Audible vs Chirp

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I have an older Itouch and the app wouldn't load, so I borrowed my brother's newer Itouch. I bought a book for $2. Sounds good (I've only listened to a couple of chapters). However, unless I can archive anything I buy, it certainly won't replace Audible even at those prices. The book I bought isn't one that I would likely listen to twice, so worthy of experimentation. They have a fair number of books from 99c to $1.99, so worth trying out. Currently limited to app only play.

I'm with you on this archive issue. If I can't archive it, I don't want it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

It’s certainly a deal site with a small handful of books at any given time. It’s not a direct competitor to Audible. However, it appears to me that these are legit high quality books. Books sold at a great deal.

Quality should not be an issue since Bookbub deals mostly with tradpubs: they filter submissions and they skew BPH very heavily. It is very hard-to-impossible for Indies to get into their newsletters these days. It's not even new.

If anybody want to avoid even accidental exposure to Indie titles then Bookbub is the place to go.

https://rogerpacker.com/data-guy-rev...-indies-slump/

As for durability they should endure.
People love bargains.

These guys have been around forever:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lots

(Well, over 50 years anyway.)

The only real danger is that promos are supposed to drive sales of regular price books and where the ebook newsletter sends people to existing ebookstores with both promo and regular titles, Chirp is a standalone operation. Odds are they add a lot of regular price books over time. They seem to have started.n

It'll be an interesting fight if they hang on to compete with Audible.

Does anybody know if Audible price matches, like Kindle?
That could be fun to watch: the Audible New Jersey crew aren't anywhere near as nice as the Kindle guys.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

FYI - I bought Rebel Yell, a book about stonewall Jackson. $4.99

It’s the same book, read by the same narrator as on Audible where it’s $40 or $15 with membership.

Pretty good deal, same book.

No reason not to be. It's a temporary promotion, not one of the Google play pirate books. (https://the-digital-reader.com/2015/...-ebook-piracy/)

They're probably not big enough for Audible to care.
For now.

I'm going to need lots of popcorn if they get big enough to matter:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson–Patman_Act

The Robinson–Patman Act of 1936 (or Anti-Price Discrimination Act, Pub. L. No. 74-692, 49 Stat. 1526 (codified at 15 U.S.C. § 13)) is a United States federal law that prohibits anticompetitive practices by producers, specifically price discrimination. It was designed to protect small retail shops against competition from chain stores by fixing a minimum price for retail products.

The law grew out of practices in which chain stores were allowed to purchase goods at lower prices than other retailers. An amendment to the Clayton Antitrust Act, it prevented unfair price discrimination for the first time, by requiring that the seller offer the same price terms to customers at a given level of trade.

This *could* be a variant of volume based pricing, where a retailer gets a small number of deep discount titles to sell and the sale ends when they run out of them. Price matching is usually the response.

Something new to watch for. Things were getting boring.

[Catlady]

Is there a way to see the deals without signing up? And has anyone tried to liberate books from the app?

I've searched for various titles--that works without signing up--and if they're not deals, they're all 10 percent off list price, putting most of them in the $20-$30 range. That's ridiculous if you can't archive them.

[leebase]

Has Audible's DRM been broken? I’ve never bothered, but do have a more than hundred books on Audible

[issybird]

I feel as if I've maxed out the number of audiobook apps I want to use, at four: Audible, Downpour, OverDrive and Hoopla. The first two are because I have sizable holdings at each; the latter two because free listens. Enough. My eyes glaze over when I see promotions for Google, Kobo, Audiobooks and so forth; it's an app too far. I can't even be bothered with another freebie source, RBDigital. I admit I flirted with Tantor, but the app was so very terrible that it was an easy decision to delete it

So, that said, I think my attitude toward Chirp, given its short list of current deals and short track record would be to view any purchase there as a rental, a la Downpour, for immediate consumption, thus no need to future-proof. But when I can't even look at the deals without signing up? You're wasting my time, Chirp. Hook me with a deal, and then I'll sign up! But I'm not going to open myself to an inundation of promotional emails before I even know if I'm going to bite.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by leebase

Has Audible's DRM been broken? I’ve never bothered, but do have a more than hundred books on Audible

aaxtomp3

Originally Posted by issybird

I feel as if I've maxed out the number of audiobook apps I want to use, at four: Audible, Downpour, OverDrive and Hoopla. The first two are because I have sizable holdings at each; the latter two because free listens. Enough. My eyes glaze over when I see promotions for Google, Kobo, Audiobooks and so forth; it's an app too far. I can't even be bothered with another freebie source, RBDigital. I admit I flirted with Tantor, but the app was so very terrible that it was an easy decision to delete it.

Audible, OK, if you're not converting to mp3; Hoopla, you have to use; but Downpour, Overdrive, and RBDigital are non-DRMed mp3 files and don't require their own apps.

So, that said, I think my attitude toward Chirp, given its short list of current deals and short track record would be to view any purchase there as a rental, a la Downpour, for immediate consumption, thus no need to future-proof. But when I can't even look at the deals without signing up? You're wasting my time, Chirp. Hook me with a deal, and then I'll sign up! But I'm not going to open myself to an inundation of promotional emails before I even know if I'm going to bite.

Ditto.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by issybird

So, that said, I think my attitude toward Chirp, given its short list of current deals and short track record would be to view any purchase there as a rental, a la Downpour, for immediate consumption, thus no need to future-proof. But when I can't even look at the deals without signing up? You're wasting my time, Chirp. Hook me with a deal, and then I'll sign up! But I'm not going to open myself to an inundation of promotional emails before I even know if I'm going to bite.

The pickings are extremely slim; only 209 titles in their catalog. I prefer sci-fi and found 25 titles in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and most of those were fantasy, which I don't like. Needless to say, they won't be getting my credit card.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The pickings are extremely slim; only 209 titles in their catalog. I prefer sci-fi and found 25 titles in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, and most of those were fantasy, which I don't like. Needless to say, they won't be getting my credit card.

I think it’s more of a “sign up and you get emails” type of thing. You peruse your email and if you see a deal on a book you would like, you buy it.

My initial worry was that these are cheap Indie books...but they aren’t. I agree with those who would still be concerned about “self archiving” or liberating the ebooks from DRM (as we all should be).

Of,course, the reason I canceled Audible is that I have too many audio books I’ve already purchased and haven’t read. These Chirp deals aren’t going to help me with my “buying books I don’t have time to read” problem.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by leebase

Of,course, the reason I canceled Audible is that I have too many audio books I’ve already purchased and haven’t read. These Chirp deals aren’t going to help me with my “buying books I don’t have time to read” problem.

But they're massively discounted! Think of all the savings!
Remember, as they say: "You have to save money, regardless of the cost!"

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

But they're massively discounted! Think of all the savings!
Remember, as they say: "You have to save money, regardless of the cost!"

The most money you save by not spending any in the first place.

You only save money on deals you were already buying at regular price.

[Dr. Drib]

I agree, and would like to amplify upon that logic:

The most money saved is to not buy anything - ever - from anyone concerning anything.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by leebase

Has Audible's DRM been broken? I’ve never bothered, but do have a more than hundred books on Audible

Sending PM

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by leebase

Of,course, the reason I canceled Audible is that I have too many audio books I’ve already purchased and haven’t read. These Chirp deals aren’t going to help me with my “buying books I don’t have time to read” problem.

It doesn't hurt to have more books than you can read/listen. If you have a comfortable 5 years of books unread/unlistened, it will sustain you should you have tougher economic times (which becomes my issue next year). More than 5 years is a problem because tastes change. Even Paul, who is a very fast reader, has abandoned books that now don't interest him and his books aren't in que more than a year or two. With Chirp though, I would have to bring all those to the front and listen to them in case they go bust. Once I have a method of archiving, then it becomes a nonproblem.

[Dr. Drib]

I had trouble buying a 99-cent book (I just wanted to experiment), but they wouldn't accept a card from a non-U.S.A. bank. I sent an email to them on Friday. If I don't get a response, then I'll simply unsubscribe from their mailing list. I only received one promotional email from them, by the way, since subscribing. I was also excited about buying "Shardik" for $2.99 or $3.99. Looks like I'll have to say goodbye to that, unless they can figure out a way for me to use my card.