audiobooks Archives — Mostly Mystery Reviews

I just subscribed to Scribd – a digital book subscription service – with a one-month free trial. Rather than slogging with several books to the beach or on vacation, I could just take my tablet. Theoretically…

Scribd encompasses books, audiobooks, magazines and podcasts. It also has other categories that I probably won’t use like sheet music as well as documents and photos uploaded by other users.

Also available are other services like Pandora Plus, which is free with the Scribd membership. (Since I already subscribe to Pandora Plus, I’m not sure this is helpful unless I really like the other parts of Scribd. I could then combine these subscriptions.)

At this point, I’m not sure I’ll continue the Scribd subscription once the free trial is ended. That depends on how much I use it – the $9.99 monthly price seems a bit steep for me right now. I already subscribe to print editions of the magazines I most want to read – plus I dislike reading magazines digitally. Also, although I am extremely interested in podcasts, I never seemed to find the time to listen. (Maybe I can change this habit…hmm.)

So, stay tuned…

Scribd – a book subscription service – provides access to an extensive array of books, audiobooks, etc. If you’re interested in actually purchasing audiobooks, though, try Chirp, which I reviewed here.

So far, my blog posts have been about printed material and, occasionally, e-books. But, I have come across a new audiobook service, Chirp. Affiliated with BookBub, Chirp offers an alternative to Audible. A variety of genres are available in a range of prices. Being a lover of Sherlock Holmes, I purchased The Valley of Fear for $1.99 (plus New Jersey sales tax). The narration of this work is excellent. I noticed that prices for the daily deals ranged from $.99 to $4.99. Plus, there is no monthly or annual membership fee. That makes audiobooks thrills for your ears–and your wallet.

The likes of Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), David Baldacci (The Fix, Total Control), and Michael Connelly (The Night Fire) are but a few available. I also noticed titles by James Patterson, David Sedaris, Charles Dickens and even Geoffrey Chaucer amongst the offerings.

Others, such as Audible, Scribd and Spotify, offer audiobooks, but at a price. To get the most of these apps, you need to have a membership (Audible, Scribd and Spotify) plus maybe pay for the audiobooks (Audible). At Chirp, the only monetary outlay is for the audiobook itself. With Chirp, you own the audiobook, but who knows what will happen if Spotify decides to discontinue offering them. There are other sites, like LibriVox, that offer free audiobooks, but the narration quality is spotty. Your local library may have books on CDs and offer audiobooks through OverDrive and Hoopla, but do they really have what you want to listen to? And how long is the wait list?

So far, I’m happy with Chirp for the selection of audiobooks, the quality of narration and the price. I’ll continue to scour the digital book world for other audio options. In my opinion, Chirp can bring thrills to your ears, and wallet.