Comments on: Barnes & Noble Offers Digital Audiobook Downloads

By: Sherry Thomas

Sherry Thomas — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:06:20 +0000

Oh wow, Julia Quinn unabridged mp3 for less than $3! If only I could find my shuffle.

On the other hand, so far it’s only classics and big authors, at least in romance. So my audio isn’t there yet. :-(

By: DS

DS — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:05:02 +0000

I’m a big Audible fan– have been since 2004. My membership costs about $230/year for which I get 24 credits to download books– most are 1 credit so books cost about $9.58 ea. I also get a free subscription to either the NY Times or Wall Street Journal although I’ve never taken much advantage of these. There’s membership discount on books not purchased with credits also.

While audible has DRM I never pay much attention to it because I have all of my devices listed with iTunes and it is possible (but tedious) to copy the books to CD. I also have one of the few programs that will take the audible file and convert it directly into a MP3 file.

The B & N online shop is a little confusing because it’s not clear at a glance what books are available for download and which have to come through the mail. B&N also does the we’ll send you an email with a link thing before you can download. My Audible books can be downloaded from the website at any time after purchase. I do have them backed up to DVD since I don’t trust any web site to maintain files forever but so far I can even now go back and download the first book I ever bought from them– Time Traveler’s Wife.

I’ll browse to see if they have anything I can’t find on Audible, but they really need to work on their site before they will beat Audible as a place to buy audiobook downloads.

By: Tina Burns

Tina Burns — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:12:52 +0000

I think this is a great idea. My commute is about 2 hours a day and I’m horrible at returning books to the library, so my late fees would about cover the price of the audio books. Off to check out the selections.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:01:44 +0000

There is a 50% off coupon code through May 3rd. The prices seems comparable to Books on Board, but the selection is less.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:48:30 +0000

@Sabrina Yeah for no DRM. But Boo for geographical limitations. Hello, we are in the 21st C.

By: Estara

Estara — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:36:10 +0000

If I may add the information for other Non-US citizens: this offer only applies for people with a US address, according to the ordering info on the site.

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:15:56 +0000

As a huge fan of audio books this is music to my ears. Especially the DRM free part!

It will be interesting to follow what happens with Fictionwise and B&N.

Sabrina