Recorded Books had a great lending program. For a set monthly charge in the $25-40 range you could get as many audio books a month as you could rip and return. I built up a large library, mainly longer, more expensive audio books I was never sure how they made money with this program. They recently sold the rights to SimplyAudiobooks and they just don’t have the library of unabridged audio books that Recorded Books did. And SimplyAudiobooks digital downloads are way over priced.

It seems to me like there are far more paranormal/fantasy audio books published than any other romance genre. And with a few exceptions, I have no interest in them, so it can be frustrating. But what the survey didn’t ask about was other genres. I assume most readers are like me and read a mix of genres, both fiction and non-fiction. I find that libraries are more reliable sources for history, biography, contemporary fiction etc. So I do get a good portion of my audio books from the library then rip them to my computer to convert. But only a small percentage are romance.

Biggest issue with libraries is quality. About 25% of the books I bring home have one or two discs that are badly damaged.

I was once an audible customer but being in Germany severely restricts my choices from them. Besides, I don’t trust DRM, and it annoys me to no end to burn the files first in wav and the convert to mp3.

Therefore, mp3 CDs it is, converted by Chapter & Verse into nice books for my ipod.

BevQB: If interested, please contact me through my AAR Meet Lea Hensley page (click the little mailbox). http://likesbooks.com/leaprofile.html

BevBQ – you are another listener who I’d like to talk with further when I feature library rentals. If you are interested in participating, could you contact me? Best through my AAR Meet Lea Hensley page (click the little mailbox). http://likesbooks.com/leaprofile.html

Thanks!

Kathy W.: I ended up not answering the survey because the first question didn’t cover the option I use – booksfree.com.I select the hard CD format because I only listen in the car during my 20-25 minute each way commute.It did take quite awhile for me to finish my most recent 26 CD selection (a record number of CD’s) – Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell.I listen to mostly historical romances, but adore the recommendations from this site – and have expanded into mysteries and biographies.I listened to Anne Flosnick’s personal favorite – Wait for Me! and loved it as much as she said I would.

Thank you for letting us know about booksfree.com. I briefly considered rental as an option but with the passage of Recorded Books rental program, I didn’t know there was much to choose from out there. This looks like a great site. Thanks again!

Glad to hear you are finding recommendations here. That’s what we hope to hear! I haven’t tried Wait for Me but thinking about it.

Brandy: I think the first question in the survey may need soe clarification.For instance, I get my audiobooks from the library, but I download them onto my mp3 player.So I’m a download-able format kind of girl and I rarely listen to hardcopies.Maybe adding a question for library users regarding their format of choice: hard copy/download?

I thought about this while writing the survey. For the purposes of the survey, I think it would be best to go with the library choice. However, after seeing this survey and these comments, I’ll conduct another survey soon on library usage. There is so much out there available to listeners for no cost. They just don’t know how to access it.

Also, would you be available at a later date to tell us a little about your library usage? I’d contact you when writing to get your input.

If interested, please contact me through my AAR Meet Lea Hensley page (click the little mailbox). http://likesbooks.com/leaprofile.html

BevQB: When there’s a book I want to listen to, I first check for library downloads- I’m a member of three different library systems from extensive down to puny- and if I can’t find them there, then I start shopping by price (assuming it’s a worth-buying, must-have book). I check Audible, of course, but also I’ll buy a hard copy from Amazon if they have the best price whether it be CD or MP3CD (which is never consistent).Even though I mostly read UF/F/PNR (and usually in print), I absolutely adore listening to historicals in audio format. My midwestern “reading accent” lends itself well to the former, but the latter loses quite a bit of character and feels a bit watered down without the appropriate (usually English or Scottish) accents. I’m not much of a fan of contemporaries so what few comtemps interest me, I usually just read through in print.

I’m so with you on your midwestern accent. It is hard for me to imagine English and Scottish accents and therefore, I find myself more entertained by the narration (well, if it is a narrator I like).

I’m assuming that you are pretty savvy when it comes to changing format – CDs to digital. I have the basics down now but it took me a while to learn from a patient teacher. Teaching others the basics would make a great column but I’d need to understand all the legalities first.