Audible.com book downloads

As a research scientist, a lot of what I do could generously be described as what I like to call "Monkey Work". Things that take a certain amount of dexterity, skill, and knowledge, but not a lot of actual thought or concentration once you actually become proficient at it. Because of this, some of the time spent in the lab can be pretty dull when certain things need to be done. I can listen to only so much music or NPR. In the old days, I used to rent books on tape and haul around a walkman while I loaded the pulsed field gel or counted bacterial colonies on 1000 petri dishes. I was sometimes limited in my choices of books to listen to, however, because of the selections available at the public library or at the local bookstore (The King's English) that rented out the tapes. At ~$30 apiece for unabridged books, I really couldn't afford to buy them. The advent of MP3 players opened up a whole new avenue for listening to books, however, through the company Audible.com.

Audible sells a large library of books, both fiction and non-fiction, in a variety of genres. What I like about Audible is the subscription service. There are 2 levels, one where you get 1 credit a month (~15.00) and one where you get 2 credits a month (~24.00). The average book is 1 credit (unless it is incredibly large), and therefore with the premium package, I get 2 books a month. If I can't use my 2 credits in 1 month, I can carry over up to 12 credits (although this hasn't happened yet). Once you buy the book, you can download it as many times as you need to, helpful if you change computers, and you can have up to 3 computers and 3 players enabled at any given time. The site is compatible with most MP3 players, including iPods and iTunes, and the help files available are usually informative. I have actually had to call them about a problem downloading through Firefox, and they were extremely helpful.

The library is not complete (you can't get the Harry Potter books, for example), but it is pretty large, and most new releases are available. If you are in the market for an alternative to podcasts and music (although you can subscribe to podcasts through them too) for your MP3 player, I recommend books from Audible.com.