Someone explain the point of Audible?

[Chad]

AndrewP wrote: "Okay, several people have mentioned that they listen to the Audible books at 1.5 or 2x speed. Doesn't that somewhat negate the production quality and skill of the narrator?"

Depends on the narrator. If they read with a slow, deliberate pace -- which I've found most do -- then 1.5x speed sounds more natural to me than 1x speed. No compromise to quality. I'd say only about 10-15% of the audiobooks I've listened to I haven't been able to speed up because it's too fast.

[terpkristin]

Warren wrote: The voice also makes a big difference.
I enjoy listening to some more then others"

This is of course true. There's a thread here for favorite narrators. In particular, I've found that for me, female narrators work far less often than male narrators.

I find some books work better than others, too. An odd instance I came into recently was 1Q84. I ended up going through parts of that book that I wanted to read in print (Kindle edition) and parts that I wanted to listen to. I tried reading Mistborn: The Final Empire but it didn't really work for me in print. Audio was awesome. The opposite was true for Elantris.

Of course, at the end of the day, different strokes for different folks.

[Don]

I have tried speeding it up on my Ipod but I get an odd echo effect and some words get snipped so I have never been able to keep with it.

[Daniel]

AndrewP wrote: "Okay, several people have mentioned that they listen to the Audible books at 1.5 or 2x speed. Doesn't that somewhat negate the production quality and skill of the narrator?"

As others have said, it depends on the narrator. I ended up listening to Cryptonomicon at 2x which is the first time I have listened to a sped up book for more than a minute or two. I had to speed it up or I was never going to finish! It was jarring at first but with the higher quality recording, it became barely noticeable very quickly.

That being said I am about three hours in to 11/22/63 and it hasn't occurred to me to speed it up. I will give it a go next listen and see if I feel differently.

[Cap'n Jack]

I am keeping audible on my phone but not subscribing to the service. I really like the 1.5X speed feature; ipod only does 2X speed and not 1.5X, which seems way too fast.

Here's the reason I like playback speed 1.5X: I recently finished A Princess Of Mars, which is the first in the Barsoom/John Carter series. The reader speaks in a slow Southern drawl. Played back at 1.5X it becomes a speedy, perky Southern drawl, which I enjoyed.

Currently I'm listening to the Ender's Game: 20th Anniversary edition, which doesn't need to be played any faster than 1X.

[AndrewP]

Cap'n Jack wrote: "Here's the reason I like playback speed 1.5X: I recently finished A Princess Of Mars, which is the first in the Barsoom/John Carter series. The reader speaks in a slow Southern drawl. Played back at 1.5X it becomes a speedy, perky Southern drawl, which I enjoyed. "

That's a coincidence... I am currently listening to
Pellucidar, which is one of the many Burroughs books available on Librivox as a free audiobook. From your description of the narrator, it's probably the same guy. I thought I would test a short amateur audiobook at a higher speed to see how I like it.

[Mike]

Looks like I'm the only one to regularly listen at 3x....

[AndrewP]

3x.. wow that must be interesting. (Visions of listening to The Stand narrated by the Chipmunks.) lol

[Joel]

Cap'n Jack wrote: "I am keeping audible on my phone but not subscribing to the service. I really like the 1.5X speed feature; ipod only does 2X speed and not 1.5X, which seems way too fast."

as far as i have been able to determine, the ipod's "faster" setting (the only speed-up option on my nano) is actually only about 20 percent faster (i timed it by listening for ten minutes while watching the clock; 12 minutes of book time elapsed). i always listen on "faster" but it is nowhere near double or even 1.5 speed.

@mike i can't imagine listening on 3x speed. what program offers that?

[Nels]

Mike wrote: "Looks like I'm the only one to regularly listen at 3x...."

Haha. I always listen at 2x - for podcasts and audiobooks. I don't know how I'd make it through all the podcasts (and I don't even subscribe to that many) without 2x. I should probably listen to audiobooks on 1x, but some of the narrators are really slow and I want to try to make it through more books too...

[Nels]

as far as i have been able to determine, the ipod's "faster" setting (the only speed-up option on my nano) is actually only about 20 percent faster (i timed it by listening for ten minutes while watching the clock; 12 minutes of book time elapsed). i always listen on "faster" but it is nowhere near double or even 1.5 speed.

I actually did the same thing and got about the same result. I wonder the iPod is smart enough to go 40% faster for narrators who are 20% slower?

Even if it is only ever 20% faster and not true 2x, it's still 20% faster.

[AndrewP]

If your using an iPad and IOS 5, none of these settings exist anymore. In their infinite wisdom Apple removed these features from the music player. Mine is stuck at 1x, but it could be worse, some people report that the music player gets stuck at 1/2x speed unless you do a full reset of the settings.

[Chad]

I only listen through the Audible app, so I can't speak to any changes in playback speed options within the standard music player. What are the benefits of not using the app (assuming you have that option)?

[Joel]

for me, faster playback IS the chief option. i am used to 1.2x speed on the ipod and would prefer to listen to everything that way if possible. i've had a few books that are either too fast when sped up for something is wrong with the file and words get clipped off and it always annoys me to get used to an hour of listening actually taking an hour (every hour saved is an hour i can spend listening to my next book!).

[Dinre]

Khet wrote: "Alright, first I understand /why/ someone would use it but as a person that doesn't want to subscribe to their monthly model I can't wrap my head around the reasons for using it. I'm all for paying..."

I'm actually with you on the monthly subscription idea. Monthly fees really add up over time, and I hate burdening my budget with yet another recurring fee. Instead, I purchase the 12/24 pack of credits all at once. I've been doing this for a few years now, and it works out great for me.

As far as the "non-member" prices go, they're remarkably similar to the prices you would pay for an audiobook on CD. I "bought" the entire Wheel of Time series (13 books) on Audible.com and spent 13 credits (~$124 USD). Buying the CDs from Amazon, I would have spent more than $140 on just the first three books. For me, Audible makes audiobooks affordable.