Audible big on Kindle?

[hey1o]

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while but the chance to win a K2 got me to join.

I've used Audible for years and love it, and ever since Amazon acquired them I've been hoping they will do more to integrate the services.
Ideally, Audible would offer a promotion for a subsidized or free Kindle with a two year subscription, and for an extra few bucks a month over the Audible Platinum plan, you would get a free ebook copy of your audiobooks if it is available.
Taking that idea one step further, the perfect fusion would allow me to listen to my audiobooks on my iPhone in the car, when I pause or stop the checkpoint is sent up to Amazon's servers, and when I go to read on the Kindle it picks up where I left off from the audiobook.
To me that full integration would be the perfect experience. Do many Kindle users use Audible, or would you use it more if it was well integrated?

[AnemicOak]

I use Audible a ton. Been a member since '04, but I never read & listen to the same book at the same time. Just doesn't appeal to me.

[kevindorsey]

Adding this to Iphone as an option would be a pretty sweet option.

[S.Canton]

Something like this would be pretty interesting; similar to a cell phone contract in a way, and it would be good for people not interested in paying the full price for the Kindle upfront.

[hey1o]

I never thought about wanting the ebook copy of an audiobook until I read Anathem (which is fantastic). With the way a new slang is created in that book, I found myself wanting to refer back to the definitions at the beginning of each chapter, but with an audiobook it's a pain to find what you're looking for. Also I could see myself using it when I'm really into an audiobook, or when there are graphics in the ebook copy to refer to...

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by hey1o

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while but the chance to win a K2 got me to join.

I've used Audible for years and love it, and ever since Amazon acquired them I've been hoping they will do more to integrate the services.
Ideally, Audible would offer a promotion for a subsidized or free Kindle with a two year subscription, and for an extra few bucks a month over the Audible Platinum plan, you would get a free ebook copy of your audiobooks if it is available.
Taking that idea one step further, the perfect fusion would allow me to listen to my audiobooks on my iPhone in the car, when I pause or stop the checkpoint is sent up to Amazon's servers, and when I go to read on the Kindle it picks up where I left off from the audiobook.
To me that full integration would be the perfect experience. Do many Kindle users use Audible, or would you use it more if it was well integrated?

I love Audible books but I tend to listen on my phone since I'm usually out walking when I'm listening. I haven't even tried the player on my Kindle and I've had it over a year.

That model sounds lovely but I don't think it would be very doable for them until the costs of the hardware and content comes down. The e-ink screen is expensive and only made by one company. The controller isn't much better. That's a large part of why e-ink readers are as expensive as they are. The ebook prices are usually only slightly above the rather exorbitant price the publisher charges and often lower as Amazon is trying to build a market. I'm sure costs will come down eventually, though, and we'll see way better deals. S.Canton likened it to cell phones. Remember how expensive those used to be in the early adopter phase?

As for offering you both ebook and audiobook, that would work sometimes and not others. Print, digital and audio rights are often sold separately. Hopefully as this market matures, authors will start bundling the rights enabling content providers to bundle them to us. I think you recognize what is the natural evolution of this business. We're just sadly in a strange transitional period right now.

[Slow_hand]

Storage makes this unwieldy, IMO.

[HarryT]

Yes, I agree - 1.4GB storage just doesn't cut it for audio books. A single book can be over 1GB as an audio book. You really need a hard disk device for them - it's the main usage I make of my 120GB iPod.

[arshield]

I have a ton of books from Audible. There are a couple of books that I have bought paper or ebook versions either before or after the audio version. But syncing between two devices would be nice. I tend to listen to an audio book on my phone and a different one on my kindle so it depends on which device I have with me which book I am on. But I tend to read/listen to 6 to 10 books at a time.

[roa71@yahoo.com]

i pretty much agree with the other posters here. i love audible and listen to it exclusively on the commute to work. i loaded some on my Kindle 1 with the SD card. however, have never really used on the kindle.

i would like to have the eBook version as well. i love the ability to highlight and add notes. it would be nice to be able to search too.

since Amazon owns Audible now, i am surprised they have not integrated better. see a package version of a book where you get the audible and ebook version together. for certain books, i would be willing to pay a premium for that.

rick..

[Plumfan]

I like having both versions of some books and switch back and forth with a new book, or use it to "re-read" an old book in the audio version. The lack of an SD card limits this function due to space constraints.