Buying MP3 Audiobooks and Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck

Just wanted to write about my personal opinion and experience with buying audiobooks online. I'm talking about MP3 versions of audiobooks and not the CD versions.

Picture found here

The Story: When buying audiobooks, I've found that Audible.com and Barnes and Noble.com have the best prices and are also well known sources. If there is anything that is different in pricing, it's usually at most a $4.00 difference, with Audible.com usually winning over. I find this difference to be ineffectual because it's just that, a dollar difference. What will win me over is if this difference in pricing adds up to a lot of saved cash.

One big difference though is that Audible.com gives you credit's to buy an audiobook for "free" (though I've read that some need two credits in order to be purchased, but the two I got were each one credit). I place the word free in quotes because you have to subscribe for $15.00 a month, so really it's more of a discount than an actual free book. This discount on an audiobook usually rounds to around $5.00-$10.00 on average, which is pretty good. But in the end, is it worth it?

 The Math: 

East of Eden
     Audible.com:
         Member: $24.47
         Non-member: $34.96
     BN.com: $29.83

Grapes of Wrath
     Audible.com:
         Member: $19.58
         Non-member: $27.97
     BN.com: $24.02

Catch-22
    Audible.com:
         Member: $22.03
         Non-member: $31.47
    BN.com: $23.23

Hunger Games
    Audible.com:
        Member: $19.58
        Non-member: $27.97
    BN.com: $23.21

50 Shades of Gray
    Audible.com:
       Member: $23.52
       Non-member: $33.60
    BN.com: $19.92


Audible.com
  Member total: 109.18-19.58(one credit) + 15.00 (monthly fee) = 104.60
   Non-Member total: $155.97

BN.com: 120.21

Audible.com = Winner with $15.61 difference in savings.

My Opinion:
If you think you will read a lot of audiobooks, then definitely subscribe to Audible.com as there is a difference in purchase price. When subscribing, do the audible.com promotion from Amazon.com, where you get a free 30-day trial run and 2 credits for audiobooks.

If you're like me and don't read audiobooks that often, or just want one for a trip, then I still suggest doing Audible.com anyway, but cancelling it before the renewal date.  Still do the Amazon.com promotion as you'll get 2 mp3 audiobooks for free and not have to pay a dime. If you want more audiobooks in the future after quitting your subscription, then I suggest just buying them from Barnes and Noble.com. That way you don't have to pay a fee for the subscription to audible.com and you can buy your audiobooks on an as needed basis.

As an extra note, you will have to download Audible Manager in order to get the MP3 files onto your computer. I'm sure BN.com has the same set-up, but I haven't tried it yet. Once I do I will update. Also, definitely save the audiobooks to your computer/ipod/usb port so you don't lose them and have them for future use. Audible.com does say that you won't lose them, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Hope this was helpful. :)

Fixing Greeting Cards When Nobody's Looking (I hope)

Is it psychotic that I fix the greeting cards when they're out of order on the card rack?

Possibly, but then I wouldn't be me, would I.

I was with my mom in Target today looking for a Father's Day card, while my mom was looking for birthday cards. I got done early and had to wait for my mom, so I ended up fixing the cards that people were too lazy to put back. Yes, it is most certainly laziness. My mom gave the excuse that probably everyone gives...I couldn't find where it went. Sorry, that doesn't cut it with me.

 

It takes probably one minute at the most to locate where you got your card, faster if you paid attention to the section you got it from.  By identifying specific characteristics that the top of the card has and taking some extra time, you too can place greeting cards back into their original places.

I don't know why this bothers me so much. I could be OCD, but I'm not sure. 

I need a drink...gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp. Ahhh.

  I actually do this with books sometimes too, usually if they're on tables, or misrepresented on shelves. In Barnes and Noble, they have those summer reading tables and people don't put the books back in their proper places, or they're upsidedown or are turned over or are...diagonal!  Comic books too. They're just all messy and I start to put titles together and straighten them up (as best as you can fix a comic book on a magazine rack.)

I guess it's a peeve I have...or a secret problem.

I do this with other things too: jewelry racks, things that hang on a hanger like clothes or hair accessories or makeup. Anything that can be sorted, I sort it.

Ok, ok. I don't stand there all day doing this. I usually find myself organizing if I'm board and waiting for people to get done shopping, or if I just happen to be in that area looking for something . I'm not crawling around trying to find shelves and things to fix, I don't stand there for hours making everything perfect. When I notice it, I fix it.  I pick up fallen clothes on hangers and place them back, I re-fold clothes if I happen to be putting somehting back and the shirt nearby is messy, I put cards back in their propper places.

I also don't automatically believe that it is the job of the Target clerks to clean up after my messes. I get this tinge of guilt when i leave something where I shouldn't. F**k it, I will bring that Billy Blanks Tae Bo DVD back to the Health section of Target because I know it's the right thing to do and I leave that mother f**ing Target with a clear conscious.  Straight up.