Reviews
Audiobooks.com offers unlimited streaming in web app – it’s like Netflix for audio books
February 29, 2012 | by Andrew Kameka
Android App Reviews
The all-you-can-eat subscription model has revolutionized the entertainment industry. Whether Netflix for movies or Spotify for music, the practice of users paying one monthly fee and gaining access to an entire library has exposed consumers to tons of content.
Audiobooks.com is the Spotify of audio books. Rather than purchase individual titles, it provides unlimited streaming of audio books. Users pay a monthly membership fee of $24.99 and then gain access to all of the 10,000 new best sellers and classic audio books available.
There’s currently no Android app for Audiobooks.com, but there is a web app for users who want to listen to audio books on their Android device. The company let me test the service, and so I did. I admit that I’m a person who prefers the written word, so could this service impress me?
The AudioBooks.com Web App
I tend to shy away from web apps because I like to do multiple things at once, and jumping from window to window is not as seamless or continuous an experience on the web as it is with native apps. But given the nature of Audiobooks, which are about focusing in on listening to narration, it was not as big of an issue. I was actually quite pleased with the iPhone-ish interface, but the slower response when switching between tabs – Home, Browse, Search, and Account – was slower than I would have expected on a native app.
However, things looked up once I started listening to books. After hearing about the Steve Jobs biography for months and seeing it as one of the featured titles in the AudioBooks.com app, I made that my first selection. The player shows a progress bar that makes it easy to move to a specific point. It also enables simple skipping back or forward by 30 seconds, and the controls disappear when not needed. The stream quality was strong on both WiFi and 3G. I was especially pleased that the app maintains position, so I could resume from the last point if a phone call interrupted me.
There’s little to complain about with the Audiobooks.com web app. Books are organized by category, it’s easy to discover similar titles and recommendations, and the sound quality is good. One of the only problems with the app is that it’s not native, so you’ll have to keep the screen on to listen, but testing was otherwise favorable.
It was disappointing to discover that a few audiobooks that I wanted to hear were not available. Audiobooks.com currently supports 10,000 books, which is smaller than competitors, and leaves gaps in its library. That’s one of the problems faced by all forms of the all-you-can-eat entertainment model, so don’t be surprised if something you want to hear isn’t available for streaming.
Interested? Head over to Audiobooks.com and sing-up for a free 7-day trial. That way you can test the service on your Android device and see if there are enough interesting audio books to warrant joining the site.
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I got really excited when I read the headline, but it’s too expensive IMO. Audible is $15/month for one credit or $23(I think) for 2 credits. You get to keep the books and they have a native app. If they dropped the price just a little bit, I’d find it more compelling. Still, I love the idea and I hope they succeed.
May be it is time they created a native app and worked on their pricing.
I have the service and for 25 bucks a month i listen to 4 or 5 books a month that would cost me 50 dollars at audible. So I think the price is just right yeah you get to keep the books at audible but you only get one a month so that would last me about a week and I wouldbe setting there waiting for the next month to arrive to get another book.
I don’t know how to register help meeeeeee
Seems a bit odd. I’ve had a free android app called “audiobooks” on my phone since 2010…
yeah that app is not for audiobooks.com
I have a long commute every day, but never really thought about audio books. After seeing a bunch of ads in some of the games I play on my phone, I tried Audible’s 1 credit at a time plan, and I happened to pick a book I didn’t like, so for a whole month I couldn’t listen to anything. I ended up cancelling two days later.
A friend of mine told me about Audiobooks.com and I tried it out. The no risk part of it was what really blew me away. You seriously can start listening to any number of books and if you don’t like it, you can move on and try another one.
The one gripe I have is that not every book I want is available – the major ones are there, like Hunger Games, Steve Jobs, Lucky Man, etc, but some of the more esoteric titles are not there. They keep adding more titles every day so the selection is pretty good. I have an iPad and a Galaxy S2, and I have downloaded their app on both devices (yeah there is an Android app now). The apps are really nice and even allow you to download books. I’d give the service a 9 out of 10 overall.
In education, it is generally cheaper to provide a single set of books on tape, audio books, and other audio learning materials for the class to share. Money is saved because individual books are not needed. Plus, the teacher will be able to do more with his or her time while the class listens to audio lessons. Researches also show that a large percentage- 85%- of our learning and knowledge actually comes from listening. Another plus factor for using audio books is the improvement of the students’ listening and comprehension skills.;
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