Audible.com, now that’s more like it

Audible.com recently sent me an email solicitation trying to get me to come back to them (I used their service a long time ago). I was a little hesitant to try another audiobook service due to my recent sour experience with Simply Audiobooks but decided in the name of research, I would give Audible.com a try.

Ok, ok, it also was a great deal (50% off for the first three months plus a $25 gift coupon after signing up) and I was eager to try out a new business book a colleague recommended to me today.

Unlike Simply Audiobooks, Audible.com has a fantastic selection. It took me only seconds to use the search box to find Blue Ocean Strategy, the audiobook I was looking for. It was equally as simple to add the audiobook to my cart and to complete the transaction using my first month’s download credit.

caution all noobies

I did stumble a bit however when it came to downloading the audiobook. This is how Audible.com is different than Simply Audiobooks. Audible.com lets you download audiobooks instead of renting them by mail. What’s nice about Audible.com is that you can choose how you want to listen to your downloaded audiobooks–and the choices are plentiful: burn to CD, listen on your iPod, listen on another MP3 player, listen in Windows Media Player and more.

The catch is that you have to first download the correct version of the free Audible Download Manager. After figuring this out, I downloaded and installed the version for my iPhone. I was then able to quickly get back to my library of audiobooks and start the download process.

When my audiobook was done downloading it automatically transferred the audiobook to iTunes so it would be ready to sync with my iPhone the next time I connected my iPhone to my computer.

Although the entire process could be a little cumbersome for some of the nooest noobies, I still would have to recommend Audible.com for its instant download gratification and better selection.

That’s all for now. I’m off to listen to my new audiobook.