Amazon’s audiobook store/subscription service hybrid, Audible, charges its members a monthly fee, in return for which they get monthly credits. However, customers have learned that while they get to keep their purchased books after canceling a membership, they do not get to keep unused credits. One of them has filed a class action against Amazon over this structure, claiming that the credits are like gift cards. [More]
audiobooks
Audiobooks Are Gaining Listeners While E-Book Sales Take A Dive
By 9.23.16
Using your eyes to read books? That’s so 2015, according to a new report that says audiobooks are becoming more and more popular while e-book sales have started to slide. [More]
Amazon Throws In Free Access To Audible Channels, Free Audio Books As Prime Perks
By 9.13.16
In an attempt to encourage more folks to sign up for its Prime program, Amazon is throwing a few new perks on the table for members, complimentary access to the company’s new short-form digital audio service called Audible Channels, and free audio books. [More]
Sales Of Audiobooks Are Gaining On Print Books
By 12.8.15
While rising prices are causing sales of e-books to slump, there’s another, somewhat unlikely challenger to the traditional print book throne: audiobooks, formerly known on family road trips as “books on tape,” have been outselling paper copies much of the time. [More]
Apple And Audible Refuse To Sell Author's Audiobooks Without DRM Or Abusive Licensing Agreement
By 12.11.09
Cory Doctorow is self-publishing a book and documenting the process for Publishers Weekly. His latest column is about selling audiobook versions of his past works, and how both Apple and Audible have refused to budge on their anti-consumer policies when it comes to digital rights management (DRM) and end user license agreements (EULAs). Even though both companies get paid the same either way, and even though both Doctorow and his publisher, Random House, want to sell the content without these restrictions, Apple and Audible have said no. [More]
Read Chris Anderson's Book 'Free' For Free
By 7.21.09
Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail, has published a new book that looks at something of interest to Consumerist: the trend of content and services to slide toward free, especially in the digital world. It’s pretty light reading and an interesting look at economics in the digital marketplace in particular—and for now, at least, it’s available in multiple formats for free.
By 6.20.09
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Here are 5 personal finance podcasts to subscribe to, download, and argue with during your commute or workout. [Automatic Finances] (Photo: uhuru1701)
By 5.26.09
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There’s a new free app for the iPhone called Audiobooks that connects you to 1800 public domain recordings, mostly of classic books. [TUAW]
Amazon Begins Selling Kindle Books With Text To Speech Disabled
By 5.13.09
As promised, Amazon has begun to implement the text to speech (TTS) flag that lets authors and their publishers turn off the “read it to me” feature of books on the Kindle. MobileRead members note that Toni Morrison’s A Mercy and Stephen King’s The Stand both have TTS disabled, and it seems to be on an author-by-author basis instead of by publisher or imprint.
National Federation Of The Blind Mounts Protest Over Kindle 2 Restrictions
By 4.6.09
When the Authors Guild successfully agitated for the right to selectively remove the text-to-speech feature from books read on Amazon’s Kindle 2, they alienated an entire group of potential consumers: people who have trouble reading normal printed works. Now a group called the Reading Rights Coalition is going to storm the Authors Guild’s NYC office tomorrow at noon to protest.
By 1.27.09
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Here’s a resource to help you determine whether your library lends digital media such as audiobooks and ebooks. It also helps you locate other libraries that offer digital lending. [Overdrive] (Thanks to jojo319!)
By 1.23.09
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Audible is offering a free download of “The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.” You’ll have to sign up for a free account to qualify. [Digital Inspiration] (Thanks to Hunt!)
