What is Audible and why is it so useful?

Owned by Amazon, Audible is currently the largest seller of audiobooks in the world. It primarily sells books by major publishers but also offers an extensive catalogue of exciting podcasts, romance authors, and a growing list of exclusive series.

Audible users are granted credits for free downloads on a monthly or annual basis depending on their subscription, allowing them to purchase titles at a discounted price.

What does it offer?

No matter what device you use the app on, Audible is simple to work with. You’re able to download files directly to your computer or onto your smartphone to listen to offline, saving your data and making them perfect for long journeys with intermittent signal.

Once you buy an audiobook, it’s yours to keep forever, meaning you can go back to it as many times as you like. If you purchase something that you’re not too keen on and wish you’d gone for a different title, you don’t have to worry about it – Audible lets you swap any book at any time, no matter what your reason is. Since it’s digital, you don’t even have to go out of your way to choose a different title; simply browse their extensive library until you find something that catches your eye.

As well as audiobooks, once you’ve made an account, you can listen to as many podcasts as you want for no extra cost.

A particularly handy thing about the Audible app is that it allows listeners to customise their listening experience to their exact needs. You can adjust how fast the narrator reads, and even set a sleep timer than will turn off your book after a certain amount of time in case you’ve nodded off during a chapter. Users can also select whether they want a high-quality or a low-quality stream of their book in the settings menu, allowing you to save data when out and about by switching to a less data-hungry option.

How much is Audible?

When you first sign up to Audible, the site will give you a 30-day free trial and a complimentary audiobook to get you started. Once the trial is up and running, you can choose from several typed of subscriptions. £7.99 a month will get you one free credit every four weeks that can be used on any audiobook, regardless of the original price; £14.99 will get you two of these credits per month.

If you’re happy with the service and you want to make a bigger commitment, you can pay £69.99 in one go to get you 12 credits per year, or £109.99 for 24. It’s a good investment if you’re a regular listener of audiobooks or an avid reader, as you’ll be saving quite a fair chunk of money by not buying books outright.

Is it worth it?

If you’re a person who listens to a lot of audiobooks and podcasts and you’re looking for an app where you can find them all in one place, Audible is definitely worth the money.

If you’re not sure, there’s always the free trial available to help you make up your mind, and if you decide it’s not for you, you can cancel your subscription anytime. However, with so much subject matter to experience and a truly user-friendly system, we reckon you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.