Review by Anon -- Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice

[Anon]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice" by Audiobooks.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Audiobooks website is an audiobook purchasing site akin to Audible. Like Audible, they offer a monthly plan that cost $14.95 per month and has the option to gift memberships to others or yourself. You can buy one month, three months for 10% off, six months plus one month free, and twelve months plus two months free. Each month you receive one credit with the option to purchase more for $14.95 in lieu of providing a discount of 33% for additional books like Audible does.

Navigating through the Audiobooks site is as easy and enjoyable as Audible's. You can listen on the website and switch to the app without loosing your place. I did however find that I liked Audiobooks' Android app slightly better than the Audible app for browsing audiobooks. The app is faster than Audible's and they make it easy to find free books to listen to, though, the majority of the free books are from Librivox. The player looks better than the Audible player, and it offers a sleep mode, bookmarks, the ability to create notes, and an increase in reading speed.

There are a few minor inconveniences when using the app, however. The app relies on tracks instead of chapters, a change in track could put you right in the middle of a chapter instead of the beginning. Also, there is no option to download your audiobooks to an SD card which can be a problem when your phone's internal memory is low. Lastly, the app is inconsistent when restarting playback; it may start one minute from where you left off, thirty seconds ahead, or exactly where you paused so it can be a tad confusing when trying to get back into the story.

Overall, I rate this service a 2 out of 4 stars. Audiobooks has a smaller selection than Audible but it costs the same and if you are unhappy with the audiobook you purchased, you cannot return it. The site has $8 audiobook sales but there are very little books to choose from. It cannot compete with Audible's Whispersync for Voice deal where one can usually buy a kindle book and the audiobook companion for less than the price of the audiobook alone, even if you are not an Audible member. The pricing model used by both Audible and Audiobooks might not be very attractive to those that tend to listen to many audiobooks a month as the costs add up quickly. At this point in time it seems too expensive to justify using it when free alternatives exist. The pricing model seems a bit antiquated, and free services like Overdrive and Hoopla make one rethink the need to buy one audiobook a month for nearly $15 when one can read many for free.

Audiobooks would have received a higher score if it had set itself apart from Audible in terms of their pricing model and fixed the player issues in the app. They also need to increase the audiobook selection available and fix the issues in their Android app. Audiobooks is a good service but I can only see the service being used in conjunction with Overdrive or Hoopla to fill in the gaps of their audiobook selection. Though there are some issues, I look forward to seeing what the company will do in the years ahead to improve their service.

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Audiobooks.com Book of your Choice
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