Creating Time With Downloadable Audio Books
According to the Society for Human Development, about 1/3 of all Americans are now working mothers. With this increase in dual-income households comes a newfound desire to find ways to balance parenting with career and personal life. One way that is becoming increasingly popular is audio books. People who love to read but are too busy may find downloading audio books the perfect solution.
With the advent of digital audio technology, books can now be downloaded in MP3 or CD format. There are about a hundred different downloadable audio books on the market and half of them are free. Of course, it's not free to purchase these books but they are often less than $10 and that is nothing compared to the price of a hard copy book. But what if you don't have time to read? What if you have so many other things you need to do each day like commute, do errands and chores? What if there weren't enough hours in the day to get it all done?
When I first thought about this topic I started wondering how I could download audio book without going over my monthly data limit. I was very surprised to find out there are companies that specialize in helping you download books over the Internet for a monthly fee. I decided to find out more about these companies and learn how they can help you.
How Reading Through Over A Gigabyte A Month Can Be Rewarded
I came up with the following way of thinking: What if there were a service that would allow me to download audio books at a rate of one book per day? That is exactly what I enjoy doing and it doesn't cost anything; so why not do it this way? This is where I found my inspiration.
I started thinking about all the books I wanted to read and I realized that downloading an average of one book per day would cap out at 1,000 books in a month. There are approximately 250 books per audio book and that means I would need approximately 750 hours (almost three weeks full time) to finish the 1,000 books. That didn't seem like too difficult of a thing to do. But let's add something else; let's say this "service" charged me $2 a day for the service. That would mean I would be adding $50 every month just for this service which is about the salary of a teacher in America. Is it really worth it?
Well, as my partner pointed out, there are ways to get more bang for your buck and if you are downloading audio books you can't do better than listening to an audio book at the same time. So how much could this cost me per month? Well, let's assume that I listen to one audio book per day which works out to 4 hours on a full day (full-time job, commute and errands) so that would be 8 hours each day which is 48 hours each month or just over 2 days a week.
I would then be spending $2 a day ($20 a month) that is only equal to $10 in the grocery store each month. In other words, I could get almost exactly the same amount of groceries for $14 extra and instead of getting those groceries in my parking lot I could enjoy and read my books by the lake (or pool) on some nice lounging chairs. This makes downloading audio books a great idea for anyone who wants to get rid of that extra $50 a month.
How Downloadable Audio Books Work
Downloadable audio books work just like regular books but they can only be found on the Internet and cannot be bought at bookstores. They are available through a website called Audible either as an MP3 or CD format. The average price of an MP3 book is $9.99 and the average price of an MP3 CD format is $19.98. Each format comes with a certain number of hours of reading and whether a book is read by one person or several there will never be an issue. That's because the book is recorded in only one format.
People who are interested in downloadable audio books need to first visit Audible and make an account for themselves. This process can be done quickly by providing name, address and email. After submitting this information you will create your own account and input your credit card or PayPal account information so that you can start downloading books from the website easily. The next step is to browse through the website's selections of downloadable audio books until you find something that interests you. Then, you can listen to the sample of the book and decide whether or not to purchase it.
There are many books on the market that are free to download and there's nothing wrong with that. This is especially true for those who are looking for something simple to read and quickly finish. But, if you have time to learn one of these free books, why would you buy one? Why not just listen through an audio book while doing other things? There is a difference between being simplistic and being cheap.
Some people will only want to buy one book while others may want to purchase several. I myself purchased some CD books to listen to in the car and some MP3 books so I could listen at home (or on my iPod). For the CD format books you can play the CD on your computer or certain MP3 players like an iPod or a hard drive player. For the MP3 format you can play it in your computer, media player, portable audio device or on a mobile phone for cell phone users.
The Benefits Of Audio Books
If you are someone who is always interested in learning something new and doesn't have time to read a book then downloadable audio books may be just what you need. You can learn a new topic while commuting, doing chores or even while you are at work. If you can't decide which of the books to purchase then let Audible help you. Audible will let you listen to one book per month for free and you are allowed to listen to any number of books in your account. The best part is that you can download audio books over the Internet so there is no need for going to a retail store or book store to buy an audio book.
Conclusion
I hope this article on how I read over a gigabyte of data each month has helped you understand how someone can download audio books in great volumes. This can be done easily by following the steps in this article. If you're interested in trying out downloadable audio books I recommend that you first sign up for a free trial at Audible.
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The Benefits Of Audio Books - Downloadable Audio Books - How To Download An Audio Book By Jack Krytski | Posted January 4, 2011 at 10:03pm | No Comments »
Audio books or spoken word recordings are becoming more and more popular these days.