In August, we ran a poll asking you how you listened. We were curious as things change so quickly in the audiobook market and we were sensing that the number of listeners choosing MP3 players and downloads over CD players and MP3/CDs was sharply on the rise. Downloads don’t seem to be the challenge to listeners that they were merely two years ago.
Libraries are providing a wider selection of titles these days as well as the option of downloads. Borrowing from the library remains a source of audiobooks for a good percentage of listeners and the poll results verify just that.
Knowing the results of this poll certainly satisfies our curiosity but even more importantly, it gives us a direction for our Gal Tech articles, indicates to us the formats we need to include in our giveaways, and helps us plan future articles such as selection of devices or a guide to library downloads.
Our poll consisted of the following four questions with multiple-choice answers:
What device do you use for the majority of your audiobook listening?
– A dedicated MP3 player
– My phone
– A CD player
– My computer
62% of our participants use a dedicated MP3 player for their listening the majority of the time while 26% use their phone and 8% their computer. CD players seem to be more and more a thing of the past with only 3% utilizing such for their listening.
What is your preferred format for listening?
– Downloads
– MP3 CDs
– CDs
It’s clear that the ease of downloads as well as their growing affordability is convincing listeners to look their way. 87% of our participants prefer downloads for their listening. The remaining 13% were equally divided between MP3 CDs and CDs.
Do you purchase, borrow or rent most of your audiobooks?
– Buy
– Rent
– Borrow – library or friends
Demonstrating that the library is still a go-to place for obtaining audiobooks, 23% of our listeners borrow the majority of their audios from the library. Although there is the rare audiobook rental program out there, none chose it. That leaves 77% of our participants buying their audiobooks – once again a testimony to their growing affordability.
If you purchase your audiobooks, where do you buy most of your titles?
– Audible downloads
– Hard copies from stores online
– Hard copies from local retailer
– Downloads from online retailers other than Audible
– Directly from publisher – downloads or hard copies
Most of the participants who depend on their library for their audiobooks answered this question as well for the times that they do buy. And they agree with those who buy first. A whopping 92% of our participants turn to Audible for the majority of their buying. 5% buy hard copies from online retailers while 2% buy downloads from online retailers other than Audible.
Our thanks to all who participated!
Lea Hensley
1. MP3 player
2. MP3 CDs
3. Buy
4. Hard copies from stores online
corrected email address
I listen on my iPod, and use Audible UK and iTunes to get titles. However, I love Pamela Clare and Julie James’ audiobooks (and love Kaleo Griffith and Karen White as narrators), but Audible UK doesn’t sell their titles, so I have to pay a sometimes extortionate amount to get the cds via Amazon.
I also enjoy Suzanne Brockmann (and Patrick Lawlor) on audio, and have just contacted Brilliance Audio to beg them to make their cds iPod-ready, as a Brockmann audiobook typically has a lot of cds (I’m currently importing 16 cds of Born to Darkness), and I usually have to import them at least twice, as for whatever reason, some tracks get skipped the first time round. It’s bad enough to have to spend the time doing that, without having to enter all the cd info every time too! Will check out your tutorials to see if I can remedy any of this. :)
And then, of course, there’s the matter of being able to find your place again, if the cd doesn’t have handy bookmarks. My phone is filled with memos of track numbers I need to find to pick up stories again! Surely there must be a way for audiobook publishers to make things easier for us!
Antonia several of the Gal Tech Tutorials could help you smooth out your CD importing process but Audiobook Auto Resume on iPod will show you how to ensure auto bookmarking with your own CD’s.
I don’t even want to think about what a nightmare it would be trying to keep track without automatic bookmarks! :)
Thanks, Brenda! :) I will do that in future!
The Brockmann book is one of the few that have completely defeated me, after four attempts over several hours, to import the whole thing into a single album that will play properly. No matter how many times I put consistent cd info in and re-import, it keeps leaving things out, and putting the files all over the place. Looks like this one is going to have to be for the car stereo, not the iPod!
I have to say, Tantor audio cds are much easier to import than Brilliance Audio ones. I just wish they’d sort out the international copyright, or whatever it is that’s holding them back from making these titles available on Audible UK.
Thank you for your response, I appreciate it! :D
Antonia, I have found that importing anything other than an iTunes or Audible download directly into iTunes can be miserable! I’m not sure what your computer operating system is. On my Mac, I use a program called ChapterMark which creates an iTunes-ready file that it automatically places in the Audiobook category of iTunes when it’s finished processing. Also for Mac is Audiobook Builder, which works the same but started giving me trouble on audiobooks longer than 10 hours. I tested a program on Windows 7 called Chapter and Verse which works very much like ChapterMark, including adding the file to iTunes. Brenda’s tutorials are excellent and very detailed for getting the iTunes files to work properly, but I find it easier to let other software create the iTunes files first when dealing with CDs and downloads that aren’t Audible. By the way, I am an AudioGal but we don’t profit from any of the programs, I’m just sharing. :)
good luck!
Oh, wow! Thank you so much, Melinda! I really appreciate your advice (and Brenda’s!). I’m running Windows 7, and will definitely have a go with Chapter and Verse, especially as I’m looking forward to the arrival of Pamela Clare and Kaleo Griffith’s new production, ‘Striking Distance’ – so that will be a good test! Many thanks for taking the time to share that info, that’s very kind of you. :)