FREE/BARGAIN — Audiobooks

[haertig]

I got an email from Amazon saying that since I just bought an Echo Dot, I qualified for a special deal to subscribe to Music Unlimited for 3 months for 99 cents. I followed their link, followed their subscription instructions from the email to the letter, and found that they charged $8-something dollars to my charge card.

I engaged them via chat, and the representative said that digital subscriptions were non-refundable. They hemmed and hawed for a while, and finally said that since they didn't want to lose me as a customer that "on an exception basis" they would allow me to cancel "just this one time". I told them this was not "an exception" and they were not doing me a favor. I said they were correcting a mistake (or an attempt at fraud) by Amazon and I as the customer I was totally blameless. I simply tried to use what they promised to me, but they had yanked the promise out from under me for no reason that they could state, and then insinuated that I was to blame and they were doing me a favor by fixing it.

I learned long ago when dealing with companies online, Amazon included, to always take screenshots from my computer as I respond to something of place an order. That way I can prove that, say, I was ordering something they said they had in stock, I can prove the price they were showing in my cart before purchase, I can prove the shipping charges they said they'd charge, etc. I had a couple of incidents where the details of a transaction changed between "click here to submit order" and "thank you for your purchase". The retailers will deny anything happened, like Amazon tried to in my case here, but I can prove it with a sequence of screenshots showing exactly how things went down.

It's a shame that we have to take these steps to protect ourselves from bad merchants. And it's doubly sad that one of those bad merchants turns out to be Amazon on occasion.

[ngrant]

Originally Posted by haertig

...It's a shame that we have to take these steps to protect ourselves from bad merchants. And it's doubly sad that one of those bad merchants turns out to be Amazon on occasion.

I'm also soured on the whole Amazon experience, which I find has been deteriorating over the last year. Having cancelled Prime a couple weeks back, I also had a change of heart about buying the Dot and cancelled that order before it shipped... I'll be happy playing with my various new Google Home toys and will listen to my audible books "the old-fashioned way", i.e. through my phone app and computers.

[tubemonkey]

Audible UK -- Daily Deal -- exp 01 Dec @ 11:59 PM GMT

• TBA -- Bring Me Back -- BA Paris --> thriller

[tubemonkey]

christianaudio -- Monthly Offers -- exp 31 Dec

• FREE -- Confessions Saint Augustine -- Augustine/ Simon Vance --> 12.8 hrs --> NF memoir

The Confessions of Saint Augustine -- Augustine of Hippo

Saint Augustine's contributions to Christian theology are second to no other post-apostolic author in the whole sweep of church history. Yet along side his doctrinal treatises, Augustine tells a story of his life devoted to Christ as his only satisfaction. The Confessions is at once the autobiographical account of Augustine's life of Christian faith and at the same time a compelling theology of Christian spirituality for everyone. Among the most important classics in Western literature, it continues to engage modern readers through Augustine's timeless illustrations and beautiful prose. Augustine's Confessions is a book to relish the first time through and then profoundly enjoy over a lifetime of revisiting.

This accessible and accurate Edward Bouverie Pusey translation of The Confessions comes alive with Simon Vance’s narration. Vance is an award-winning audiobook narrator with hundreds of titles to his credit, including classics by Charles Dickens, H. G. Wells, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Version: Translated & Edited by Albert C. Outler Ph.D., D.D.

Other Related Audiobooks On Sale For $4.98 (4 titles)

• Augustine (Trailblazers Series)
  
• On Christian Doctrine
  
• The City of God
  
• Augustine for Armchair Theologians

[skinmaan]

Not sure why it's free, but then that's not exactly the purpose of this thread. Over at Audible you'll find:

• FREE -- Storm Glass: The Harbinger Series, Book 1 -- Jeff Wheeler, Kate Rudd / 11.7 hrs --> Fantasy

From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Kingfountain Series comes the first novel in a bold and richly imagined world.

Theirs is a world of opposites. The privileged live in sky manors held aloft by a secretive magic known only as the Mysteries. Below, the earthbound poor are forced into factory work to maintain the engine of commerce. Only the wealthy can afford to learn the Mysteries, and they use their knowledge to further lock their hold on society.

Cettie Pratt is a waif doomed to the world below, until an admiral attempts to adopt her. But in her new home in the clouds, not everyone treats her as one of the family.

Sera Fitzempress is a princess born into power. She yearns to meet the orphan girl she has heard so much about, but her father deems the girl unworthy of his daughter’s curiosity.

Neither girl feels that she belongs. Each seeks to break free of imposed rules. Now, as Cettie dreams of living above and as Sera is drawn to the world below, they will follow the paths of their own choosing.

But both girls will be needed for the coming storm that threatens to overturn both their worlds.

Enjoy!
skinmaan
Your audiobook bloodhound

[ApK]

Originally Posted by skinmaan

Not sure why it's free, but then that's not exactly the purpose of this thread. Over at Audible you'll find:

• FREE -- Storm Glass: The Harbinger Series, Book 1 -- Jeff Wheeler, Kate Rudd / 11.7 hrs --> Fantasy

Enjoy!
skinmaan
Your audiobook bloodhound

Hey, free is free. ..but...wasn't that the plot of an old Star Trek episode?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by skinmaan

Not sure why it's free, but then that's not exactly the purpose of this thread. Over at Audible you'll find:

• FREE -- Storm Glass: The Harbinger Series, Book 1 -- Jeff Wheeler, Kate Rudd / 11.7 hrs --> Fantasy

It seems it's now part of Amazon's First Reads monthly program, where you get early access to Editors' Picks ebooks and Prime members get to choose one of those picks for free. If you skip down the page, Storm Glass is there for the taking. Last month, The Ruin was the free selection. I'm sensing a trend here

[tubemonkey]

Tantor Media -- Monthly Offer -- exp 31 Dec

• FREE -- The North Pole -- Robert E Peary/ Jonathan Reese --> 10 hrs --> NF memoir

The North Pole: Its Discovery in 1909 Under the Auspices of the Peary Arctic Club

Note: includes free PDF eBook (included in ZIP file)

Short Synopsis
Originally published in 1910, The North Pole is Robert E. Peary's own account of his expedition to become the first man ever to reach the North Pole.

Full Synopsis
In September 1909—after nearly two decades of determined effort and numerous attempts, during which he lost eight toes to frostbite—American polar explorer Robert E. Peary emerged from the Arctic's frozen wasteland and declared that his final expedition had been victorious: on April 6, 1909, Peary had attained the North Pole, a long-sought prize that had thwarted and even killed his predecessors.

Peary's news stunned the international community because a few days earlier his rival, American explorer Frederick A. Cook, had announced a similar victory. Cook's claim—allegedly occurring April 1908—had priority over Peary's. The vehement, often vicious campaign mounted by Peary and his wealthy, powerful backers (including President Theodore Roosevelt) soon discredited Cook but also caused his own claim to be scrutinized and doubted. The conflict ignited the greatest geographical dispute in the history of exploration, a controversy that continues to spark passionate debate.

Was Peary the first explorer to conquer the North Pole? The North Pole, originally published in 1910, makes available Peary's own account of his expedition in the Arctic. It provides hotly contested evidence that remains an indispensable key in deciding who deserved the coveted title "Discoverer of the North Pole." It is also a gripping adventure story that is impossible to put down

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It seems it's now part of Amazon's First Reads monthly program, where you get early access to Editors' Picks ebooks and Prime members get to choose one of those picks for free. If you skip down the page, Storm Glass is there for the taking. Last month, The Ruin was the free selection. I'm sensing a trend here

Aha! I could get used to that.

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by ApK

Hey, free is free. ..but...wasn't that the plot of an old Star Trek episode?

Maybe. You might have also seen it on The Simpsons. The Simpsons has done everything.

[tubemonkey]

Daily Deals -- exp 01 Dec @ 11:59 PM PT

• Audible -----> TBA ---- The Ex-Wife -- Jess Ryder --> thriller
  
• Downpour --> $4.95 -- A Town Divided by Christmas -- Orson Scott Card --> fiction
  
• eStories ----> TBA

[skinmaan]

Just got a note from Christian Audio:

The Twice-Yearly Sale is BACK! Nearly all audiobooks are on sale for just $7.49 each. Remember, any audiobook can be sent as a gift and delivered whenever you’d like. This limited time offer ends December 22nd.

Enjoy!
skinmaan
Your audiobook bloodhound

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Augustine for Armchair Theologians

That link didn't work for me; this one does.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

That link didn't work for me; this one does.

That's because I pasted in the book's title and not the URL

Thanks for the catch. I've made the correction.

[tubemonkey]

Penguin Random House Free Offers --> Dec 2018

Note: these free offers are subject to change without notice

• FREE -- Short Stories --> details
  
• FREE -- Monthly -- no selection this month
  
  
• TryAudiobooks (7 categories)
  
• FREE -- TBA
  
• FREE -- TBA
  
• FREE -- Ivy and the Inky Butterfly --> details
  
• FREE -- TBA
  
• FREE -- TBA
  
• FREE -- TBA
  
• FREE -- City Baker's Guide to Country Living --> details