Audio Books – 10 Frequently Asked Questions – Part 1

My friends and colleagues consider me as the audio books expert. They tell their friends that they know an audio books expert and the outcome is that I keep getting dozens of audio books questions and inquiries each day. I have decided to gather the most frequently asked questions for everyone’s benefit.

Here are the top five frequently asked questions about audio books (and the answers of course):

1. Are there free audio books? How do I get them?

In one word: NO. In two words: Not exactly. Depends of the type of audio book you are looking for (downloadable audio book are cheaper than the other types), and the audio book title (new audio books cost more), you could find low cost audio books.

I believe that one should pay for each product or service he gets. Yet, you could find free audio books mostly by signing up for the free trials most of the online audio book services give you.

2. What is better – Audio books rental or audio books buying?

I personally prefer audio books rental. Mostly because of the price – I read a lot of audio books and it will simply cost too much to buy them all. However, audio books that I really like, Ones that I want to listen to time after time, I buy and keep them on my audio books library.

Yet, I have friends who are more possessive – they are not willing to rent audio books and they must hold a remarkable huge audio book library.

3. What do you suggest – downloadable audio books, audio books on CD or books on tape?

Well, that’s a tough question. Basically, I believe that the most worthy audio books format nowadays is downloadable audio books. You must own a media player (e.g. Ipod) to listen to it. Yet, it costs less than the others and has a better quality.

However, the widest collection of audio books could be found on the audio books on CD format. If you want to listen to old books you will find them only on CDs.
I do not recommend getting books on tape (also known as audio books on cassettes). They are expensive, low quality and not user friendly.

4. When can I read audio books?

The answer is – Anytime and anywhere. Here are a few examples: While cooking, cleaning the house, exercising, running, walking, driving, flying, before going to sleep, commuting, working etc.

5. Are audio books expensive?

Audio books are not expensive at all. In fact, Downloadable audio books are very cheap – they cost much
less than real books and renting them is the most worthy deal. Audio books on CD cost about the same as real books and books on tape are the most expensive ones.

Audio Book Rental Clubs Review – Getting Your Membership Started

Do you love books but somehow never have the time to sit down and read them? The introduction of audio book rental clubs means that there are no more excuses – you can listen to your favorite novel and still perform the other million necessities that are required in your busy life. There are many clubs to choose from so it is advised that before you jump in and sign up you should do your own mini book club review. Most clubs will provide you with a free section whereby you can listen to a novel and sample the style of audio that is on offer. After you have sampled the audios from a few different clubs your next logical step is to select the one that best suits your needs and sign up for a formal membership.

There are usually two types of audio book clubs; The first offers the option of choosing your preferred format and physically renting the ‘talking book’, or secondly you can listen to the download through the internet. You decide whether you wish to keep the book, or simply rent it for the set period of time (which is obviously the cheaper option). For the busy lifestyle that we lead today these clubs are fast becoming an invaluable resource. If you listen to a novel at least once a day then this is usually a good indicator that you are ready to take the plunge and join an audio book rental club.

Which One Is Right For You?

By understanding your literary needs, requirements and habits you will be better equipped to choose the audio book rental clubs that are right for you. Once you are armed with this information then seek out the club or clubs which best suit your needs. Over the past couple of years there has been an enormous amount of money spent on developing this industry and both the download and rental services have become indistinguishable from each other, with both services offering what the other offers.

The customers of the audio book rental clubs have, over time, become more discerning about the service that they require and would prefer to have the freedom of either renting books, or perhaps buying the download to add to a collection. When these clubs were originally formed there was a restriction of choosing one of the other, however, this is no longer the case. When choosing which club you are going to join it is important that you firstly consider how you view this style of book – are you looking to add to your collection or simply wanting a one-off rental.

The audio book clubs are the perfect choice if you wish to start a collection. If you’re always on the road or prefer to not collect things, then renting out would be your best option. Either service can give you the option to buy or rent so the next things that you need to take into consideration would be the regularity that you intend to listen to your books.

There are rental clubs that offer packages based on your listening habits. These plans tend to offer a degree of flexibility so you are not locked into a subscription that is no longer suitable for your needs. There are plans that even reward you if you rent or download more books than what is specified in your agreement. Great savings can be made with these rewards and are usually in the form of a rebate or a price reduction on future purchases.

Pricing should also be seriously considered when you are researching and performing your audio book clubs review. The price to rent an audio book is usually slightly cheaper than the download option and varies depending on which club you join. Take all these things into consideration before committing to a particular audio book rental club, that way you will be happy with your commitment and your listening experience will be much more enjoyable.

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Audio Books on CD – The Best Quality Available

By using digital technology to place audio books on CD, it brings the stories to life like never heard before. Audio books on tape are soon to be replaced by audio books on CD bringing a superior audio quality and improved durability. The CD format is used by publishers, retailers and rental clubs making it a favorable format for the industry.

Audio books on CD have two types of formats:

1. Regular CD compression which allows for approximately 80 minutes of audio recording time. But the time also depends on the audio file size of the audiobook. This is the most common type that everyone is use to as most computers have the appropriate CDR burners. With the regular compression, this means that multiple CD’s are needed for one audiobook recording.

2. MP3 CD compression takes the same audio file and compresses it down to a much smaller size. This allows for more audio recording time and less CD’s needed for an audiobook. Audio book rental clubs have less CD’s to ship and listeners can now listen to audio books on fewer CD’s. MP3 compression has become very popular with the creation of Apple iPod and the various MP3 players. Audio book MP3 CD’s are growing in popularity as a result of the players, therefore more audio book titles are available in this format.

This does not mean you should take your old audio books on tape and throw them out. No…

You can convert tapes to CD very easily, adding more titles to your audio book on CD library. Converting audio books on tape to CD’s improves the audio quality, allowing greater enjoyment on older audiobook titles.

Audio books on CD can be played on many components such as:

• Personal computers
• Automobile stereos
• Mini stereos
• Home stereos
• Portable CD players

Also, audio books on CD can be converted into MP3 file formats with a computer then transferred onto an MP3 player. This allows greater versatility of audio books on CD which is a benefit for you the listener. Audio books on CD are a great choice for all listeners due to the superior audio book quality, large title selection and simple operating devices.

Audio books on CD have become a regular part of our lives and we recommended them as one of your primary audio book formats.

Audio Book Rental Services – A Great Facility For the Commuter

No matter if you are facing a long road trip with squirming children, a long and boring commute on a daily basis, or some other situation when you know you will be “stuck” in waiting mode of some kind, then there is no doubt that having access to an interesting and entertaining audio book or two can help make the time go by more pleasantly. In this day of all things internet, it should come as no surprise that there are many websites that provide audio book rental memberships. These membership sites give you access to a huge and always growing collection of all kinds of them on CD or MP3 format versions that you can download.

There are quite a variety of rental services to be found online. Some of these rental services charge a fee each month, while others have an annual fee that you must pay in order to become a member and have access to their audio books on CD or their downloads, depending on your preference.

Audio book rental services have a huge library of titles that you can choose from and generally work in a similar fashion to Netflix, which introduced DVD rentals online. One you purchase a membership to the rental service you will log in and make a list of the titles that you want to listen to and then indicate the order you would like to receive them in.

Next, the rental service will send the titles that are highest on your priority list if they are available at that time. If you choose a new audio book release that is very popular, then you might not receive it right away even if it is in the first position of chosen audio books on your list. For your first shipment, you will receive the audio books that are highest on your list if they are in stock at the time you set up your account.

When you receive your audio book titles from the rental service, you will also have a postage paid return envelop for each of the audio books so that you can send them back individually, as you are finished with each one. As soon as you send one back, another one will be sent out to you from the audio books on your list. In this way, you will always have at least one audio book on hand to listen to while others are being returned, processed, and while new audio book selections are being sent out to you.

Most of these companies have different subscription levels that you can choose from that will allow you to have anywhere from one audio book to four audio books rented at any one time. The fewer audio books you have at a time, the lower your monthly or yearly fee will be.

While the cheapest way to go is to only have one audio book rental at a time, most people prefer to have a subscription that allows them to have at least two audio books available to them. This allows them to have one book rental that they can listen to while the other one is being returned.

For people who travel a great deal, or spend a lot of time commuting, or for families, the plans that allow four, or even more audio book rental titles to be rented at a time can make more sense. Some companies allow you to change your plan from month to month; therefore, if you want some extra books to take on a long vacation you can do that and then switch to a lower plan when you return from vacation.