Netflix for Audiobooks: Simply Audiobooks
Jason Calacanis is talking about a service like Netflix for audiobooks called Simply Audiobooks. They have 5,895 different audiobook titles, ship them in a blue envelope, and they call the queue a "bookshelf." Plans start at $19.95 and you can get a discount for prepaying:
This sounds a lot like Audible. I was an early Audible subscriber (but I switched to Netflix), and I believe that Audible has several advantages:
Immediate downloads of audiobooks. Yeah, you have to deal with DRM, but you don't have to wait for the book to arrive by mail. 27,000 titles, more than 4 times the selection at Simply Audiobooks. Free iPod Shuffle if you sign up for six months, or discounts on other players including iPods. Additional content including magazines and periodicals.
Competition is always good for customers. Do we have any Audible or Simply Audiobooks subscribers?
So they send you AudioBook CD's. So everyone is just going to copy the cd huh? Love to do this but it seems a bit pricy.
Posted by: Mike M | September 01, 2005 at 07:21 AM
If you can listen to more than 2 audiobooks a month, this is a great pricing model compared to Audible.
Posted by: Greg | September 01, 2005 at 07:29 AM
I'm an audible subscriber. I love the selection and the users reviews and the DRM is easy to deal with.
Posted by: Curt Hibbs | September 01, 2005 at 09:31 AM
Prepaid discounts is a great idea that I wish Netflix and Blockbuster would implement.
Posted by: Morgan | September 01, 2005 at 09:55 AM
I tried Audible, but switched to Simply Audiobooks because the shipping was easier to deal with than tech and customer service problems at audible.
It's 3 days or so for the CDs to get to you, which can be a pain, but the price is right.
Posted by: Aileen | September 01, 2005 at 03:20 PM
Audible for 4 years. Fantastic!
Posted by: Greg Speck | September 02, 2005 at 05:13 AM
The DRM killed Audible, non DRM is growing at ten times the rate.
Posted by: | September 03, 2005 at 10:09 AM
I'm an Audible customer and I absolutely love their service. I would rather download DRM managed books and burn them to CD then have to deal with copying CDs that come in the mail. Plus, it's cheaper.
Posted by: Jennifer Flynn | September 05, 2005 at 08:53 AM
I've subscribed to simablyaudiobooks and a similar service, jiggerbug for a couple months now. What's interesting about jiggerbug is that you also get two DRM audiobook downloads per month and their envelope is an exact replica of netflix envelopes. Turn around times for both services is s-l-o-w by any standard, so don't expect more than 2-3 turn arounds per month (where I live anyway. It took more than two weeks for simplyaudiobooks one time.) Jiggerbug has a tiny selection compared to simplyaudiobooks, and their price is the same.
Posted by: Pablo Montoya | September 06, 2005 at 12:55 PM
What about Booksfree. They have a huge selection and offer CD and MP3-CD audiobooks. They also offer paperback book memberships.
Posted by: Jason Davis | May 30, 2006 at 03:00 PM
Booksfree is also good. They great if you like large science fiction or any unabridged books for that matter.
Audible and Simplyaudiobooks are forced by publishers to use DRM.
A great free audio book site is http://www.audiobooks.net. Looks like a small but growing selection of public domain audio books.
Posted by: freeb26 | November 02, 2006 at 12:41 PM