Audible.com - 2 free audiobooks

Bubonic · 09-02-2005 9:40am #1

Audible.com have a 14 day trial going on at the moment.

You can get two free audiobooks in the 14 days and then unsubscribe. You do need a credit card to register however.

Yes, I know the files are DRM'd but a quick search on the web will sort that out if you just want mp3 files.

BNC · 09-02-2005 11:44am

Excellent. Just downloaded the Bill clinton Biography and Angels and Demons. Well spotted.

tw0nk · 09-02-2005 1:00pm

wahey thanks for the great post, got 2 great books, brilliant for when driving home from college

aaf · 09-02-2005 5:06pm

How do you unsubscribe to end your trial period? I must be missing it on the website but I can't find it anywhere. Downloaded 2 books and now I want out

huh! · 09-02-2005 5:42pm

you need to phone up and cancel 1-973-837-2845

Bubonic · 09-02-2005 11:13pm

No, the other day you could unsubscribe. I think it was under Subscription Preferences. Its gone now and the pages doesn't display any data.

Hopefully its a temporary problem.

bounty · 09-02-2005 11:38pm

it wants my visa card no.... screw that

aaf · 10-02-2005 9:32am

huh! wrote:

you need to phone up and cancel 1-973-837-2845

Yeah, just found that number aswell. What's the dialling code I need in front of that number? Can't remember dialling code for the US off hand. If I'd known it was gonna be this difficult to cancel the service, I wouldn't have signed up!!

Genghis · 10-02-2005 9:43am

I was a very happy customer of theirs for maybe two years. Having downloaded 2 books a month for that time I found that there was little more I needed. I was also tired of downloading the books, playing them out through the line out of my computer to make audio cassettes in real time.

So I deceided to unsubscribe. Yes you do have to call that number, and no, it isn't an automatic process. They will ask you questions, etc.

Having said that, I now have an i-River with 40GB to fill. If I can find an MP3 conversion tool, I might be tempted to rejoin. Their products really are good, try some of the Bill Bryson books - he reads them alound himself.

huh! · 10-02-2005 9:47am

Don't know the dialing code sorry aaf, mess about with it and your sure to get it, also remember they wont be in the office till about 2 pm our time.

Bubonic · 10-02-2005 9:49am

Genghis wrote:

If I can find an MP3 conversion tool, I might be tempted to rejoin.

I don't want to get banned from boards so I won't spell it out completely, but if you read this
article O'Reilly you will find what you need.

Make sure you read all the way to the end of the page including the COMMENTS.

palance · 10-02-2005 4:52pm

aaf wrote:

How do you unsubscribe to end your trial period? I must be missing it on the website but I can't find it anywhere. Downloaded 2 books and now I want out

I emailed to cancel the subscription, I got a reply from a sales rep the next day confirming it

aaf · 10-02-2005 4:55pm

I rang up today and cancelled. Received confirmation email. Took about 2 mins on phone. Now that's good service. Tried out 2 books but prefer to read than to listen so that's why I cancelled.

tigerwex · 10-02-2005 5:56pm

got this and i like it i think ill keep it its good value 21 dollars for two books they are about 40 euro for one on itunes so good call thanx

fenris · 10-02-2005 8:58pm

For conversion to mp3 download goldwave.
google for instructions on conversion from audible!

Will post them once I find them!

Genghis · 11-02-2005 4:45pm

Thanks bubonic and fenris. It is something of a work around, but if it works, then it is worth it. I recorded 'Seabiscuit' by Laur Hillenbrand to my iRiver using the line out from the PC (in real-time, obviously). Sound quality is okay, but iRiver doesn't have 'really fast' forward, so it is a pain to navigate to where you stopped listening last time - I was on 90 mins, and it took me nearly five minutes to fast forward to the point where I stopped this morning.

That said, Seabiscuit is a brilliant audiobook.

Philbert · 11-02-2005 6:41pm

Can anyone tell me the mp3 (assuming conversion) size per hour these audible books come to? The seem to average at about 10 hours, but I would like to know the size to see if it would fit on a 1gb SD Card.

Thanks.

huh! · 11-02-2005 6:59pm

It will depend on the quality of the mp3 you convert it into, I converted a 5 h 49 minute book , the file is 319 mb , but if you lowered the quality of the mp3 file you would probably fit a lot more on. just converted the second half of the book at a lower rate and its 5h 40 mins and 155mb . so that would be about 40 hrs on a 1gb card .

Philbert · 11-02-2005 9:55pm

@huh

Thanks for the info.

fenris · 12-02-2005 12:06am

I normally use audible quality level 2 for portable listening, according to Goldwave, Audible level 2 = pcm signed 16 bit, 8000Hz, 128 kbps, mono

so using higher rates will just waste space without increasing quality.
I have used mp3 22050Hz, 24kbps, mono with good results.

it works well at those rates but depending on how golden your ear is, you may want to experiment with other values.

To open an audible file using goldwave, use the open option in goldwave, you will have to select "all files" as the file type. make sure that you have the audible player software installed on your PC, as Goldwave used the codec from the audible player.

If you use the batch processing option, it will allow you to convert the file to mp3 and split the mp3 into smaller files using the "cue point" option under "tools" I use 3 minute segments.

terry433iid · 01-06-2005 12:05pm

I commute from carrickmacross -> dublin and find audiobooks help make the commute pass quicker. Anyway I have a good stack of stuff downloaded from audible.com and wonder if anyone else has books they'd like to trade/sell.
I' have a bit of everything (currently listening to Michael Palins' around the world in 80 days , and blackadder goes fourth) and want to add to my collection

terry433iid@yahoo.com

Audible.com - 2 free audiobooks

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