Audiobooks Buy or Rent? Service Comparisons

Steel's EdgeAs a person who frequently re-listens to audiobooks, I need to own them but finding the fourth book in Ilona Andrews’ The Edge series, Steel’s Edge, available in audio at Audiobooks.com (and only at Audiobooks.com as of 4/29/2013) had me venturing into “rent a download” territory for the first time.

Granted it is a risk free venture with the first audiobook download being free for a seven day trial once you’re signed up.

Considering the fact that for each relistener there is another who rarely, if ever, relistens to the same book, I can see benefiting from this Netflix approach to audiobooks – pay a small monthly fee for one or two listens a month or pay a higher fee and listen to as many books as you’d like each month with the option to unsubscribe at anytime. A downside to this service – especially for a romance audio lover – is the relatively small selection of audiobooks. The selection is expanding quickly and it seems they have an inside track with early Recorded Books releases. As an example, two new romance titles added this week that have yet to be mentioned at Amazon or Audible, Lisa Wingate’s Firefly Island and Robyn Carr’s Down By the River, add to the reasons to keep an eye out for this service.

While exploring this new-to-me avenue of obtaining a listen, I saw this comparison study of different audiobook services – services that offer listeners the choice to buy, rent hard copies via the mail, or download with limited to unlimited options. It’s something we thought other audiobook fans would be interested in too. From TopTenREVIEWS:

 

2013 Best Audiobook Service Reviews and Comparisons

The criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate the seven different audiobook services is…

  • Audiobook Services: What to Look For

Audiobook companies and their websites should reflect similar qualities that you would expect if you entered a bookstore. Namely, good customer service, their inventory should be organized and you should be able to find quality books that interest you. And of course, good prices.

  • Features Set

Some services rent audio books, some sell audio books, and some do both. Every audiobook service should include book reviews, audio samples, and an all–inclusive search box.

  • Categories

The top audiobook services have many diverse categories of audiobooks so anyone can find a book on a topic they enjoy.

  • Value

When you purchase any service or product, value is important. Audiobook services should offer many titles and have affordable purchasing or rental plans.

  • Ease of Setup/Use

The best audio book websites are uncluttered, appealing, and easy to navigate. They should also have a simple, straightforward membership registration process, software download process (if applicable), and search function.

  • Help/Support

Audio book services should provide adequate help and support so their patrons will feel confident they can find answers to their questions while on the website and purchasing or renting audiobooks and club memberships.

 

A few of the details in this comparison have changed already (pricing for one). In looking deeper, I see that Simply Audiobooks and Audiobooks.com are two arms of the same company and share the App that enables you to listen to their books on your iPod or android device. Regardless, it’s interesting to see the options that are opening up for the dedicated audiobook fan.

Brenda

6 thoughts on “Audiobooks Buy or Rent? Service Comparisons

  1. Thank you for bringing all of this to our attention, Brenda. I hope that Steel’s Edge is made available to buy. I frequently relisten to my favorite audios, and Ilona Andrews’ books are among those. If this book remains as a rental only, how does the author make any money from the audiobook?

    I read on the Audiobooks.com website that if you go with the unlimited plan, then the selection of audiobooks decreases from the number of books you can choose if you only get 1 or 2 a month. And is this strictly a streaming service or do you download the books? I wasn’t quite sure after reading through their website. My internet is so come-and-go especially during bad weather that I would probably lose the stream too often.

    I tried Booksfree at a discounted rate for a month and rented several audiobooks. That works well for certain ones, but the majority I want to go ahead and buy so I’ll always have them.

  2. Good question Angie – the author desires the largest distribution possible and you’d think the publisher would to?

    You can download the rental audiobooks for off line listening with their free App installed on your iPhone / iPad. There’s also an App for android devices.

    Listening on your computer is where you would be limited to streaming as you can’t download an offline copy to the computer.

    I wouldn’t be happy to have my selection cut back if I was willing to pay for the unlimited program – sounds like they’d keep the best or the newest titles to the more expensive one or two book a month plans doesn’t it?

    I cancelled my trial membership easily yesterday and the copy of Steel’s Edge I downloaded to both my iPhone and iPad is still working / playing with their App. Maybe it will expire in so many days like a library book does?

    In the meantime I’m very pleased with their service at this point. I’ll keep a watch on their romance selection to weigh out whether I want to be a regular subscriber in future but in the end I’m like you – I want to own my favorites!

  3. I was looking for an audiobook rental service in the UK a while back, and sadly there aren’t many. In fact, I think I only found one, at Audiobooks Online which charges £12.99 per month for one item as opposed to Audible’s £7.99 per month. It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? And that service uses CDs rather than downloads.

    If someone over here were to launch a rental service, I’d certainly consider it, but they’d have to undercut Audible AND have a pretty big selection of titles to make it worth while.

    1. I agree, I’m not going to pay more to rent a book than what it would cost to buy it – even if I never listened to it again.

      The biggest appeal to me would be access to audiobooks I couldn’t get anywhere else. I also like the fact that you can join without a time commitment so I could come and go depending on the selection found at any given time.

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