Listen up

Enjoy audiobooks? I do, and get them mainly from Audible.com.  The company is running a nice deal now.  If you subscribe to any of their plans (I'm on their one audio per month plan for $14.95), they will throw in two free additional audios from its self-produced Audible Originals line.  So I'm now getting three audio downloads a month for my $14.95 instead of one.

By the way, the way the system works is that every month Audible charges my credit card the $14.95 fee and gives me a "credit" that I can use to purchase any audiobook.  If you don't participate in a credit plan with Audible and just want to buy an occasional audio, they usually cost a good bit more than $14.95. The plan also substantially discounts any additional audios you might purchase beyond the one you get with your monthly credit.

I think it's a pretty good deal for a frequent listener like me, though I still often think of Audible as a bit of a luxury.  But now with the two free audios thing, the $14.95 I give the company every month has a bit more value added to it.

Anyway, the Audible Audio Originals titles I've selected have been pretty interesting so far, with some of my choices being quite off the beaten track of my usual mystery/thriller preference.  I figure, they're free so why not try something different?  So far I've listened a very good Johnny Cash audio about the making of his famous Folsom Prison live album; several comic dramas about relationships and finding love (in modest doses I enjoy the breezy banter this genre usually offers); and some richly-produced full-cast adaptations of all manner of things, including an original story featuring Ripley from the Alien movie franchise (though I prefer a single reader performing an audiobook, a full-cast production with sound effects and music is another thing I can enjoy in modest doses).

Right now I'm listening to The Wild Heart of Stevie Nicks, a short (just under three hours) biographical piece about singer Stevie Nicks and her adventures recording with Fleetwood Mac and on her own, written and nicely narrated by music historian Steve Sheffield.  Fun stuff.  And something I probably wouldn't have chosen and experienced if I had to pay for it.

So, if you enjoy audiobooks and have occasionally thought about trying out Audible.com, now might be the time.  I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of my Audible membership these days, and you might find the same enjoyment, too.