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[Pedro Picasso]

A few years ago (3) I bought a few audio books from a new online service called Audible.com.  I did this the night before a big road trip.  The next morning, I went to burn them and found out I couldn't.  I could only play them at my computer or on a "sanctioned device".  That made me so angry, I didn't go back to their site for two years.  Fuck them.

Last year, I got an iPod.  I found a service called Audible.com.  It lets you download an audio book you've purchased as many times as you want, burn it to CD, or play it from a computer or music player.  I also found that I had a few books in my "Library" already.  This was a much better service.  I use it all the time now.  Un-fuck them.

Jough recently informed me that he's now an Audible subscriber.  Who all here uses the service?  What books have you listened to?  What's good?  What's bad?  What's good but poorly read?

[slink]

I have considered this a few times...
Thing is, I don't know how many I would actually end up getting. I should probably go and take a better look at some point, and work out if it'd be worthwhile or not. Then again, for the next few weeks at least I will avoid doing so...

[CortJstr]

It sounds interesting, especially with an iPod but seeing as my commute is only a half-hour it's not really worth it for me.

[Gimpson]

I was thinking about signing up to get downloads of This American Life, but at $49/year I decided not to.

[jough]

I just recently joined to take advantage of their offer to give you $100 off of an iPod.  I have never been one to listen to audio books (the first and last I listened to was Ian Flemming's "Diamands Are Forever" on a trip to Connecticut when I was seven years old) as I am a reader, but with my new iPod I thought it may be nice to always have a book that I can listen to while I clean or cook and stuff.  

I do, however, like it when beautiful women read to me.  Go figure.

I'm a kind of "always have music playing" guy, but I'll see how it goes.  If worse comes to worst I'll download books friends want to hear^* and then re-encode them to plain mp3s for them to eliminate the DRM features of the .aa files.


* Is anyone else annoyed when Audible.com uses the word "read" when associated with their audiobooks?  We know they're recordings of someone reading your books, guys, but what we are doing is not reading - it's listening.

[AugustWest]

I enjoy the hell out of audiobooks.  Read by a good reader they can be more rewarding than reading yourself.  I'll always listen to a book on a long trip and go through phases on my regular commute.  Luckily my local library has a very good selection which I listen to for free (except for the occasional overdue fine.)

[Pedro Picasso]

I use the word read automatically.  The text has gone from someone else's word processor to my brain, and afterwards I forget how it travelled.  At least I forget this while I'm grabbing verbs to form sentences describing the experience.  When I'm writing, I can remember to say listened to instead of read, but while talking it's more difficult.


Never get anything abridged if you can help it.

Things I've listened to from Audible
Modest Proposal and other Essays by Jonathan Swift (bad quality, ill suited to audio format)
Ann Coulter's Treason (you can hear the bile as it drips from her strained voice)
Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars... (he talks funny)
Da Vinci Code (mildly interesting, well read)
Anything by Douglas Adams (perfectly suited to audio, especially when read by Adams)
Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (some slow patches, but very interesting and quite long.  British voice sounds a bit snootier than necessary)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (good reading, didn't like the book, suited well enough to Audio)
Animal Farm by George Orwell (bad quality, good reading, well suited)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (good sound, good reader, silly book, go for it)
Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (excellent productions, great way to experience these books)
Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser (great production, iffy on whether or not it makes a good audiobook)
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (great book, female British reader does a beautiful rendition, highly recommended)
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Lowen (another good nonfiction book, read by the author, I'll have to listen to it again when I can take notes)
Getting Things Done by David Allen (best self-help schedule-minder drivel I've ever read or listened to.  Abridged.  Neat ideas.  Not entirely recommended.)
The Myth of Laziness by Mel Levine M.D. (great pop psychology, read by author, voice is slightly annoying but authentic)

[jough]

I ordered Steven King's "On Writing" as read by him, because I wanted to start with something that could be listened to in shortish segments first, and it's light enough that I don't have to worry about plot and setting and stuff.

I see myself probably listening to non-fiction more.  I did get a monthly subscription to the Charlie Rose Show too.  I like watching it but I don't really have time to watch TV anymore.  So Charlie in audio on the road is a great substitute.

[slink]

Anything by Douglas Adams (perfectly suited to audio, especially when read by Adams)

The killer is, the best audiobooks of the H2G2 stuff was done on Pan Audiobooks read by Stephen Moore (Marvin's voice). They were so well produced, featuring various effect work to match it to the radio series. That plus I always felt Moore's reading were better than Adam's. That said, Adam's reading Holisitc Detective Agency I did like.

I'm fairly much with Jough on this, I don't tend to like audiobooks, as I'd rather read them (unabridged or nay), but they can be perfect for having on in the background and such. I tend to just have music on 24/7 though.

I may go ahead and grab some though, since at the moment I am having such trouble sleeping I have to leave a couple of Family Guy episodes or something on quietly so that my brain is distracted from thinking. Audiobooks would be ideal for this. That and I'll reencode the first two phases of H2G2. Just listened to the last part of the Tertiary phase (literally ten minutes ago on radio 4) and I was impressed at how well they did it. It's not the first two for sure, but it's respectfully done, and enjoyable all the same. And Bill Franklin does a damned fine job in replacing Peter Jones, sad as the change is.

[Gimpson]

When I was in college and making frequent road trips I used to rent audiobooks from truck stops, and that did wonders for making a multiple-day road trip pass quickly.  

The killer is, the best audiobooks of the H2G2 stuff was done on Pan Audiobooks read by Stephen Moore (Marvin's voice).

I've wondered for a while why that is abbreviated "H2G2".  Shouldn't it be "HG2G"?

[Pedro Picasso]

I've wondered for a while why that is abbreviated "H2G2".  Shouldn't it be "HG2G"?

Hitch Hiker Guide Galaxy?

[slink]

Shouldn't it be "HG2G"?

Hitch Hiker Guide Galaxy?[/quote]

Precisely. None of this modern usage of the number 2. It's like the old British show 'That Was The Week That Was' which was always abbreviated to 'TW3'.

[jough]

Of course, the day after I join the site breaks.

I swear I didn't do it!