Amazon Audible

Factual Questions
1

I’m thinking of joining Audible but I have a couple of questions before I do.

  1. When you purchase an audiobook from Audible, can you listen to it on all your devices?

  2. If you can listen to it on all your devices, am I right in assuming that they’d all be synch’d (so, for example, if I were listening on my desktop but switched to my cell phone, it would automatically pick up at the right time/page)?

Maybe I should just ask if the Audible audiobook is downloaded to me or do I access it through a web page?

Thanks!

2

The answer to both your questions is yes.

I only listen on my phone, but sometimes I also buy the book for my kindle and the app will sync the printed book to the same location where I left off on audio book, and vice versa. This works seamlessly 99% of the time.

You can go to audible.com on your phone or computer and order/buy the book from either device. Then you download it to each device separately. Just like with an ebook. Buying it and downloading it are two different steps.

I’m so used to doing it, I may not have answered clearly. So ask me if I’ve left something out.

3

While I prefer meatspace books, I listen to 25-50 Audible books a year. As a company they’re pretty easy to work with.

4

Be sure and listen to a sample before you buy. The reader makes ALL the difference. The listener reviews on audible.com will comment on the narrator, so read those.

As with kindle books, you can return for a refund within some window of time. Go to Amazon and under your account, look for “your content and devices,” and there’s an option to return.

5

Syncs well with Alexa too.

6

Explain how you do that? Do you just say, "Alexa, open War & Peace, (which you’ve been reading or listening to on your phone) and she will start to read where you left off? I often play an audiobook when I’m falling asleep, but the app on your phone has a countdown timer-- so, for example, I set the book to play for 45 minutes. Can you set a timer with Alexa? (I’m talking about an Echo device, not Alexa on the phone or kindle.)

7

Gosh, it’s been a while. I think all I have to say is “Alexa, continue reading” I think one time I set it off by saying “Alexa, tell me a story” and that was enough to continue reading. Although that’s not what I was trying to get her to do. I was wanting her to tell me one of her short stories.

8

You can listen on all your devices, but AFAIK you do have to download the book to those devices (as opposed to streaming).

And this means that you can listen while your device is offline (e.g. a phone in airplane mode), but of course it won’t sync while you’re offline.

9

You can stream if you’re in a WiFi zone (preferably a reliable one, like at home), but it’s best to download. I have started listening to an audiobook and walked out of the house and it stopped when I got out of range.

10

Appreciate all your responses, thanks.

I just may give it a try . . .

11

You can cancel at any time.

If you have Bluetooth in your car, you can pair with your phone and play audible stuff through your car’s radio speakers. Good for long-ish drives/commutes.

12

Afterthought: you really can cancel at any time. It’s not like the old time Columbia Record Club, which seemed to quickly turn into the multiplying broom scene in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice segment in Fantasia.

13

And you keep the right to access your past purchases if you cancel. Your membership buys credits that are vouchers that you use to buy books.

Since last year membership also gives you access (without using your credits) to an additional library of books that you do not own, you would lose this access if you cancelled membership.

I hope Audible doesn’t try to move toward the Music model where you never own anything. I kind of like owning my own “library”, even if its virtual.