audiobook

Audiobooks.com has lowered its subscription price, but now you can listen to only one or two books per month.

The new plans offer two different options. You can pay $14.95 per month to listen to one audiobook or $22.95 each month to hear up to two books. Previously, the site charged people $24.95 per month but gave them the ability to listen to an unlimited number of audiobooks for that fee.

Why the change? A spokesman for Audiobooks.com sent CNET the following statement:

I love audiobooks. Nothing makes a car ride faster or more pleasant than a good spoken-word book piping through the speakers.

That's why I've routinely championed smartphone-powered services like Audible, Audiobooks.com, Simply Audiobooks, and Tales2Go.

Now there's another app worth adding to your audiobook arsenal: Audiobooks HQ, which gives you access to more than 5,000 public-domain titles -- all for a measly $1.99.

The app connects you with two catalogs: the Globe Radio Repertory and Librivox. The former contains just four works (including "Don Quixote" and "Madame Bovary"), while the … Read more

If you spend a lot of time in the car, you know what an awesome companion audiobooks can be.

A pricey one, too. A single "book on tape" (OK, CD) might run you $20, $30, even as much as $50.

That's why I'm a big fan of Audiobooks.com, which offers unlimited listening for a flat monthly rate. Just one problem: it's a hassle to use on your smartphone. Although you can access the service via your phone's mobile browser, you need a decent Internet connection to stream the audio -- and the browser … Read more

Audiobooks are a great way to pass the time on long drives. Audiobook prices, on the other hand, are a great way to drain your wallet.

For example, want to listen to the Steve Jobs bio? It'll cost you $29.95 at iTunes. And Stephen King's latest, the wholly engrossing "11/22/63," runs $44.95.

Fortunately, good listening material doesn't have to break the bank. Thanks to various resources and services, you can slash your monthly audiobook bill while actually increasing your consumption. Here are my five favorite options:

1. Audible If you like … Read more

PC and mobile users who listen to a lot of audiobooks each month may appreciate a new service from the folks at Audiobooks.com.

The site is kicking off its own cloud-based service that lets you listen to as many audiobooks as you want to the tune of $24.95 per month.

Accessible from any computer or Internet-connected mobile device, the new service is unlimited, so you can listen to the same book for as long as you want with no need to return it.

Since the books are stored in the cloud, you can also listen to any books … Read more

Cloud, schmoud. I like my music the old-fashioned way: in MP3 format, stored on my hard drive and/or smartphone. Especially when it's free.

Today I've rounded up four great audio freebies, including some Christmas music, a best-of-2011 collection, and even a Sherlock Holmes collection. Take a look:

Audible, one of my favorite sources for spoken-word audio, is offering The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, unabridged, for free. (Okay, technically this isn't an MP3, but still.) This nine-hour collection includes 12 of Holmes' "most famous cases." You do need an Audible account to get this (and … Read more

I'm a longtime fan of Tales2Go, the iOS app that provides unlimited children's audiobooks for a flat monthly rate.

Tales2Go - Happy Holidays bundles 20 seasonal audiobooks into one app, with no subscription required. Instead, you pay just 99 cents. That's a great deal any way you slice it, and an outright steal for parents and schoolteachers alike.

The collection includes short stories, full-length books, and even a familiar poem or two. Here's a sampling:… Read more

I've always been a big fan of biographies. Recent favorites include Simon Pegg's "Nerd Do Well" and Rob Lowe's "Stories I Only Tell My Friends." My wife picked out the latter for a car trip, and while I wasn't terribly enthused at the time, it turns out Lowe's autobiography is relentlessly entertaining--especially the audiobook version, which he reads himself.

Needless to say, as a longtime technology writer and enthusiast, I'm keen to read--or hear--the new Steve Jobs biography. But I'm not so keen on spending $16.99 for the … Read more

commentary "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," is a motto that Apple should have applied to the iPad's new Music app.

iPad users who updated to iOS 5 may have noticed that the old iPod app is now named Music, a name that makes sense. But other changes to the app have ticked off users by making playing and managing music on the tablet decidedly less user-friendly.

What's even more confusing is that these changes are specific to the iPad. The music app on the iPhone and iPod Touch works the same as … Read more