Romance Audiobooks discussion
Archives
>
Not many Whispersync bargains anymore
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
D.G.
(new)
Jun 30, 2017 05:53PM
Have you guys noticed that there aren't as many Whispersync bargains as there used to be? Before I used to find lots of $3.47 audios but now most of them are $7.49 and when you add the Kindle price (which tends to be around $3.99), it's almost better to use a credit.
reply
|
flag
It all depends on the publisher, naturally the prices are going to go up and down. This is after all book-reading/listening season, so naturally the prices will go up and the deals won't be as good. Also with sites like hoopla, oneclick digital and overdrive, there are far less people buying audio and eBooks, instead just borrowing them through their libraries and this unfortunately adversely affect those who do not have access to good libraries in their communities.
D.G. wrote: "Have you guys noticed that there aren't as many Whispersync bargains as there used to be? Before I used to find lots of $3.47 audios but now most of them are $7.49 and when you add the Kindle price..."D.G.
I put whispersync kindle books in the Amazon search and got over 27,000 hits. I spent about 4 hours on it today and I can't believe how many KU books are on there with $1.99 audibles and how many free read and free listen there are. If you look you can find deals. Depending on what you read you can put whispersync mystery or murder or historical or contemporary or vampire or paranormal, whatever you read.
it also used to be if you borrowed a kindle book from your library that had a whispersync deal, that you could get the deal without purchasing the kindle book, you can't do that now :(
D.G. wrote: "Have you guys noticed that there aren't as many Whispersync bargains as there used to be? Before I used to find lots of $3.47 audios but now most of them are $7.49 and when you add the Kindle price..."Yes. I can see it in my Audible wishlist. Many/most whispersynced audiobooks that I had listed (that I hadn't clicked on because I was pretty ambivalent about them) that used to show w/s price $1.99+VAT are now showing w/s price $7.49+VAT. Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper 3 is what I'm most peeved about… (I hadn't grabbed the kindle book so obviously it hadn't whispersynced the audible deal, and now I'm wondering if I want the audiobook enough to use a credit… Woe.)
So yeah, whispersync bargains are disappearing. :(
ms bookjunkie wrote: "Yes. I can see it in my Audible wishlist. Many/most whispersynced audiobooks that I had listed (that I hadn't clicked on because I was pretty ambivalent about them) that used to show w/s price $1.99+VAT are now showing w/s price $7.49+VAT. "That's exactly what I mean. I know there are still W/S deals out there and that certain genres/publishers never have deals but there always use to be plenty of cheap romance to go about. Not so much anymore.
I really hope they are trying to see if people will still pay that price, and I hope it fails. I'm not happy about the price hike and haven't gotten any whispersync deals at the $7.49 price point. I've always done what DG did and looked at the price I was going to pay for the ebook/audiobook combo and if more than what I pay for a credit, then I just use the credit.
I think with my audible subscription, I pay $10/credit, so those $7.49 whispersync deals definitely aren't worth it for me.
Sassafrass wrote: "I really hope they are trying to see if people will still pay that price, and I hope it fails. I'm not happy about the price hike and haven't gotten any whispersync deals at the $7.49 price point. ..."It's likely that they are testing customer's price sensitivity. I've bought a couple but I think you're right in not buying them...I'll do the same.
D.G. wrote: "Sassafrass wrote: "I really hope they are trying to see if people will still pay that price, and I hope it fails. I'm not happy about the price hike and haven't gotten any whispersync deals at the ..."I know of a lot of audibles that were $1.99 that are now $7.49. There's no way in hell I'll buy them now. Jeez, some of them are 10+ year old books! It's just crazy.
makes you wonder if Amazon scans the threads in Goodreads to see what the "consumer" sentiment is - in a way I hope they do so they will know this new whispersync price is NOT agreeable to most of us.I have cut down considerably on my purchases as a result of the inflated prices.
Paris (kerbytejas) wrote: "makes you wonder if Amazon scans the threads in Goodreads to see what the "consumer" sentiment is - in a way I hope they do so they will know this new whispersync price is NOT agreeable to most of us."Here's my 2 cents: I'll be buying fewer audiobooks, fewer impulse buys "just because," fewer whispersynced novellas. $7.49+VAT for a 3-4 hour audiobook I've already read digitally/in print? I don't think so. (I might even take a break from my audible membership for a while. Because my credits do tend to pile up waiting for a buying decision…and the audio TBR will keep me entertained for months now that I listen less…)
ms bookjunkie wrote: " I'll be buying fewer audiobooks, fewer impulse buys "just because," fewer whispersynced novellas."Totally. Not only that, I'll be likely to return more books. I only return books I DNF but now I'll probably return books I don't like if it costs me $10+.
Very disappointed with the increase in prices with audible because I often do not re-listen re-read the books that I buy. So the whispersync deals were always a bargain that I took advantage of and reserved my credits to my "go to" authors. Also because I get them in such bargain prices, I never return the books I get through the whispersync deals. Anyway, because of this increase, I am trying out Playster (https://play.playster.com/audiobooks/...) which is having a 9.99/month deal on books/audiobooks option - not the multi-media version. It's a "Netflix" type of subscription so I can stream or download books that I borrow with the subscription. The list is not as extensive as audible - e.g. some new books and authors are not available - but I found 70-80% books on my wish list availalbe (e.g. Vince Flynn, Michael Chrichton, Eloisa James, Robyn Carr, Susan E Phillips, Kristen Proby, kristen Ashley). Also the app is a bit wonky (downloads is confusing). But, I could borrow/rent the audio books so long as I have the subscription. So I will try it out for 30 days and listen to books I want to listen to but don't care to own. I think the price is worth it. In fact my 4-page audible wishlist has shrunk to 1.5 pages, while my Playster "playlists" have expanded to over 30 titles.
I spend almost $100/month on audible owning over 3k audiobooks since I have starte subscribing to audible in 2012. I can see the rate of book acquisition slowing down with the increase in prices and will probably only buy 2 per month and maybe even stopping at some point. I will also probably stop my kindle unlimited and just pay for playster since I have listened to almost all the books in my favorite genres offered thru the kindle unlimited. Plus the 10 books at a time is quite limiting for the 9.99 - especially now that whispersync is no longer a deal.
Either Amazon/Audible provide an unlimited rental/subscription for a fee to be able to compete with "netflix" like options, or else their subscription model is going to be the most expensive out there and they will lose customers like me moving forward. I loved audible but the $7.49 books is nota sustainable guilty pleasure anymore. I'm glad other affordable options are available.
Frances wrote: "Very disappointed with the increase in prices with audible because I often do not re-listen re-read the books that I buy. So the whispersync deals were always a bargain that I took advantage of and..."I really like Playster - had it for over 6 months now - update with how you like it in a few months.
FYI you will see foreign transaction fee's on you credit card statement unless you use a card that doesn't have them.
"Either Amazon/Audible provide an unlimited rental/subscription for a fee to be able to compete with "netflix" like options, or else their subscription model is going to be the most expensive out there and they will lose customers like me moving forward. I loved audible but the $7.49 books is nota sustainable guilty pleasure anymore. I'm glad other affordable options are available."I agree. D.G. It's too bad we can't get others to stop buying the audible books at that ridiculous price. I saw a book that I was interested in a week or so ago and it was $1.99 and I thought about getting it until I saw that it was from 1998. I don't read books that old and NOW it's $7.49. WTH??
Paris (kerbytejas) wrote: "FYI you will see foreign transaction fee's on you credit card statement unless you use a card that doesn't have them."Thanks for the heads up, I will watch out for it and figure out which of my credit cards do not charge the transaction fees.
Lady Delacour wrote: "So glad to have found this discussion.(Thanks Trish)I'm to am not buying the $7.49 books.
So disapointed with the price increase.
Even buying less of ones that are $1.99."
It's a shame that whoever owns Amazon, Audible and Goodreads have become so money hungry that they felt the need to do this. But, since they pretty much have a monolopy I guess they can. I'm shopping around for other places to buy ebooks and audios.
Trish wrote: "Lady Delacour wrote: "So glad to have found this discussion.(Thanks Trish)I'm to am not buying the $7.49 books.
So disapointed with the price increase.
Even buying less of ones that are $1.99."
I..."
Lady Delacour wrote: "So glad to have found this discussion.(Thanks Trish)
I'm to am not buying the $7.49 books.
So disapointed with the price increase.
Even buying less of ones that are $1.99."
It might be time to research https://www.playster.com/. I think you have to have their equipment for the download. But, it's the same monthly price as Audible.com but it's unlimited audibles.
Playster is not good.... I checked on several of my audible books and they didn't have one of them.... So, we're still stuck with Audible.com
Annette wrote: "Playster is not good.... I checked on several of my audible books and they didn't have one of them.... So, we're still stuck with Audible.com"Thanks, Annette. I won't waste my time with Playster.
ms bookjunkie wrote: "Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper 3 is what I'm most peeved about… (I hadn't grabbed the kindle book so obviously it hadn't whispersynced the audible deal, and now I'm wondering if I want the audiobook enough to use a credit… Woe.)."
I am re-listening to the Innkeeper 3 book right now for about the 3rd time. If you enjoy the series and have liked the narrations for the previous two, that one is worth the credit.
I've saved quite a bit of money using the NC Digital Library. The newest releases aren't available, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the number of books I've been able to listen to and the download process is super easy using Overdrive. I have a Scribd subscription, but don't think I'll re-up once the year is over. Initially it was $45 for a year with 12 audio credits all at once plus digital books (also included a certain number of unlimited titles in audio and digital). They then changed it to where you could only borrow one audio book per month even if you were on the annual plan. The selection is pretty good, but I don't like waiting for the month to be up when on the annual plan. Also not sure if the price is still the same.
Annette wrote: "Playster is not good.... I checked on several of my audible books and they didn't have one of them.... So, we're still stuck with Audible.com"I have a TBR at playster of about 118 audiobooks - since we all read different types of books that could be the case.
I would say do a browse or try the 30 free before you make a final decision
Audible has some titles that they produce that aren't available for libraries except as CDs and aren't available at other sites that make it hard for me to completely give up on Audible. That said, I am no longer buying titles that I may have bought in the past as a whisper sync deal if they are available at other sources such as my library. Hoopla is a good resource for a lot of Tantor books if your library offers the service. New titles that are released on Tuesday are usually added to Hoopla later in the evening the day before they officially release.
Yeah, I checked Playster and it's not for me either. I just found one book from my wishlist - I'll probably do the free trial so I can listen to that one book!
The audiobook marketplace is not an easy one. I have followed Books On Tape, now Audible for about 30 years now. I want to support the organizations that have made so many of my favorites and new found genres available for years to come. If I have to pay extra, I am willing to spend the dollars to do it.
Lee wrote: "The audiobook marketplace is not an easy one. I have followed Books On Tape, now Audible for about 30 years now. I want to support the organizations that have made so many of my favorites and new f..."Books on Tape is a different company than Audible - the first is owned by Random House and the second by Amazon. They have never been related in any way.
Consumers have a different price elasticity for goods. For instance, I make a point to use a credit for favorite authors (Ilona Andrews among others) but I'm not going to fork $10+ for unknowns. Audible made it easy for a while to try new authors but I guess that's now over.
At least Audible still makes it very easy to return a book. I didn't do it for a long time because I felt odd about it. You can't go to a movie and then demand a refund for not liking it. I also would never try to return a paper book for the same reason. I would only feel justified if the projector or sound at the theater was wonky or my book was missing pages. Entertainment is so subjective that it doesn't seem fair to consume it and then demand a refund.All that being said, I've begun returning the DNF books. I spend a lot of money there and the possibility of making a return allows me to take a chance on an unfamiliar author or genre. In the end, they get more from me by allowing returns.
I wonder if this will hurt some of the titles authors publish on their own; if I'm not sure about quality or if I will like a story I'm not going to buy and in the past, it seemed like you could only return so many titles without having to chat with Audible. I've also bought kindle versions of books on sale specifically because the whisper sync price was a good deal so I'll not buy as many kindle books either.
There's a 4.95 sale going on Audible right now and was able to get 3 books from that. I also noticed some of the whispersync books that were $7.49 were again $3+ something. I got those too, before they go up again. As to Playster, I have been listening to it for 5 days now - mostly looking for the older books that I am hesitating to use my credits for because they are usually $12.99 with whispersync. So far with my 9.99 trial month, I have saved $77 (on vacation) and have 30 more books in playlist waiting, and hubby has about 10 books. Still have another week on my vacation so I might make a dent on my to-be-read book. I think it will only be worth it for me, if the 9.99 continues. I will not pay more than that.
I would suggest searching for author or the book itself on Playster. The newer books are not all available but I searched for all the authors and books on my wish list. Still worth it, but once I've read/listened through my Playlist, not sure I would be willing to pay the monthly. The app takes a bit of getting used to, and still a bit quirky not as intuitive as Audible's also has a tendency to freeze. I don't know which books I have downloaded and which ones are streaming - so if you don't have unlimited data this may be an issue. Personally, it is still cost-effective while I'm on vacation and have time to listen continuously. I will report back how much I've saved for my trial month.
Moriah wrote: "I wonder if this will hurt some of the titles authors publish on their own; if I'm not sure about quality or if I will like a story I'm not going to buy and in the past, it seemed like you could on..."The prices are absolutely whacko! The Cain Conspiracy from 2013 is only 99¢ but it's $7.49 for the audible. AND it ONLY has 179 pages. I would NEVER pay that much money for so few pages. WTH is audible thinking? I think audible is thinking they can get your monthly fee for credits but they don't care if you use them or not because you've already paid for them THEN they picked the $7.49 number thinking you'll go ahead and pay that price rather than use a credit. Good thinking on their part but it shows they don't give a shit about their customers. Plus, they really do have a monolopy on audible books so they have the best of both worlds. It sucks!
The first change was to eliminate the kindle book owner's disount for Whispersync audible books that were a library or a lend book. That happened at last few months of 2016. Next was this huge price increase for most of the Whispersync audible upgrade prices for the kindle book owner. I have stopped buying at that $7.49 price point unless it is for box set of 3 or more. Not sure why this mega company is needing this kind of profits now but I am seriously considering stopping Audible subscription now. I cannot find anywhere on Amazon or Audible site to complain.
Mod
I highly recommend that everyone here who has expressed disappointment with this latest change speak out to them. It won't necessarily change things but maybe your opinion will matter.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...
Trish wrote: " I would NEVER pay that much money for so few pages. "LOL, I confess that I look askance at any audio under 6 hours that costs a full credit. Even though I know a book doesn't need to be long to be good, I just feel that I need to get my money's worth for one credit! Hahaha!
D.G. wrote: "Trish wrote: " I would NEVER pay that much money for so few pages. "LOL, I confess that I look askance at any audio under 6 hours that costs a full credit. Even though I know a book doesn't need ..."
I'm the same, D.G. I can't use a credit for less than 6+ hours so I damn sure can's spend $7.49 for 179 pages. Someone's not paying attention at audible or someone's crazy with these prices.
