FREE/BARGAIN — Audiobooks

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

I put my membership on hold this morning and I've already found a functionality that's being withheld: the audiobook listing says if it's WhisperSync ready but it doesn't link to the relevant Kindle book, which is what it does when you're not a member. I was checking today's Daily Deal to see how the combined WhisperSync price compared to the Deal price, but I was unable to find the relevant Kindle edition (in part because of Amazon's insistence in returning titles in your result that are not the one you searched for).

This was academic only, as I don't really want to listen to Crime and Punishment, but it's an irritating policy on Amazon's part and I'm not sure I see the point. If I can't find the linked Kindle book, you can be darned sure I'm not getting the Audible book.

Not being a current member, I tested the Kindle edition of the book I own and it listed another version of the audiobook for only $1.99.

So if you're a member and own this particular version of the Kindle book, you can either pay $6.95 for the James Anderson Foster narration (20.7 hrs) or $1.99 for the Alan Munro narration (25.1 hrs). Other variations are also a probability.

Since I already own this audiobook, I won't be getting the $1.99 version.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Not being a current member, I tested the Kindle edition of the book I own and it listed another version of the audiobook for only $1.99.

So if you're a member and own this particular version of the Kindle book, you can either pay $6.95 for the James Anderson Foster narration (20.7 hrs) or $1.99 for the Alan Munro narration (25.1 hrs). Other variations are also a probability.

Since I already own this audiobook, I won't be getting the $1.99 version.

It's annoying. Narrators matter. Why Amazon wants to withhold the info about which audio versions link to which Kindle versions makes no sense at all. Why make that a perk of active membership? I can't imagine that's what gets someone to maintain their membership, so all they're doing is irritating people and losing sales - so presumably those are sales they don't really want to make anyway.

[Catlady]

I am an active member and I don't see a Whispersync price for today's Daily Deal either.

P.S. I borrowed the corresponding Amazon Classics edition through Prime, and there's still no Whispersync price, though there is for a couple of other versions. So apparently there's no special pricing for this one, or else the Whispersync price is higher than the Daily Deal price.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I am an active member and I don't see a Whispersync price for today's Daily Deal either.

P.S. I borrowed the corresponding Amazon Classics edition through Prime, and there's still no Whispersync price, though there is for a couple of other versions. So apparently there's no special pricing for this one, or else the Whispersync price is higher than the Daily Deal price.

Thanks. That makes sense (it's probably the standard $7.49 WS classic price), but only kinda, because maybe someone who's tempted by the Daily Deal would like to see the WS Kindle book and its price because they'd like to WhisperSync it?

FYI: I was able to put my Silver membership on hold for only two months, not three.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

Thanks. That makes sense (it's probably the standard $7.49 WS classic price), but only kinda, because maybe someone who's tempted by the Daily Deal would like to see the WS Kindle book and its price because they'd like to WhisperSync it?

Regardless of whether you buy it via DailyDeal or WS price, the WhisperSync functionality is the same. Assuming, of course, that you're a current, active, Audible member. And even as an active member, sometimes finding the right Amazon edition to get the narrator you want is a pain. Really, they could make this much easier!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

Thanks. That makes sense (it's probably the standard $7.49 WS classic price), but only kinda, because maybe someone who's tempted by the Daily Deal would like to see the WS Kindle book and its price because they'd like to WhisperSync it?

FYI: I was able to put my Silver membership on hold for only two months, not three.

Oh, I agree that it's crazy, but it's not because of a membership hold.

So does the Silver plan hold skip only one payment cycle?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Oh, I agree that it's crazy, but it's not because of a membership hold.

So does the Silver plan hold skip only one payment cycle?

Yes. My next payment was scheduled for tomorrow; now it's July 21. So it's really just the one hold option for Silver. Which means that the credit I bought when I switched plans is going to be amortized over four months instead of five , but the point was to preserve my credits in hand. But I should get serious about using them up; as I now to my sorrow when I cash in a bunch of credits at the last minute before quitting, I end up with stuff I don't really want.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yes. My next payment was scheduled for tomorrow; now it's July 21. So it's really just the one hold option for Silver. Which means that the credit I bought when I switched plans is going to be amortized over four months instead of five , but the point was to preserve my credits in hand. But I should get serious about using them up; as I now to my sorrow when I cash in a bunch of credits at the last minute before quitting, I end up with stuff I don't really want.

Thanks for the info. I have credits expiring in October that I'm going to need to use, but I have a long wish list so it shouldn't be too difficult to spend them.

[tubemonkey]

Audible UK -- Daily Deal -- exp 21 May @ 11:59 PM BST

• £2.99 -- The Concrete Blonde (book 3) -- Michael Connelly --> detective

[tubemonkey]

Daily Deals -- exp 21 May @ 11:59 PM PT

• Audbl --> $3.95 -- Strange Practice -- Vivian Shaw --> fantasy
  
• Down --> TBA
  
• eStor --> $4.99 -- Season of the Sun (book 1) -- Catherine Coulter --> romance

[tubemonkey]

Google Audio -- exp unknown

• FREE -- Selected Short Stories -- Anton Chekhov -- 2.3 hrs -- classic

The famous phrase of the writer: “Brevity is the sister of talent”, could not be more suited to the work of Anton Chekhov himself. One right stroke to mark the character, with apt word to say about the main thing, to precisely place accents and draw a bright three-dimensional picture in just a few minutes is the work of the wizard. No one is as amused as Chekhov, and no one is so sad as he. The collection includes selected stories and stories in which the classic, who entered the history of literature under the frivolous pseudonym Antosha Chekhonte, draws eternal characters that invariably amaze with their psychological nude.

[tubemonkey]

Audible UK -- Daily Deal -- exp 22 May @ 11:59 PM BST

• TBA -- The Elements of Eloquence -- Mark Forsyth --> NF personal development

[tubemonkey]

Daily Deals -- exp 22 May @ 11:59 PM PT

• Audbl --> $2.95 -- Good Leaders Ask Great Questions -- John C Maxwel --> NF business
  
• Down --> $2.95 -- Unselling -- John D Hughes --> NF business
  
• eStor --> $8.97 -- Shopping for a CEO's Wife (series) -- Julia Kent --> humorous

* Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership

* Unselling: The Independent Consultant’s Guide to Trusting God for More Business, Faith, and Life

[tubemonkey]

Google Audio -- exp unknown

• FREE -- The Short Stories by Anton Chekhov -- Anton Chekhov -- 1.3 hrs -- classic

Anton Chekhov belongs to the cohort of the most prominent Russian classics, together with Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Pushkin. The rankings of the most read authors, comprising the ‘golden fund’ of the world’s literature, persistently include Chekhov alongside Charles Dickens, the Bronte Sisters, Mark Twain... Chekhov’s plays, such as ‘Three Sisters’, ‘The Cherry Orchard’, and the short stories of this collection, are featured in the curriculum of faculties of philology of top global universities, such as University of Oxford, Harvard University and many more.

[tubemonkey]

Google Audio -- exp unknown

• FREE -- A Throne for Sisters -- Morgan Rice -- 6.3 hrs -- fantasy

A Throne for Sisters Series (book 1)

"Morgan Rice has come up with what promises to be another brilliant series, immersing us in a fantasy of valor, honor, courage, magic and faith in your destiny. Morgan has managed again to produce a strong set of characters that make us cheer for them on every page.... Recommended for the permanent library of all readers that love a well-written fantasy." - Roberto Mattos, Books and Movie Reviews, regarding Rise of the Dragons

From number one best seller Morgan Rice comes an unforgettable new fantasy series.

In A Throne for Sisters (book one), Sophia, 17, and her younger sister Kate, 15, are desperate to leave their horrific orphanage. Orphans, unwanted and unloved, they nonetheless dream of coming of age elsewhere, of finding a better life, even if that means living on the streets of the brutal city of Ashton.

Sophia and Kate, also best friends, have each other’s backs - and yet they want different things from life. Sophia, a romantic, more elegant, dreams of entering court and finding a noble to fall in love with. Kate, a fighter, dreams of mastering the sword, of battling dragons, and becoming a warrior. They are both united, though, by their secret, paranormal power to read others' minds, their only saving grace in a world that seems bent to destroy them.

As they each embark on a quest and adventure their own ways, they struggle to survive. Faced with choices neither can imagine, their choices may propel them to the highest power - or plunge them to the lowest depths.

A Throne for Sisters is the first book in a dazzling new fantasy series rife with love, heartbreak, tragedy, action, magic, sorcery, fate, and heart-pounding suspense. It is filled with characters that will make you fall in love, and a world you will never forget.