opt to sign up. You can, however, just opt to use the service on your PC or burn to CD as an alternative. If a player says that it is 'AudibleReady' then you shouldn’t have any problem here.
Do bear in mind that the downloads on offer here don’t include standard music tracks – this is a very targeted service and, if you want music tracks as well for your MP3 player, then you’ll also need to shop elsewhere for those.
One tip if you are interested in these kinds of downloads is to keep an eye on new title formats. When audio books are released the first version tends to be an abridged (i.e. short version). If you want a full version then it might pay you to wait a while before buying as the unabridged (i.e. full version) usually follows shortly afterwards. The catalog on site has a specific unabridged section so you can always check that out before you buy.
Also, keep an eye on the site for special offers. The site has recently offered a free iPod Shuffle if you subscribe for six months!
Find more info on legal music downloads at this page.