Tuesday, March 3

Audible Affection

You know, I almost titled this post "I *heart* Audible" and then I remembered that saccarine makes me queasy. I am, however, really fond of Audible.com.

I love books and I love crochet. With audio books, I can have the best of both worlds. Audio books also provide distraction from mind numbing but necessary chores. When the whole iPod rage first started, I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. I mean, I like music but I don't feel the compulsion to be plugged in 24/7. Then I discovered that audible content wasn't just about music. It was possible to download books, too! Now, I've been a fan of audio books for a long time and I've cheered on the revolution that took what was basically an assist for the deaf and turned into an assett for the average person. What used to be a small shelf in the bookstore has become a staple of publication. All the latest and greatest bestsellers come out in audio format. Taking it another step and allowing people to purchase downloadable content is, well, comparable to the invention of the wheel. Sure, you could technically move things from one place to the other before ... but now it's really portable.

So, I like MP3 and other format players, and I like audiobooks, and it follows that I like vendors who bring them together. My favorite? Audible.com. The array of content available on their site boggles the mind. But their customer service is the real reason I stick with them.

I got this email the other day which was a promotional deal. Anyone can purchase audio content from Audible.com, but members get special offers and certain perks. I dont' want to bore you with the details; suffice it to say that I contacted Audible.com because I thought something about the email was confusing. I wasn't complaining, my intent was to point out an issue that they might want to fix in the future. For my efforts I was rewarded with the equivalent of a $25 coupon to my account.

Now that's a company that wants to keep their customers happy. Is there any question why I'm so loyal to them?

6 comments:

The Merry said...

Not to disparage Audible, but have you tried the library? You can download books such as Don't Look Down and listen to them for a couple weeks free of charge.

Can't play them on iTunes, alas, but still...

upendin - where the dyslexic ends up

McB said...

I've gotten CDs and ripped them so I can play them on my iPod. I've got a copy of NR's Tribute, in fact. And I've looked at the Playaways available at the library, but so far there haven't been any I'm interested in. But the downloads I can only listen to from my pc, which is not so portable. I've toyed with getting another mp3 player just for the free downloads but that doesn't seem cost effective, to me.

The upside of purchasing them is that I have them forever and can listen at will. They're in my Audible library forever, and can be redownloaded if my PC fries. These are ones I know I'll be relistening too.

It's the same theory as buying certain authors because I know I'll reread them, as opposed to getting other only from the library. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to Going Postal and Making Money. They never get old. And I've got a few Dorothy Sayers and nearly all the Ellis Peters' Cadfael mysteries now, as well as the Night Watch series.

The Merry said...

Another nice thing is that it's harder to lose audio books. I'm missing half the cassettes in my copy of Night Watch. Very frustrating.

Another possible quote for your collection: "Anybody here planning to overthrough the government by force? Or by crotchet?"

rownsi - term for the visual blurring caused by trying to see when you're being spun around and around on a carousel

The Merry said...

Good lord. I've been attacking by a MisSpylling virus. Can't even spell overthrow.

ungerog - I'm going back to caveman language. This makes me feel totally ungerog

Anonymous said...

That's a good one! I'm still such on "a dingaling so big he'd been upgraded to a clang a lang."

The Merry said...

I vote a quote from each book!
Name the book:
"Build a man a fire, and you'll keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

colopet - A pet that hails from Denver, where it doesn't hail all that often.