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Purely as an fyi if you're like me and get the "not available in your region" thing a lot with audible. When your new credits come in, change the billing address on your card to the US, then go get the books you want. When you're done, switch back to your real billing address. Problem solved. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got books five through thirteen of the dresden files to download.
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Jun 2, 2012 11:38
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I note that Audible sells a lot of classics that are past expiry on their copyright and many of which have free versions available at Librivox. Quality may vary but frankly, for me, the quality of readers even for commercially available books can really suck too and the readers who are enthused enough to do it for free can be very, very good. So you can sometimes save your credits for something more recent. For instance, queued up on my list is Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays. Audible wanted a credit for one of the essays, under 2 hours' worth. I said screw that, looked it up elsewhere and now can spend my monthly credit on something more current. Of course you get a few who volunteer at Librivox just to work on their English and some of those are not as good ... YMMV. Regarding readers: I generally like a totally transparent reader who is faithfully delivering the words of the book, not a voice actor or a dramatist. I know a lot of folks differ on that. Just finished Tina Fey's auto. While I'm impressed with her television, the auto mostly made me want to cradle her in my arms and say 'you poor, poor overworked, neurotic thing.' But then, she made it pretty clear it wasn't written for men. (Bought it for my wife! NoHomo! And Tina, my neuroses would kick your neuroses collective rear end.)
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Jun 6, 2012 04:58
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SnakePlissken posted:I note that Audible sells a lot of classics that are past expiry on their copyright and many of which have free versions available at Librivox. Quality may vary but frankly, for me, the quality of readers even for commercially available books can really suck too and the readers who are enthused enough to do it for free can be very, very good. So you can sometimes save your credits for something more recent. For instance, queued up on my list is Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays. Audible wanted a credit for one of the essays, under 2 hours' worth. I said screw that, looked it up elsewhere and now can spend my monthly credit on something more current.
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Jun 6, 2012 17:00
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coyo7e posted:This seems especially ironic when you take into consideration the fact that Audible refuses to sell contemporary audiobooks which have a version available online for free elsewhere online. Scott Sigler has some interesting stuff about it on his website, where he explains why he can't sell his work on audible unless he never gives it out for free, serially. Edit: Audible even sells episodes of NPR shows where the podcasts only go back a couple episodes but you can listen to pretty much all of online via a flash interface that just doesn't give you the option to download them. I really don't think this is some sort of evil discrimination against independent authors or something as the site he links suggests. Also, their limitation appears to be just based on selling the exact same audio. I'm pretty sure they sell audiobooks of works where the text can be downloaded for free from the authors' sites. As a result, this really has nothing to do with whether they would sell audiobooks of works where the copyright for the text has expired. mystes fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Jun 6, 2012 |
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Jun 6, 2012 20:11
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Librivox is definitely a good option for some of the more canonical out-of-copyright authors. As noted, the quality of the readings does vary, and some books will have more than one reader (to split up the workload). You can tell that some readers are more dedicated to their work, and it's about as good as the stuff you'd get on Audible. I've listened to some Dickens via Librivox and there are some women who attempt to do voices or an accent of sorts. The problem is that the accents tends to mutate and evolve as the reading goes on... The desire to affect an English accent for English characters is really annoying. I mentioned this previously, but if you're looking for out-of-copyright novels and such, public libraries often have a good supply that you can just download directly. I recently listened to Great Expectations and thought the reading was excellent. It's read by Simon Vance, who did the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and a lot of other stuff (including lots of Dickens).
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Jun 6, 2012 23:10
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Tithin Melias posted:Purely as an fyi if you're like me and get the "not available in your region" thing a lot with audible. When your new credits come in, change the billing address on your card to the US, then go get the books you want. When you're done, switch back to your real billing address. Problem solved. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got books five through thirteen of the dresden files to download. I was scrolling through my library to update some Facebook likes this week, and when I got to: From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbour I saw this: quote:We're sorry. Due to publishing rights restrictions, we are not authorized to sell this item in the country where you live. But, but you were able to sell it to me (and did) less than a year ago...  I know Canada has bullshit media licensing laws, but what the gently caress? Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 10:11 on Jun 9, 2012 |
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Jun 9, 2012 10:08
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I just got through the entirety of the Addison Neuromancer audiobook during a shift at work today, and both the book and performance were great. I'm totally gonna give it another listen tomorrow. For the most part, his character voices were good, but the one he had for The Finn was ~fabulous~, very deliberately camp, but I actually liked it. What other good (unabridged, obviously) cyberpunk/technothriller audiobooks are there? I'm kinda into it again now.
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Jun 12, 2012 11:27
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S-Alpha posted:I just got through the entirety of the Addison Neuromancer audiobook during a shift at work today, and both the book and performance were great. I'm totally gonna give it another listen tomorrow. For the most part, his character voices were good, but the one he had for The Finn was ~fabulous~, very deliberately camp, but I actually liked it. Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon has a great narrator. The series gets less cyberpunk as it goes along, but the first book is completely self-contained.
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Jun 12, 2012 16:48
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FYI, audible.com is having a 25% off sale right now - on everything on their website, through June 17th.
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Jun 12, 2012 21:14
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Hey Book Barn people, I could really use a recommendation. I am about to do a cross-country road trip on my little black Italian motorcycle. I am going to hop on the bike and hit the road in less than 24 hours. There are some parts that are extremely enjoyable, like the twisty mountain passes in Colorado and Utah. Other parts require a degree improvisation to not be bored of my skull. The Middle of Iowa, having spent the last 500 miles going in a straight line, knowing I still have hundreds of miles to go, in a straight line, with nothing to look at except corn, audio books are a godsend. Problem is, I don't read much fiction so recommendations would be much appreciated. As far as genre might be concerned, sci-fi/adventure is perfect. Even better when it's the kind of story/setting are something I can insert myself into. Imagine I'm riding at night, and Steven Fry is dictating action of a quidditch game. A Monster 900 could seem a lot like a Nimbus 2000. Taking it's even easier to be the protagonist when I the timer on the box is down to the last 5 minutes. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, poo poo happens! I already downloaded the Hunger Games, but I am looking for more suggestions. I am interested to hear if you folks might have in mind. WildWanderer fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Jun 13, 2012 |
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Jun 13, 2012 13:35
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There's no reason why audiobooks have to be fiction. There are a ton of books on all sorts of subjects. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions is a great book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) would be a good read while on the road 
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Jun 13, 2012 18:29
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WildWanderer posted:I am about to do a cross-country road trip on my little black Italian motorcycle. I am going to hop on the bike and hit the road in less than 24 hours. There are some parts that are extremely enjoyable, like the twisty mountain passes in Colorado and Utah. Other parts require a degree improvisation to not be bored of my skull. The Middle of Iowa, having spent the last 500 miles going in a straight line, knowing I still have hundreds of miles to go, in a straight line, with nothing to look at except corn, audio books are a godsend. Problem is, I don't read much fiction so recommendations would be much appreciated. Since you're road-tripping on a bike, Dayton Duncan's "The National Parks" narrated by Ken Burns (of shitloads of documentaries, fame) may also be fun to listen to. Those are a few I've got through audible and enjoyed. Most of them aren't sci-fi, but I mostly read sci-fi because I have trouble keeping up with dilithium crystal engineering theory, if I can't flip the page back and read it slowly a couple times.. 
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Jun 13, 2012 20:00
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WildWanderer posted:Hey Book Barn people, I could really use a recommendation. There's 13 Dresden Files books Narrated by James Marsters of Buffy fame for about 160 hours of pulpy goodness. Kind've Harry Potter for adults which might be up your alley. There's also the 12 Black Company books which are narrated by a couple of different people notably among them Mark Witers who seems to narrate everything. There's also the 6 Codex Alara books narrated by Kate Reading who also does a lot of voice work. That's 31 books, and if that doesn't hold you, you could tackle the Wheel of Time which is another giant pile of books.
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Jun 14, 2012 06:00
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So it seems that they're doing a new audio version of World War Z. I know Nathan Fillion has recorded a part for it, and it sounds like they're going to be revealing the names as the weeks go on. Hopefully it'll be unabridged this time.
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Jun 16, 2012 00:22
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DrVenkman posted:So it seems that they're doing a new audio version of World War Z. I know Nathan Fillion has recorded a part for it, and it sounds like they're going to be revealing the names as the weeks go on. Hopefully it'll be unabridged this time. Hell yes. Although no one tops Alan Alda as Sinclair. WildWanderer posted:As far as genre might be concerned, sci-fi/adventure is perfect. Even better when it's the kind of story/setting are something I can insert myself into. Imagine I'm riding at night, and Steven Fry is dictating action of a quidditch game. A Monster 900 could seem a lot like a Nimbus 2000. Taking it's even easier to be the protagonist when I the timer on the box is down to the last 5 minutes. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, poo poo happens! I recently listened to (and really enjoyed) The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross. Picture Lovecraft meets 007 meets Dilbert. Totally unrelated to the above request, more reviews: The Third Policeman, by Flann O'Brien, read by Jim Norton. Fantastic book -- a Lewis Carroll approach to nonsense, philosophy, metaphysics, and bicycles. You'll probably see the end coming a mile off, but I doubt you'll mind. Especially recommended if you dig language, Ireland, or the uniquely Irish approach to idiom. Wonderful reading by Norton. The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins, read by the author with Lalla Ward. This is my favorite aspect of Dawkins; not the smug atheist crusader, but the scientist in awe of a natural world that needs no deity to be miraculous. Really drives home the point that incremental evolution by natural selection not only makes sense, but is the only explanation we have which does so economically, can be backed up with fossil evidence, and does not require postulating the spontaneous generation of an omnipotent prime mover whose existence would be even more perplexing than any mystery regarding life on Earth. My Man, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse, read by Simon Prebble. Short story collection featuring the first appearances of Jeeves and Wooster. Wasn't all that taken with the four stories featuring the "proto-Wooster", Reggie Pepper, though. It's not that those stories were bad by any stretch of the imagination; they just lacked the back-and-forth of the Jeeves/Wooster chemistry. Prebble may be my favorite Jeeves narrator, thus far. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, by David Simon, read by Reed Diamond. Before The Wire, there was Homicide: Life on the Streets. Before that, there was this book. Fans of either TV series will find the genesis of several plots, characters, and anecdotes in this book. Featuring some surprisingly muscular prose, this isn't any kind of impartial recording of the inner workings of the Baltimore PD's Homicide Unit, circa 1989; this is a beefy recounting of a year spent riding along with detectives that the author clearly idolizes. I'm not thrilled that it only comes abridged; the audiobook version is missing at least one major section that I know of (the Latonya Kim Wallace murder, the basis for the "Adena Watson" case that plagues Tim Bayliss throughout H:LotS). But it's still well worth a listen. Reed Diamond played Mike Kellerman on H:LotS, so if you watched the show, hearing his voice will feel natural. For the most part. If the way he reads the dialogue of Terrence McLarney isn't a direct impression of the real detective, then it's a really odd acting choice. Otherwise, it's been starts and stops. Books that I've recently started but haven't finished include: Illuminatus! Part 1, by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, read by Ken Campbell and Chris Fairbank. I was initially put off by the Fagan-esque tone of the narration, then stopped after I could take no more of two Englishmen doing really bad New York Cop voices. The Cairo Trilogy (Dramatized), by Naguib Mahfouz, narrated by Omar Sharif (but portrayed by a full cast). I was having a difficult time keeping up with the dramatization in the car, so I put it aside until I had time to really pay attention. The author was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, and is to this day the only Arabic-language author to have done so, so I figure his stuff deserves a careful listen. Island of the Sequined Love Nun, by Christopher Moore, read by Oliver Wyman. No particular reason why I haven't finished this; it just happens that I've been listening to it while in a napping mood, and have managed to catch about half. Some very funny lines so far. Excellent reading by Wyman. The Sybil, by Par Lagerkvist, read by Lorna Raver, Kristoffer Tabori, and Yuri Rasovsky. Started listening to this on the way home from work this evening. Good stuff, so far.
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Jun 16, 2012 08:12
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DrVenkman posted:So it seems that they're doing a new audio version of World War Z. I know Nathan Fillion has recorded a part for it, and it sounds like they're going to be revealing the names as the weeks go on. Hopefully it'll be unabridged this time. Perhaps they're just filling in the chapters they skipped last time. I can't imagine anyone doing better than Mark Hamill or Alan Alda, though some of the other chapters could certainly be redone.
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Jun 16, 2012 17:46
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cbirdsong posted:Perhaps they're just filling in the chapters they skipped last time. I can't imagine anyone doing better than Mark Hamill or Alan Alda, though some of the other chapters could certainly be redone. You know whose bit I found most disappointing? John Tuturro's. It's like he was doing a Tony Montana impersonation.
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Jun 16, 2012 18:04
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Whomever did that terrible chinese guy thing is the worst in WWZ, and I just couldn't slog through it. Ugh
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Jun 17, 2012 18:23
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The General posted:Whomever did that terrible chinese guy thing is the worst in WWZ, and I just couldn't slog through it. Ugh I was planning to listen to A Song of Ice and Fire next but who has a better reading of it?
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Jun 17, 2012 22:55
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I feel guilty now that I've discovered audio books... reading seems like such a chore now. Perhaps I am just lazy, but having the story read to me--by a narrator whose voice I thoroughly I enjoy--seems easier and more entertaining. I hope I haven't ruined the experience of reading. 
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Jun 18, 2012 10:50
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I dunno, it convinced me to buy the ebooks of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow- even though I already own the paperbacks; just so I can read and listen at the same time, on my Kindle. I wanna do it with Dune too, but the ebook isn't available in my country, due to some  bullshit, or another.It's helped me save a shitton of cash, given current hardcover non-fiction prices though, that's for sure. Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 11:00
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Island Nation posted:
The only versions I've heard are the ones read by Roy Dotrice and a Feast for Crows read by John Lee. I love the Dotrice narration but Lee does a good job on AFFC and his style actually fits that book pretty well. There are some samples of the audiobooks on youtube if you want to check out Dotrice's voice before you buy them.
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Jun 18, 2012 19:50
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Anyone have a recommendation for a well-done Hammond or Chandler detective novel? I tried to listen to Red Harvest a while back but the narrator didn't sound enough like the classic grizzled, tired detective to suit my wants.
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Jun 19, 2012 15:37
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Audible is having a 48 hour sale where you can buy 3 credits for $35.88, a decent discount over the ~$45 they'd normally cost. http://www.audible.com/extracredits
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Jun 19, 2012 23:34
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cbirdsong posted:Perhaps they're just filling in the chapters they skipped last time. I can't imagine anyone doing better than Mark Hamill or Alan Alda, though some of the other chapters could certainly be redone. They've confirmed that they're keeping the original parts in and adding new recordings, so sadly some of those bad performances will be staying. Though I am curious that they say they have a new narrator when Max Brooks played it in the original, so if that's being recorded then I can't see why some of those other lacklustre performances can't be.
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Jun 20, 2012 23:44
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I've found that reading Lovecraft's short stories while listening to the audiobook makes up for a wonderful experience (the first time i read something from Lovecraft, i did it in this way  ). I guess reading+listening any author with that quality of writing is as good as this example!
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Jun 22, 2012 01:14
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feedmyleg posted:Anyone have a recommendation for a well-done Hammond or Chandler detective novel? I tried to listen to Red Harvest a while back but the narrator didn't sound enough like the classic grizzled, tired detective to suit my wants. There are excellent readings of Chandler's Marlowe stories by Elliot Gould (who also played him in the film of The Long Goodbye) They are abridged, which is a bit annoying but otherwise very good.
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Jun 24, 2012 06:02
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Cross-posting but I'm selling my copy of Neal Stephenson's Reamde for $6 at this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3491648&pagenumber=1&perpage=40#post404851402
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Jun 28, 2012 07:06
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Audible has a 2-for-1 sale going on until 6/30 (you need to be a member to view the page): http://www.audible.com/sp/2for1 They also have a $5 book sale until 7/5: http://www.audible.com/mt/TAC
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Jun 28, 2012 16:59
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budgieinspector posted:Audible has a 2-for-1 sale going on until 6/30 (you need to be a member to view the page): http://www.audible.com/sp/2for1
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Jun 28, 2012 17:38
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Rudyard Kipling's first children's story, How the Whale got his Throat, is currently free from 4Dio.
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Jun 29, 2012 22:49
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coyo7e posted:This twofor sale is a bit weird when you go through with a purchase, it didn't show me the price of the items at all, just went straight through sale confirmation. It automatically took 1 credit from me that I'd had, but I was a bit concerned that it'd decided to charge me like 35 bucks for some audiobook that I couldn't even find a price for. Well I just did it and it was easy. My wife was leaving on a long road trip and I offered her one, but I gave her two. For the road.
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Jun 30, 2012 00:48
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feedmyleg posted:Anyone have a recommendation for a well-done Hammond or Chandler detective novel? I tried to listen to Red Harvest a while back but the narrator didn't sound enough like the classic grizzled, tired detective to suit my wants. Would you be interested in a contemporary - Dashiell Hammett? These aren't novel length stories but for a hard-boiled detective who usually gets the short end of the stick right before he gets his lights knocked out, it's hard to beat Sam Spade: http://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/Adventures_of_Sam_Spade.php
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Jul 10, 2012 23:25
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The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale Well narrated, interesting, but ultimately a little unsatisfying. I liked the whole socio-political angle the author took, too. Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen Really well written and interesting, but bloody harrowing. Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart LONG, but contains two of my favourite things, history and true crime. Loved it.
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Jul 11, 2012 22:56
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Heads up: Downbelow Station, a Hugo winner and great intro to one of the best space operas series of all time, was just added to Audible. Everybody go buy it and listen to it, it is one of my favorite books ever. Cyteen, another in the same universe, is also available, and happens to be a fantastic reading to boot.
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Jul 12, 2012 03:03
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Bass Concert Hall posted:Heads up: Downbelow Station, a Hugo winner and great intro to one of the best space operas series of all time, was just added to Audible. Everybody go buy it and listen to it, it is one of my favorite books ever. Cyteen, another in the same universe, is also available, and happens to be a fantastic reading to boot. Listening to the sample, I'm not sure I like the narrator. I'm sure I could listen to it, but it could be better. He reads things in chunks.
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Jul 13, 2012 11:34
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Picked up Hounded: The iron Druid Chronicles on a lark from audible the other day. I've read the first book before but had trouble parsing all the gaelic names and stuff, so i figured the audiobook might make it easier. I was very pleasantly surprised! The narrator is alright but he has a great range of voices, and his voice for the protagonist's dog, Oberon, is hilarious - super doofy and with a sthpeech impediment (think that Beggin' Strips commercial dog, but dumber and with a speech impediment), and it makes every bit of dialogue with the dog where he's begging for a harem of french poodles or trying to pretend to be Ghenghis Khan, is freaking hilarious. I think somebody else recommended the book in this thread already, but it's pretty fun.
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Jul 13, 2012 18:31
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Yes. Oberon is loving awesome in those books. Working through the first book of the The Kingkiller Chronicle. It's sloooooooooow. Hear it picks up though. And I can tell it's promising. dema fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Jul 13, 2012 |
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Jul 13, 2012 22:39
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dema posted:Yes. Oberon is loving awesome in those books. They're long books, but worth it. The author could have split those two books into four and no one would have noticed though.
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Jul 17, 2012 22:22
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1RcKJVbHA I never saw this posted, so I thought I'd share I would buy this in a heartbeat.
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Jul 18, 2012 00:57
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