# Does Audible just suck or am I doing it wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708 "2019-01-13T23:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/21 "2019-01-14T14:33:19Z")
I’m amazed people end up with unused credits. The only time I’ve rolled any over was when I bought extra credits a month before my annual renewal because they were inexpensive. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/22 "2019-01-14T15:01:52Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Your library may have the option to download audiobooks for whatever their borrowing window is. That’s what I came in to say. Most decent public library systems subscribe to an electronic platform like OverDrive or 3M’s Cloud Library. I’ve been favorably impressed with their selection of e-books and audio books. Typically you can borrow them for 2 or 3 weeks at a time. After that you can renew them, or join the waiting list to renew if there is one. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/23 "2019-01-14T15:20:00Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > You can only acquire six credits at a time, and I was frequently brushing up against that maximum, and I think I lost credits sometimes. What I eventually did was use all six of the credits I had saved up to buy six books, then canceled the subscription. Same here. Although then it threatened to remove my remaining credits once I cancelled so I wound up buying a couple books I only had middling interest in. I still haven’t gotten through my library although I tend to rotate my commuter listening between music, podcasts and books. > [@minor7flat5](#): > > Be careful when buying books narrated by the author: the Venn diagram of authoring skills and narrating skills doesn’t overlap completely, but then again, the author will be removing editorial impacts of someone else and you will hopefully hear what the author really intended. Conversely, I’m also slightly annoyed when there’s a book by an actor, comedian, news reporter or other person who deals in the spoken word and they don’t narrate their own book. Especially if it’s their life story and reflections and I’m listening to a voice I know is “wrong” for whose story it is. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/24 "2019-01-14T15:38:20Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Conversely, I’m also slightly annoyed when there’s a book by an actor, comedian, news reporter or other person who deals in the spoken word and they don’t narrate their own book. Especially if it’s their life story and reflections and I’m listening to a voice I know is “wrong” for whose story it is. Yeah, they should’ve gotten Benjamin Franklin to narrate his own autobiography, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/25 "2019-01-14T15:39:14Z")
I found Audible to be way too expensive. For the last couple of years, I’ve been using OverDrive. It’s an app that goes through whatever library you use. I have a library card because I take my grandkids to the bookmobile. I can listen to all the books I can handle free of charge. I listen to books while I walk and when I’m in the car (haven’t listened to the radio in ages). I go through at least 3 per month. You can also download books to read. All free of charge! My only complaints are: Not every book is available as an audible book - but so far I haven’t run out of options. The app is kind of clunky at first. It took me a while to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/26 "2019-01-14T15:44:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, they should’ve gotten Benjamin Franklin to narrate his own autobiography, dammit! Put the “Say” back in “Seance”! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/27 "2019-01-14T15:53:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Is this the quality I should expect? Half the readers are shit? Some readers are fantastic; some are good; some are merely adequate; and some are IMHO unlistenable. Before buying an audiobook (from Audible or anywhere else!), it would behoove you to listen to a couple of minutes of the sample and to look at the customer reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/28 "2019-01-14T18:20:17Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Not every book is available as an audible book Which reminds me, the book that motivated my wife to take the plunge was Stephen Fry’s _Mythos_, but once we subscribed, we discovered that the audiobook of _Mythos_ has been withdrawn from all platforms (at least in the United States). She was super-disappointed, but I tried to explain to her that it must have been the publisher’s decision. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/29 "2019-01-14T19:27:51Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I found Audible to be way too expensive. For the last couple of years, I’ve been using OverDrive. It’s an app that goes through whatever library you use. I have a library card because I take my grandkids to the bookmobile. I can listen to all the books I can handle free of charge. I listen to books while I walk and when I’m in the car (haven’t listened to the radio in ages). I go through at least 3 per month. You can also download books to read. All free of charge! My only complaints are: > > Not every book is available as an audible book - but so far I haven’t run out of options. > The app is kind of clunky at first. It took me a while to figure it out. Came in here to recommend Overdrive (there’s also a couple similar or rebranded services out there; best bet might be to ask your library what they support / use). I don’t listen to audiobooks enough for Audible to make sense economically, but Overdrive is a cool service. I’ll also mention that Amazon (aka Audible) DOES have a subscription streaming service, but it’s part of their Kindle Unlimited e-book service. They call it “Books with Narration in Kindle Unlimited” which is a horrible mouthful, but boils down to all-you-can-eat audiobooks from a limited library. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/30 "2019-01-14T23:16:27Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I do not get why no one has pushed out a Netflix model. Looks like [Scribd](https://www.scribd.com/) has audiobooks, ebooks, e-magazines, etc. for $9/month. I’m sure they have less selection than Audible, but still might be enough. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/31 "2019-01-14T23:27:38Z")
Going through the recent purchases in my Audible library, it looks like Scribd has maybe half of what I’ve bought. For nine bucks a month, that’s not bad. The next time I put my Audible account on hold, I might pick up a Scribd subscription for a while and see what they’ve got. I did notice some books that I was sort of interested in but didn’t feel like spending a credit on. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/32 "2019-01-15T21:29:21Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Your library may have the option to download audiobooks for whatever their borrowing window is. Seconded. Now, our local library system doesn’t have the greatest selection, but I can join several neighboring systems which improves the choices a bit. But yeah, as everyone else has said, Audible’s standard plan (“gold”) basically has you buying one credit a month. This also gives you some discounts that someone coming in without a membership doesn’t get - e.g. if you pay cash for an extra book, you get some small discount, and they have periodic sales. If you do cancel, be careful and use up all your credits; books you’ve bought using credits go away, but unspent credits DO go away. I drop and resubscribe periodically. You’ll find they occasionally have sales on the membership (like on Amazon Prime day) where it’s half price for 3 months or similar. I’ll usually go for a few months, then unsubscribe until I see another special. They do have at least one plan where you pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to a specific genre (romance). I don’t do romance audiobooks for the most part, so I’ve never bothered. Another thing to be aware of: if you’re buying a book priced less than 14.95, pay cash vs using a credit. It’s easy to use a credit by mistake in that scenario. Fortunately the one time I did, they backed it right out when I contacted them. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/33 "2019-01-15T21:50:25Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > If you do cancel, be careful and use up all your credits; books you’ve bought using credits go away, but unspent credits DO go away. I assume you meant to say “books you’ve bought using credits **don’t** go away”? > [@](#): > > Another thing to be aware of: if you’re buying a book priced less than 14.95, pay cash vs using a credit. It’s easy to use a credit by mistake in that scenario. Fortunately the one time I did, they backed it right out when I contacted them. Also, occasionally it is cheaper to buy a Kindle book and then add the Audible book than to buy the Audible book first. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/34 "2019-01-15T22:00:01Z")
> [@](#): > > if you’re buying a book priced less than 14.95 Price point depends on your membership type. It’s $9.56 if you’ve got a 24 credit a year plan. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/35 "2019-01-15T22:10:27Z")
I looked up the Scribd sci-fi audio book section, if anyone is interested. I’m not seeing anything that jumps out at me, but looks like they do have a cool service that’s an alternative to Audible. Here is the link for anyone interested: [https://www.scribd.com/audiobooks/Fiction/Science-Fiction-Fantasy](https://www.scribd.com/audiobooks/Fiction/Science-Fiction-Fantasy) For my part, I have such a large investment in Audible at this point with a library of hundreds of books that it probably wouldn’t be worth it to me to switch, unless I see something that I can’t get on Audible that I really, really want to listen too. But for the OP I’m thinking this might be what they are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/36 "2019-01-15T22:21:05Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Looks like [Scribd](https://www.scribd.com/) has audiobooks, ebooks, e-magazines, etc. for $9/month. I’m sure they have less selection than Audible, but still might be enough. There’s also [LibriVox](https://librivox.org/). It’s free, and it’s a huge collection of volunteer-recorded public domain works. The quality of the reading is spotty at best, but it’s definitely a “you get what you pay for” situation. Primarily in English, but there are some foreign language titles in there if you’re into that kind of thing. A good resource to supplement and/or expand an audiobook collection for free. And if you don’t like a book or a reader, it cost you nothing! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/37 "2019-01-17T18:41:23Z")
My library has 73 audiobooks currently available. Seven of them have James Patterson’s name on the cover, three are by Lee Child, Faye Kellerman, John Grisham and Lisa Scottoline all have multiple titles on the list. That pretty much describes their entire oeuvre. Without Audible I’d have diddly for audiobooks. The narrator does make a difference, for example I bought the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle narrated by Stephen Fry. That man was born to read Sherlock Holmes stories. Plus, nearly 63 hours of listening for a single credit! What a bargain. I have to disagree with the criticism of the two free Audible originals. I’ve listened to Stephen Fry’s _Victorian Secrets_, _Twain’s Feast_ read by Nick Offerman, _Hi, Bob_ with Bob Newhart, a true crime story called _West Cork_, _No Land’s Man_ by Aasif Mandvi and several more and all were pretty darn good. They also sell additional credits for less than the list price of $14.95. You can buy three credits for around $12 each if you’re down to one or fewer credits. That, plus the occasional two for one sales, the deals of the day that run less than $5.00 each means my books keep piling up. I certainly get my money’s worth out of my membership. I only listen to audiobooks while I’m walking, but I walk around 50 hours a month, so I go through quite a few. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/38 "2019-01-17T19:02:34Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I only listen to audiobooks while I’m walking, but I walk around 50 hours a month, so I go through quite a few. I don’t do that much walking, but I do more than I would if it weren’t for audiobooks. Thanks for keeping me healthy, Audible! ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/39 "2019-01-17T19:08:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t do that much walking, but I do more than I would if it weren’t for audiobooks. Thanks for keeping me healthy, Audible! I’ve discovered its the perfect accompaniment to knitting. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708/40 "2019-01-17T20:48:58Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > … > The narrator does make a difference, for example I bought the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle narrated by Stephen Fry. That man was born to read Sherlock Holmes stories. … Preach it. I got Redshirts a while back. Great story. Narrated by Wil Wheaton. Sorry, Wesley, your audiobook narration SUCKS. No voice differentiation between characters whatsoever (though in the few scenes where “acting” was involved he did a fantastic job, e.g. a drunken character). That one wasn’t helped by the fact that the characters didn’t have names good for audiobooks, e.g. Duvall and Dahl… between the name and the voice being the same, I had a hard time telling who was speaking. There are narrators I look out for and will buy books just because they read them - Barbara Rosenblat is one. Some of the “read by the author” ones are OK, some are awful. Neil Gaiman does a decent job, as does Yahtzee Croshaw (“Will Save The Galaxy For Food” is a hoot and a half). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-audible-just-suck-or-am-i-doing-it-wrong/827708.md?page=3)