Free audiobook deals discussion

skibster

tigerminxy wrote: »

Just had same problem as some others. Signed up but then when I try to buy the books it looks like I'm going to be charged. Checking the 'My account' bit, I don't see anything about credits and there's no link to cancel the account. In fact, it looks like I haven't been signed up for any membership plan at all. Very annoying.

I rang customer services but the robot says that all their agents are busy. Possibly because their system isn't registering people for the free trial properly?

I registered for the free trial with no problems and downloaded my two free books. However, the site said Sansa 200 series devices were compatible. That's what I wanted to use, and the pic even looked just like my player. I downloaded the books, and it wasn't compatible! I had to do some searching to discover they meant the C200 series (or maybe it was e200 or something), and I have an M250. A bit annoying. So I then used it in iTunes (I have an iPod shuffle but I prefer my Sansa), and then with iTunes burned it to a cd (you can't do that in audiblemanager anymore, though from Google it sounds like you could in the past). One book took 9 cds, which I now have to go back and rip to MP3s which I can then put on my Sansa. I did one disk so far, and it didn't put the proper book and track info -- all the cds say the book is actually an album by Gregory somebody and that they all have the same 10 songs on each one! So I have to manually change that info before ripping the cds.

All in all, it's not worth the hassle to get these audiobooks unless you already have a compatible device, or plan to listen to it on your computer, or plan to burn cds to listen to in a car (or if you use a portable CD player, suppose a very few people still tote those around, lol). And be careful, because the info on Audible sure made it sound like my device was compatible, but it wasn't! I'd guess if you have a major brand device that was purchased in the last year or maybe two (my Sansa is three and a half years old), it'll work fine. My shuffle is older than the Sansa and the files worked fine on there, so I'd guess any iPod no matter how old should work.

tigerminxy

I ended up emailing customer support in the end and to be fair to Audible there was no hassle getting the free trial added to my account in the end.

aidnolan

Thank you for highlighting this fantastic offer! I've downloaded 'Dexter by Design' and 'Spanish Phase 1, Lessons 1-30' by Pimsleur, over 16 hours of Spanish lessons. £61.12 for the Spanish audiobook and £15.67 for Dexter, saving £76.79 overall.

I've been wanting to learn a language for a while so, hopefully, this is the perfect starter for it

kefrif

I've had an account with Audible for quite some time now, but haven't bought anything in a few years. The only book likely to be on my horizon was Bill Bryson's "At Home : A Short History of Private Life". I've joined, taken advantage of the the free trial, then cancelled as per the instructions here.

To be honest, I've never had a problem with Audible over the years I've used them (had an Audible Listener account with them in 2007), and I think this ranks as a smashing little offer for us. As I am writing this, my cancellation email has popped through so I really couldn't be happier.

Cheers,

Kefrif

KiKi

I signed up, and got The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as well as a audiobook on learning Mandarin, something I'm interested in doing.

I went to cancel my membership with the reason "I'm looking to reduce expenses" and was offered a £5 free voucher for me to stay. I took it, and bought an Eddie Izzard download from one of his old tours - as well as downloading a number of their free books, interviews and language lessons.

I then cancelled properly today, and the email came through confirming it. All in all it's been excellent. Three 'paid-for' books, some free ones, no charges.

For those people who say that audiobooks are nothing like actually reading, that may be the case for you. But not everyone is lucky enough to be able to see properly to read. For older people especially, it's sometimes nice to have the company of a voice in the room without having to listen to the radio / TV all day.

It's also particularly useful if you're learning a language - there is no way I'd be able to speak the Mandarin I've already learnt if I was reading it in a book! The whole point of it is to listen to the words against the rhythmic music which helps you to learn.

It's a different experience for everyone.

Thanks for the heads up on the offer, Martin et al.
KiKi

paul2louise

I have itunes but my shuffle doesnt work properly. I have downloaded 2 books from which I changed the type of file to windows media player but are .aa files so I cant listen to them on my phone or mp3 player. Is there anyway round this.

thanks

chocolatefudge

Hi
Great news, looks like the free Audiobooks from Audible UK offer, that was stopped last year according to MSE, is back on again through certain URL's. A no obligation 14 day free trial where you can keep the audiobooks even if you cancel anytime in the 14 days. Not sure how long the offer will last but the link is http://www.audible.co.uk/championpo.

skibster

paul2louise wrote: »

I have itunes but my shuffle doesnt work properly. I have downloaded 2 books from which I changed the type of file to windows media player but are .aa files so I cant listen to them on my phone or mp3 player. Is there anyway round this.

thanks

If you're still looking for a way, you could buy Sound Taxi which lets you convert to mp3. For a free way, you could burn all the files to cds and then rip them to mp3 files using your media player (this will take a lot of discs as most books are many hours, so probably not worth it).

A final idea is to spend about 13 quid on a refurbished Sansa Clip on ebay -- these are perfect for audio books and you can download the files from audible in a format that automatically works with the Sansa. It keeps the books in a separate folder and will not only resume where you left off when you turn the player back on, but will hold your spot if you switch to the music folder (and it will also hold your spot in the music folder when you switch back to audiobooks). This is the best option I found to deal with the problem, and I actually tried all three, lol (we had an older model sansa the audiobooks wouldn't work on, then we lost it before I could try to see if a firmware update would work).

brightonman123

the latest 'shortlist' mag (www.shortlist.com is featuring a re audiobook, when you signup for a 14day trial - c/c needed to prove age, so mark your diary to cancel in good time!

PS- as at 28/jan, topcashback currently have £4.04 offer for a free trial, [STRIKE]quidco at £4.00..[/STRIKE] -

Q/co offer seems to have expired.. subsequent link page not found?

elliebean92

chocolatefudge wrote: »

Hi
Great news, looks like the free Audiobooks from Audible UK offer, that was stopped last year according to MSE, is back on again through certain URL's. A no obligation 14 day free trial where you can keep the audiobooks even if you cancel anytime in the 14 days. Not sure how long the offer will last.

Just got my free audiobook from audible, so this deal that's back on is still ongoing. :j
Also thought people might be interested to know that when I went to cancel my membership and put my reason down as "I am trying to reduce expenses", on the next page they tried to get me to stay by offering me 50% off the next 3 months of membership (£3.99 a month instead of £7.99) - great for people who want to get more audiobooks for a better price.

(I hope this is the right place to post this 50% deal!)