Winner of Noobie’s contest reviews Audible.com

Some of you may recall the Audible 3 month subscription contest I held earlier this year. The lucky winner of that contest was Michelle Hartz and I asked if she would write her own review of Audible.com when she was done using her free subscription. She was happy to oblige and what follows is her personal review.

I really need to thank Mr. Noobie again for the 3 month subscription to Audible. I’ve really enjoyed the 5 audio books I’ve downloaded. I’d looked into using Audible before but never signed up for the one month trial. Now I believe I’m hooked.

Back in January, I bought myself a pre-reward for sticking to my New Year’s Resolutions: an iPad 2. (Yes, I rewarded myself for a promise that most people don’t keep, but it worked, I kept my resolutions!) I love my iPad, I carry it with me everywhere, and sometimes even take it on runs with me thanks to apps like Runkeeper and Zombies, Run!. So most of my experience with Audible was via iPad.

Unfortunately, I did say most, not all. Although it looked like I could sign up for Audible from the iPad, I got some nondescript errors. When I switched to the PC, the process was quick and easy. I was expecting to have to hunt for the place to put in my code, but all I had to do was paste the code in the Redeem A Gift section.

Using the Audible app

Downloading the app to play the audio books was quick and easily, and updating your library only took a tap of the finger. What really disappoints me though is that the app does NOT let you buy books from within it, only manage your library and listen to your books. I couldn’t figure that out at first until poking around in the app a bit. But purchasing books with my credit from the website was easy.

Note from Mr. Noobie: This was the first I heard you couldn’t purchase books from within the app. I have the Android version of the Audible app and you CAN purchase books from within the app. Must be an Apple thing!

Listening to audiobooks from the app was easy, I just had to select my book and go. It also has quite a few convenient features: like saving your spot in the book no matter how long it had been since you last listened; a 30 second rewind button in case you quickly need to replay the last few sentences; and books broken up into smaller portions so you can start listening immediately instead of waiting for the whole book to download.

Favorite feature

My favorite feature was Sleep Mode. I often listen to books as I fall asleep, and usually set it to shut off after 30 minutes. Instead of just abruptly cutting off, the volume slowly decreases until it shuts off. I found out the hard way that there is a downside to this: some parts of books are not the best for going to sleep to, especially suspense novels!

The 3 month subscription includes one credit a month, and most books cost one credit. Once you use the credit, you can still purchase books at a discounted price. If you notice, I mentioned 5 books that I downloaded, not just 3. They also have sales that offer subscribers an even more discounted price, so I was able to pick two more books up for $10. That’s cheaper than I could buy the paperbacks for!

No access to audio source

The most disappointing feature to me was not having actual audio files, such as MP3s like I would get if I had purchased CDs. Many apps, like the running ones I mentioned earlier, have the ability to import your own music to integrate it with their services. It would have been nice to have been able to import books to listen to while I was running. Admittedly, I didn’t try using a running app and Audible at the same time, because I was afraid of the running app’s audio cues covering up the narration of an audiobook.

All in all, the Audible subscription was a great treat, and I plan to continue to purchase it for myself. As expected, the best part of the service is the sweet voices of Gideon Emery or Neil Gaiman lulling me to sleep…

Michelle Hartz is a graphic designer at Baugh Enterprises, an author of two books, Helpless, and Brains for the Zombie Soul, the Bloomington, Indiana Municipal Liaison for National Writing Month, and a contributor to Into-The-Dark.com. Although she doesn’t consider herself a noobie, she’s always interested in finding out more about new technology. Find out more at her website, www.hartzdesign.com.