Audiobooks discussion
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Scribd adds audiobooks to their subscription service.
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I transfer the audio books to iTunes and then delete them after I've listened to them.
Robin wrote: "It is disappointing that no company really offers "all you can listen" but it's understandable. I still remember when audiobook rentals on cassette were $20-30 apiece for a 30 day rental, and the s..."It feels like a golden age to me too, way better than it used to be; the selection at my library and rental store were so paltry - and I don't miss cassettes one bit ;-)
TV streaming services make this feel like a golden age for video as well, where an $8/month Netflix or Hulu subscription gives an amazing amount of entertainment; so, I can't help but think how great a Netflix for books would be. The industries are really different though (and I'm pickier about books than TV), so expecting that the library and sales will continue to be my best options for audiobooks.
Donna wrote: "Robin wrote: "It is disappointing that no company really offers "all you can listen" but it's understandable. I still remember when audiobook rentals on cassette were $20-30 apiece for a 30 day ren..."You can get unlimited free classics as ebooks and audiobooks from sources like Project Gutenberg and iPad audiobook apps. But the quality isn't guaranteed and you'll never get new books.
I signed up with Scribd three weeks ago and the book and audio offerings were great!!! Since they have limited their audio books to only 1 per month...their book list as diminished as well. Books, last week that were available as books and audio are now only available as audio. Big surprise!!!! Back to Audible as the best option. Even at 14.99 a month you get a nice membership discount on other purchases.
Julie wrote: "I'm wondering if any of the Sribd members in here have decided to stay with them after their changes were made ?I've been emailing them back and forth for several weeks now about their new service..."
Do you get to keep the books you paid a credit for?
That's what I don't like about. You are paying what is in my opinion a high price to borrow a book for a month or however long it is. I would rather pay a few dollars more and get to keep the book.
Julie wrote: "I'm wondering if any of the Sribd members in here have decided to stay with them after their changes were made ?I joined Scribd in May and enjoyed it! My main problem is their selection (it's not that great), then their app (I'm spoiled from using the Bookmobile app which I love!), then not being able to keep the audiobook.
I'm keeping it this month and maybe next, but after that I will cancel. I've listened to almost everything that I wanted to listen to in their library.
I cancelled my membership. The draw for me was unlimited audiobooks as I listen 2 hours a day.
Absolutely! I have a really excellent public library so I may as well utilize it fully.
I live at my library and I also use the Hoopla app thru my library!
I love the Hoopla app! My library has Overdrive and Hoopla so I have a very good selection of free downloadable books. The thing that's great about Hoopla is that you can download the books instantly and you don't have to wait for a hold! I'm not sure about your library but at mine we can have 10 downloads a month which includes other content like TV shows too.
Julie wrote: "I'm wondering if any of the Sribd members in here have decided to stay with them after their changes were made ?I've been emailing them back and forth for several weeks now about their new service..."
i personally discontinued the membership right after the switch. it had become nonsensical to me, to pay 9 bucks (or euros, in my case) for books that are badly encoded, and that you can use only within the app.
not having a credit card to use, i myself cling to www. audiobooksnow.com, where, with 9 bucks a month, you can BUY and download how many books you want, 2 of which at a 50% discount, and the rest at a 40% discount. books that once downloaded, on pc or smartphone via the app, are yours forever.
Simone wrote: "Julie wrote: "I'm wondering if any of the Sribd members in here have decided to stay with them after their changes were made ?I've been emailing them back and forth for several weeks now about the..."
I couldn't figure out how to download my books to pc from audiobooks.now, only to the app on my ipod. Could you tell me how to do that? I remember looking around for the info but couldn't find anything.
just to be clear, the site i refer to is www.audiobooksnow.com.there is a similar site, in spelling at least (www.audiobooks.com) that presents exactly the very problem you mention (you CAN'T download books on pc)
On audiobooksnow.com, once you purchase a title, this will appear listed under the "MY LIBRARY" tab.
Enter it, and right under the purchased title, you'll find two buttons:
LISTEN that permits you to stream the book directly within the browser
DOWNLOAD that lets you download the title (it comes into a large .zip file, but they use very powerful servers, and a 1.9 GB/50 h book will take less than 2 hours with a 1MB/S DSL to complete... a huge pro of this service is that they encode all books at a 96 kb/s bit rate, an incredibly high quality standard for sole human voice transmission)
hope to have been helpful....
edit: they urge you to not navigate the site with tablets, cos the download option won't appear, for technical reason, i suppose....
Simone wrote: "just to be clear, the site i refer to is www.audiobooksnow.com.there is a similar site, in spelling at least (www.audiobooks.com) that presents exactly the very problem you mention (you CAN'T dow..."
That's right. I was thinking about audiobooks.com, but I need to check into audiobooksnow. I actually used to rent audiobooks from booksfree.com, which I think is the same company.
you're right, booksfree is the parent company, so to speak.
Liz wrote: "I love the Hoopla app! My library has Overdrive and Hoopla so I have a very good selection of free downloadable books. The thing that's great about Hoopla is that you can download the books instant..."I am so glad I read this thread! I have never heard of Hoopla but was reading your comments and did a search for it and evidently my library participates and I found at least 10 audio books already that I thought I would have to get on Audible because my library didn't have it (well I guess they did have it via Hoopla but I had no idea!) Thanks everyone!
Anyone actually find unlimited audiobooks on Scribd? Their general audiobooks pages only shows credit items. When I search and filter unlimited only librivox files appear.
Julie wrote: "They have a few unlimited audiobooks sprinkled throughout. , but for the most part it seems that they are as you said. Mostly freebies that would be available elsewhere.You mainly just have to do ..."
I have been using Overdrive and Hoopla for audiobooks from my library and have been very pleased with the selection of books available. You might want to try those.
Heidi (Yup. Still here.) wrote: "Liz wrote: "I love the Hoopla app! My library has Overdrive and Hoopla so I have a very good selection of free downloadable books. The thing that's great about Hoopla is that you can download the b..."Woohoo!! I'm so glad your library has Hoopla and you found some stuff to get. I know a lot of libraries subscribe but I don't think nearly enough people are taking advantage of it.
I wish that my library would put the books in the catalog that are on Hoopla like they do for Overdrive but that would probably be a ton of work.
If you are listening to a book from the library, can you still play games? I listen to books on CD and continue to play games, but I don't know if I can do that while listening to a book from the library. If you can play games while listening, what is the best way to set it up? Did I repeat myself enough times? DUH!
Doris wrote: "If you are listening to a book from the library, can you still play games? I listen to books on CD and continue to play games, but I don't know if I can do that while listening to a book from the l..."First you turn off the sounds of the game on your smartphone/tablet in the game itself (usually in the options menu of the game), then go back to the homescreen, start up the library audiobook-app, start your book, and then go back to the home screen and start your game.
At least that's how it works on Android.
Yup! I have an Android tablet, and that's how it works for me!
Doris wrote: "If you are listening to a book from the library, can you still play games? I listen to books on CD and continue to play games, but I don't know if I can do that while listening to a book from the l..."Listen Audiobook Player on Android will let you listen to a book and leave sounds on in a game if you wish. In order to do this you'll have to turn off the audio focus option in Listen's settings.
wish I had seen this thread before clicking on my two free months. But at least its free after I might cancel though i do also use ebooks and its cheaper than amazon unlimited. seems like it might have more audios than them as well but I guess the problem is the amount of audiobooks you can get. I watched a video about it and the video was a lil old and they talked about the unlimited audios come to find out they no longer have that available. so, what is it that they are offering exactly that we can't find else where?Does anyone know about the audiobook selection on tunein? can you download so you can listen on the go? if not why would anyone even bother as most people listen on the go and not sitting down in their rooms etc.
Julie wrote: "I used to have a membership with Scribd ( back when they had the unlimited audiobooks). It was a great deal then for a very small monthly fee.
Then they switched things up. Now you can listen to ..."
I used to do more physical books than audios or ebooks but I've become to busy and finally realized that audios help me read what I want in limited time or when I'm tired or need to do something else. however, I'm picky about narrator voices if they don't sound like they should belong to that character or fit the setting/ theme I can't get into the audio.
usually when I try to leave audible they give me a free credit or something so I can stay for longer time. Maybe they've stopped doing this as I just came back about a month ago and was planning on keeping the service but 14 dollars a month is a whole lot for a Grad student with no steady income.
Chakara wrote: "Julie wrote: "I used to have a membership with Scribd ( back when they had the unlimited audiobooks). It was a great deal then for a very small monthly fee.
Then they switched things up. Now you ..."
Ask audible for listener lite - I pay 10.00 a year ( with tax) for my audible membership, I don't get monthly credits but I do get 30% off purchases, and full benefits of the book/reduced audible price deals.
its still available and mine just renewed this month and the price has NOT increased
Julie wrote: "I used to have a membership with Scribd ( back when they had the unlimited audiobooks). It was a great deal then for a very small monthly fee.
Then they switched things up. Now you can listen to ..."
Now that I have a library card for three Texas library system and can use overdrive with them all - I'll be dropping my scribd membership in Feb 2016. I have to say that if you use scribd ask dor the yearly pay plan - its about 47.00 a year, Vs the monthly fee plan, (you will have to ask via e-mail of course since live help at scribd doesn't exist)
For me the multiple library option will work out better - i'm willing to wait for some e-books and audios... not to mention overdrive also has films you can download
Julie wrote: "ParisThanks for the info. It sounds as if you are pretty well set with several library memberships.
I think the yearly price for Scribd has gone up . While I had my membership I was in contact wi..."
wow = that's a huge jump in price - glad I've decided not to renew...LOL
Julie wrote: "Yea it's a shame they had to make all those changes , but if you have that many libraries to check in with, I bet you will keep a steady flow of books coming in :)"it's almost scary - but at least I don't mind the waiting list, it helps with the management
our overdrive doesn't have a lot of the ebooks I like to read and also doesn't do films. but I can connect to my whole county on overdrive and not just my specific library so I guess the broadens the amount of audio books I have available to me. I'm actually finding their ebook selection on scribd to be very good and the reading app is good as well. I can see myself saving a lot of money Id normally spend on ebooks by just paying 9 dollars a month. As far as their audios go it doesn't seem that I am able to speed up the voice so if the actor is speaking really slow it will take me forever and I become impatient. I also have a problem picking a audio because if I don't like it I'm stuck I have a feeling their not the type of company to return my credit like audible would do.
Also the app seems to take up a lot of space. More space than audible app and my amazon kindle app on my phone.
I think they gave me both of my free months of audio credits at the same time. I added Cleopatra: A Life today and it said I had 2 credits instead of one.
So I just noticed that the app didn't save my spot and i just spent my time listening to about 20 minutes of the audio over again because of course its hard to skip ahead because its not split up by chapters strangely split up and I'm not sure why.
once again they are changing and giving the subscribers less http://blog.scribd.com/2016/02/16/upd...The fee is still the same though....
With the recent change I'm cancelling my subscription. I'm a weight loss coach and I loved skimming health books. Scribd was a valuable resource for research, but 3 books a month will leave me frustrated. For entertainment, I only listen to audiobooks and I'm struggling to use my last 4 credits. I hate the app so that doesn't help either.I'm thinking about Amazon's similar service. Anyone have any feedback?
I have cancelled my subscription too. I really liked the original service, but then they radically reduced the choice in the areas I like, and now they've gone even further.
Their update is not fully clear for me...their removing unlimited access to ebooks?! If yes, I'm cancelling!
Andrea wrote: "With the recent change I'm cancelling my subscription. I'm a weight loss coach and I loved skimming health books. Scribd was a valuable resource for research, but 3 books a month will leave me frus..."Right I would go with Amazon or one of the other ones like playster. Scribd is trying to play games with its customers and I take offense.
Smallo wrote: "Their update is not fully clear for me...their removing unlimited access to ebooks?! If yes, I'm cancelling!"Yes you get three ebooks a month and then a few will be unlimited kind of like how they currently have unlimited access to ebooks but limited audio with a few on a unlimited list. this was my understanding at least. And yes i'm canceling as well.
I thought I would pass along a note about Scribd's new change today. The scribd app will delete all your offline books and audiobooks as soon as you try to use the app today. That includes any audiobooks you used credits for. They are trying to keep this quiet and are deleting messages about it. Deleting offline personal documents, etc without warning is not okay. Sitting at an airport waiting and open your app to see you have nothing offline - even though you were not even on the internet - will no longer get you my business. I really wish the publishing houses would get their act together!
SoundofSilence_BookFan wrote: "I thought I would pass along a note about Scribd's new change today. The scribd app will delete all your offline books and audiobooks as soon as you try to use the app today. That includes any audiobooks you used credits for. They are trying to keep this quiet and are deleting messages about it. Deleting offline personal documents, etc without warning is not okay. Sitting at an airport waiting and open your app to see you have nothing offline - even though you were not even on the internet - will no longer get you my business. I really wish the publishing houses would get their act together!"That's only Scribd books, right? It's not deleting anything from another service? (Of course- I deleted Scribd last year, when they started this credit mess; but I just want to be clear.)
It sounds to me as if Scribd is on their way out. Within one year they have done nothing but take things away , one at a time.
They may as well shut down , as it sounds like most of their customers won't keep renewing when more things are being removed but prices aren't decreasing.
They may as well shut down , as it sounds like most of their customers won't keep renewing when more things are being removed but prices aren't decreasing.
Well I canceled my membership and moved to Playster which is in Beta and having major problem but more on that in the Playster thread I guess.
Audiobooks
Books mentioned in this topic
Cleopatra: A Life (other topics)Ready Player One (other topics)
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town (other topics)
I don't mind the lines as the list of audio books is very long. Eventually, and often faster than I expect..."
I don't really mind the length of the line but get frustrated when two or three become available at the same time.