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Learn More about Digital Audio Books

Below are the four most common downloadable audio book formats on the web today:

Format: Audible Digital OverDrive MP3 M4B eMusic MP3
Available from:

Audible

Barnes & Noble

Borders

Simply Audiobooks

eMusic
No. of Titles: 85,000+ 27,000+ 20,000+ 11,000+
Phone Support? Yes Yes Yes No
Burn to CD? Yes Yes No Yes
Do we index? Help Yes Yes No Coming Soon
Bookmarking? Help Yes No Yes No
Purchase Individually? Help Yes Yes Yes No
Software Required? Audible Download Manager OverDrive Media Console No eMusic Download Manager
Sound Quality: Variable MP3 MP3 MP3
File Size for 1 hr of audio: Variable 28.5 MB 28.5 MB 28.5 MB
Savings/Membership plan? Help $7.49/month* No $14.95/month $11.99/month
Compatible Devices
Compatible Devices: Over 500+ AudibleReady® Devices
Full list here*
* (opens in new window) 		Over 100+ Compatible Devices
Full list here*
* (opens in new window) 		Most Modern MP3 Compatible Devices Most MP3 Compatible Devices
Wireless Apps Help
Android: Android OS 1.X (or newer)
See Supported Devices 		Android v1.5 (or newer) No No
BlackBerry: See Supported Devices BlackBerry v4.5 (or newer) No No
iPhones/iPods: iPhone/iPod Touch
iOS 3.1 (or newer)		 iPhone iOS v4.0 (or newer) No No
Kindle: Yes No No No
Windows Phone 7: No Yes No No
Bottom Line
Bottom Line: Hands down best downloadable audio book on the web. Good prices but crappy software and DRM make it a hassle not worth dealing with. A good quality emerging format but too little titles. Not great but pretty cheap.
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Do we index these type of audio books on our site. Whether you can search our site directly to find prices on these types of audio books.

Whether this type of audio book format allows you to stop listening to a book and resume from where you left off or is more like a CD in that you must skip from chapter to chapter and fast forward and rewind to certain parts.

Can these audio books be purchased individually or can they only be downloaded with a savings/membership plan?

Can these audio books be purchased individually or can they only be downloaded with a savings/membership plan?

Whether these audio books can be downloaded with a subscription plan to save money on titles. For this chart figures represent the cost of downloading one book a month.

Whether or not custom apps are available for these kind of mobile devices. Mobile apps over a range of advanced features including bookmarking, mobile downloading, and custom browsing and recommendation settings that make having them beneficial.

$7.49 for the first three months and $14.95 thereafter plus 30% off all additional titles.

Audible Digital books come four different formats ranging in sound quality and file size. Most books are available in all four formats:

Audible Digital Audio Book Format 2 3 4 e - Audible Enhanced Audio
Sound Quality is similar to AM FM MP3 CD
File size for 1 hr of audio 3.7MB 7.2MB 14.4MB 28.8MB
Download time per hour (high speed connection) 20 sec 40 sec 1m 19s 2m 37s
Download time per hour (56K modem) 9 min 17 mins 35 mins 1h 9m

Over 500+ AudibleReady® devices. If you own a mobile audio device, chances are it's compatible with Audible.

If you see your device's manufacturer below, you're most likely ready to listen:

  • Apple
  • Cowon
  • Creative
  • Zune
  • Garmin
  • iRiver
  • Kindle
  • Memorex
  • Blackberry
  • Motorola
  • Philips
  • RCA
  • Olympus
  • SanDisk
  • Sonos
  • TomTom
  • Pioneer XMp3

OverDrive is compatible with many devices from these manufacturers:

  • Apple
  • Blackberry
  • Coby
  • Creative
  • HTC
  • LG
  • Motorola
  • Nook
  • Samsung
  • SanDisk
  • SonyReader
  • Zune

Audible Mobile App Compatible Android Devices:

  • All Android 1.X and Higher Devices, including:
  • Google Nexus One
  • HTC Aria
  • HTC Desire HD
  • HTC Droid Eris
  • HTC Droid Incredible
  • HTC EVO
  • HTC Hero
  • LG Ally
  • Motorola Backflip
  • Motorola Cliq
  • Motorola Devour
  • Motorola Droid and Droid 2
  • Motorola Droid X
  • myTouch 3G Slide
  • Samsung Captivate
  • Samsung Behold II
  • Samsung Epic 4G
  • Samsung Galaxy
  • Samsung Galaxy 2
  • Samsung Galaxy S
  • Samsung Moment
  • Samsung Vibrant
  • T-Mobile G1
  • T-Mobile MyTouch 3G

Audible Mobile App Compatible BlackBerry Devices:

  • 8800 Series
  • Bold 9000 Series
  • Curve 8300 Series
  • Curve 8500 Series
  • Curve 8900
  • Curve 9000 Series
  • Pearl 8100 Series
  • Pearl 8200 Series
  • Pearl 9100
  • Storm 9530
  • Storm 2 9550
  • Style 9670
  • Tour 9630
  • Torch 9800

What should I know before I purchase downloadable audio books?

In our experience before you lay down your hard earned cash you should look for these three things:

  • Good Software

    I didn't realize how important this was until I purchased my first OverDrive MP3 book from Borders.com. I downloaded the OverDrive Media Console to my Windows 7 PC and then downloaded my MP3 book as an *.odm file from Borders (I know, I was confused to). After loading the odm file into the Media Console, the first thing it did was hit me with an error message Unable to acquire a license to play the selected title. Error 1003: The requested license is either invalid or already acquired. I tried downloading the book again but after a couple of tries Borders wouldn't let me download the odm file anymore. I called Borders and after putting me on hold for 30 minutes their customer service eventually dumped me with an OverDrive rep who helped me resolve the issue. Long story short, I paid for that OverDrive MP3 book on a Friday morning and didn't have it on my iPod until a Monday afternoon. Which brings me to my next point...

  • Good Customer Phone Support

    The last thing you want to do if you lay down your hard earned cash for something like a downloadable audio book is run into some technical problem and then have to fill out some form on the web for assistance that says they hope to "address your issue in the next 24-72 hours". Are you serious? I just paid you good money for this and this is the best you can do? Even if they have a phone number to call who is picking up? If it's someone not in the United States and they don't even understand the product you just purchased (like the Borders' example above) you're still going to have to jump through hoops to resolve your issue. Try calling a company's phone support first before you buy and ask them some questions about their products, see if they know what they are talking about and seem helpful. You'll be glad to know who you are dealing with.

  • Bookmarking

    This is actually part of "Good Software" but I'd like to make special mention of it. When you try listening to your first 20+ hour MP3 book you'll understand. You want the ability to listen for 20 minutes, turn off your device, and come back right to where you left off. Better yet you want the ability to skip around the book quickly and easily. These are things that conventional CD's don't have and one of the exciting reasons to get into digital audio books. Unfortunately, conventional MP3 files just weren't designed for this they were designed for much shorter audio files like a five minute song, not a 1.5 hour reading of the chapter of a book! This is where bookmarking comes in. It's an advanced feature available from newer types of audio book formats and it means having advanced control over your audio book of where it stops and starts which is something I think you'll greatly appreciate!

Bottom line:

I've tried out all the different kinds of digital audio book formats above and from one audio book listener to another I can tell you you want:

  • An easy experience devoid of problems
  • Advanced features like bookmarking
  • Good prices and selection!

...and right now that all adds up Audible. M4B files are catching up but even they can't boast the amount of software support you can get as an Audible customer. And if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch (which I do) it's a no brainer with their custom iPhone App. Yes some of their books do seem overpriced but then I say why not try one of their subscription services? You can download a couple audio books cheap and then cancel if you want. Personally I fluctuate between times when I'm listening to lots of books and when I'm not. When I'm ready to listen I just renew my plan and download books cheap and when I want to take a break I just call them up cancel the plan for a while. They'll even put it on hold. It's the best way to enjoy affordable, downloadable audio books if you ask me.