How to handle the exact same book with multiple editions with different asins?

[A.J.]

This is a general question for any type of editions, but I'm specifically noticing it with Audible editions of books. For instance, take a look here:

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

That's five different editions with the exact same book (Audible, audiobook, same cover, etc.).

Here's another instance with two editions of the exact same Audible audiobook:

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio...

I suppose these might be different asins for the different Audible websites in different countries? But is there any way to check these asins to make sure they're all valid (for instance, I googled the second asin on the Housekeeping link and it brought up zero results, as did an amazon-asin lookup of it)? And should they really stay completely separate if they're the exact same audiobook even if asins are valid??

[Miriam]

n general, we keep them if they have ASINs.

In your second example, it looks like the second entry is the ASIN for amazon.ca
https://www.amazon.ca/Housekeeping/dp...

Sometimes, you will have an ASIN on Amazon and a different one on Audible, both are valid and you may have multiple editions to reflect that:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[A.J.]

Okay, thanks. The link to the other thread actually answered another question I had- that if they should stay separate, shouldn't we mark them somehow as to which country's site it is? The answer is yes, in the edition field.

I have a few more follow up questions.

How do you check the ASINs on editions to see if they're valid? Is there anything easier than manually going to each amazon or audible site and trying them?

rivka said in the other thread that we should only mention country and not publisher in the edition field, but if there are different ASINs for the same book in the same country between the Audible site and Amazon site, shouldn't they somehow be differentiated on goodreads if they're going to be separate editions? Something like 'US Audible Site Edition' and 'US Amazon Site Edition' or similar so that anyone finding the edition can know exactly where the ASIN came from?

Along the same lines, should the url field be used to add a link to the original site's page with that ASIN?

Finally, and this may be a little aside from the other discussion, but in looking up Housekeeping on Audible, the first version is this link:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Housekeepi...

I was so confused because the other thread was saying to just find the ASIN in the url but it's not there. So I tried another audiobook and found where the ASIN in the Audible url should be. But how do we handle Audible urls like that? For example if I wanted to add that specific audiobook to goodreads, it seems like the ASIN is.... 1250257263? It doesn't seem to make sense but that's how it looks.

[Renske]

The audible website seems to have changed their urls at some point and now no longer contain the ASIN. That number is not an ASIN.

If you want to check if an ASIN is valid, quickest is to first check the changelog, if it was imported from Amazon those are at least valid. (Or if someone mentions they got their data from Amazon. it is also likely)

[annob [on hiatus]]

A.J. wrote: "So I tried another audiobook and found where the ASIN in the Audible url should be. But how do we handle Audible urls like that? For example if I wanted to add that specific audiobook to goodreads, it seems like the ASIN is.... 1250257263?"

That is a valid ISBN10 number, and listed on Worldcat.org:

https://www.worldcat.org/title/housek...

Sometimes Audible listings uses ISBN instead of ASINs in the url. For such editions the ISBN should be added in the Goodreads book record, and the format set to Audiobook instead of Audible Audio.

[Miriam]

Renske wrote: "The audible website seems to have changed their urls at some point and now no longer contain the ASIN. That number is not an ASIN.

If you want to check if an ASIN is valid, quickest is to first ch..."

Some records still have the ASIN in the URL, I think it varies depending on the record (I just checked my Audible library and those were coming up with ASINs)

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Audible has always had some book records listed with ASINs and some with ISBNs.

[Jonetta]

I’m finding many books these days with multiple Audible Audio editions and after research, I determined they’re the ASINs for different country site editions (all other data is identical). Might it be helpful to include the country in the edition area (ex. UK, Canada, US)? I’m also finding this being done by the same librarian.