Hey Howdy Hey!
I'm guessing you're here because A.) you're thinking about signing up for Audible or B.) you have no idea what Audible is. My friend, you've come to the right place. Let's just get this out in the open here, I'm a book lover... but I don't necessarily like reading books. GASP!!! I can hear the pages ruffling and bookmarks falling to the floor in shock and horror. But seriously, I don't always have the best attention span or comprehension when I'm reading, as in, I can read the same paragraph 3 times and still not have absorbed *any* of it. In walks Audible...
At some point I realized that I didn't have to read every book myself and even better, I could do something else while someone else read it to me! Whaaaa?! It immediately opened up a whole new world for me. My Audible membership is one of those intangible things that I wish I could just give a big hug. I mean, I suppose I could just hug my phone, but it doesn't hug back and ya know how uncomfortable that can be. My Audible membership would for sure hug back if it could. Ok, imagine there's a smooth transition here...
What is Audible?
Well, let me tell you. Btdubs, if you already know what Audible is, and you're more interested in the differences between the two memberships, go ahead and skip to the next section. Go on, I won't be offended!
Audible is a subscription service that allows you to listen to a decently large collection of audiobooks and podcasts. Oftentimes the books are read/narrated by the authors themselves or famous actors that you would picture to be the author of the book. :) Sometimes it's neither of those, it's just someone with a well-suited reading voice.
One might say it's like Netflix for audiobooks. In the same way that Netflix has an evolving collection of TV shows and movies, Audible has an evolving collection of audible books and podcasts.
What's even more awesomer, is that you don't need any special device! There's an Audible app for phones (iOS & Android), tablet, computer (via website), and any Alexa, Fire, Kindle, or Sonos devices.
What are the options?
There are really three types of access: Free, Plus, and Premium Plus. The Free audiobooks don't require a paid subscription. They do require you to sign in with a standard Amazon account, Prime is not necessary. There are hundreds of Free audiobooks available, this is actually how I started.
The Plus subscription will get you access to all of the titles in their Plus catalog (like over 30,000) in addition to the Free catalog. It's similar to a library (or Netflix) where you don't own that title, you are just borrowing it until you're done with it. You can buy titles that you can keep forever, but you will pay full price for them.
The Premium Plus subscription gets you access to the Free, Plus catalogs AND you get 1 credit a month which you can spend on any title with no additional purchase required. You also get discounts on titles if you run out of credits. Bonus, if you're an Amazon Prime member and you sign up for Audible, you get 2 credits for the 1st month and then 1 credit per month after. Wahoo!
The Premium Plus can be done a few ways, you can sign up for either 1 or 2 credits on a month to month basis or 1 or 2 credits for an entire year (annual subscription). With the annual subscription, you would save a little money (like 2 months free) and you can use those credits at any time.
Did someone say FREE?
Ok, so if you're still on the fence like I was, they have a 30-Day FREE trail where you can listen to anything in the Plus catalog AND you get 1 credit to buy any title you want which you get to keep even if you don't sign up (again, Amazon Prime members get 2 credits during this FREE trial, crazy, right?)!
They do let you know that your trial is coming to an end, so it won't be a surprise if you get charged (unless you ignore their reminder).
Any other commitment-phobes out there?
If you do the month-to-month option, you can quit and restart whenever you like. How do I know? Well, I first subscribed in 2017 and have stopped / started several times based on whether I was using the app or not. The nice part is that they would let me know, hey you have 3 credits, please use those up before you stop your membership. Oh yeah, if you bought any books with your credits (including the free one), you get to keep those for-eva.
Side note, if you have an Amazon Prime membership, you can access your Audible account from there!
Thinking of someone who needs this?
I LOVE giving gifts that keep on giving, it's like... my jam. This is definitely a gift that not only do I love for myself, but I would give to anyone who loves books (or doesn’t love books), listening to or telling stories, podcasts, learning, researching... someone who travels, has a long commute, needs a little happiness thrown their way, seriously I can't think of anyone who I wouldn't gift this to. In fact... don't tell my family but this might be in the running for this year's gift idea!
Oh yeah, I got side-tracked. So, you can actually gift a membership for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months! They don't get automatically billed after that, they just get the opportunity to enroll if they want to continue! If they already have an account, the credits get added to their account.
Speaking of books...
I'm a big book fan, sometimes that means just looking at them, arranging them, or buying things related to books. If you're a big book fan or someone you know is, check out my Gift Guide for Book Lovers or my post on Kindles!
Catch ya on the flip side!
Alecia