Review Sites & Plans

Simply Audiobooks Review

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Web site URL: simplyaudiobooks.com

Customer Service: 1-877-554-4332 9-5 EST, M-F

Ratings:
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Customer Service:
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Overview:

Simply Audiobooks is a leading online retailer for audio books online. It is the only company to offer a Netflix-like rental plan for books on CD. It also offers digital downloads of audio books either in MP3 or WMA format. More details:

  • 11,000+ Books on CD. Most can be rented or purchased. Some can only be rented and some can only be purchased.
  • 11,000+ digital audio books. All are available through their monthly download plan and some can be purchased without the plan. Most are in MP3 format, some are in WMA format. Learn more about audio book formats in our FAQ section.

Pros:

  • Their CD rental plan can be a great way to listen to lots of books on CD at a great price.
  • They have a good selection of books though in many different formats, and many books are not available in all formats.
  • Their download plan for digital audio books is competitively priced to audible.com though the have far less digital audio books.
  • They are a good online retailer for purchasing books on CD.
  • They provide audio samples for many of their books though not all.
  • Intuitive web site interface that is easy to use
  • Friendly customer service.

Cons:

  • Renting CD's in the mail can take too much time. It can take up to seven days from the time you last mailed the audio book you just finished till the next audio book in your rental queue arrives in your mailbox.
  • It can be confusing what books are available to rent and which ones are available to purchase. You may subscribe to their CD rental plan only to find that books on CD you are interested in renting are only available for purchasing.
  • Too many digital formats. Their digital audio books are available in MP3 and WMA formats. MP3 audio books are fine, they will play in pretty much every major portable device. WMA digital audio books are not. For instance, they won't play on iPods. You might spend too much time scratching your head over what books in their library you will be able to listen to, and which ones you can't.
  • Their CD rental plan is separate from their digital download plan. Many books are either in CD, MP3, or WMA format. There could easily be books in their library you want to listen to but because of their format aren't available for the plan you are paying for.

Plans:

Simply Audiobooks has a number of CD Rental Plans and Download Plans depending on the number of audio books you want to listen to in a given month:

CD Rental Plans Cancellations Policy Annual Plan Price Monthly Plan Price
1 Book at a Time* At any time $15/mo $17.98/mo
2 Books at a Time* At any time $22/mo $26.98/mo
3 Books at a Time* At any time $34/mo $37.98/mo
4 Books at a Time* At any time $43/mo $47.98/year
* how many books (collection of CD's comprising an entire book) that you can have out at any one time without having to mail back a book to receive a new one
Download Plans Cancellations Policy Annual Plan Price Monthly Plan Price
Download Club 1 Book a Month At any time $13/mo $14.95/mo
Download Club 2 Books a Month At any time $22/mo $24.95/mo
Download Club 3 Books a Month At any time $28/mo $31.95/mo

Bottom Line:

If you are interested in using a Netflix-like subscription plan to listen to books on CD, give Simply Audiobooks a try. If you want to download audio books or are willing to consider downloading digital audio books and then burning them to CD, you can save a lot of money and headaches by going with Audible.com.