- Audiobook Rental Gives Cheap Audiobook Access - www.lumaxart.com (Flickr Creative Commons)
Because most audiobook rental companies require a membership, it is worth taking the time to look at the different sites and review audiobook rental plans to find the one that is most suited to particular listening habits.
Renting Audiobooks Online
There are a lot of different choices for renting audiobooks through the mail, but it is important to ask key questions for each company:
- How long can a renter keep the audiobook before it needs to be returned?
- If the audiobook has multiple cds, will all the cds come at once?
- Does the renter need to have a cd player that can handle mp3 files?
- Is membership required to rent books?
Like renting movies through the mail with Netflix and Blockbuster, audiobook renters should expect that postage is included in rental fees both ways, with the exception of booksfreeswap.com. That is Books Free's innovative sharing program that facilitates book trading between individuals.
Audiobook Rental Sites with Unique Features
A review of different companies showed there are most offer similar policies, but some stand out as having unusual features.
Audio To Go Overview
Audio To Go ships all the cds for a single book at once, and they allow renters to keep them for an "unlimited" duration, as long as an active membership is maintained. Audio To Go also has books on tape, which is unusual. Anyone who wants to rent audiobooks on cassette tape will be thrilled to find Audio To Go.
Books Free Overview
Books Free also has unlimited duration with membership, but they allow people to rent books without a membership for 30 days. They ship the entire audiobook, even if it is multiple cds. They rent mp3 files on cd, and then the FAQ says that "the files on the MP3-CDs can also be copied to a portable MP3 player such as the iPod."
Books Free is the parent of a site that allows members to trade audiobooks: Books Free Swap, a book exchange club. Members list at least five items they are willing to trade, and Bookswap.com tries to match members.
Audio Bookworm Overview
In addition to unlimited days for members to keep rented books, Audio BookWorm allows users download software renting digital audiobooks in mp3 formats. The files are DRM protected and are only allowed to be used for 14 days, but the site says to contact them for longer rentals. The site says most of the audiobooks can be played on iPods. Audio Bookworm offers membership plan discounts to teachers and members of the military.
Availability of titles varied greatly across audiobook rental companies. In a quick test search, Audio To Go, Books Free, and Audio Bookworm all had Jane Austen's Emma (Books Free had two different choices), Audio To Go and Books Free had Wigfield, but only Books Free had Wolf Hall and only Audio To Go had Brideshead Revisited.
Customers should take advantage of free trials to make sure that the cd quality and formatting meets the needs of the renters. Car cd players are finicky about file formatting, and often an mp3 cd can play on an in-home cd player but not on car cd player. Before becoming members, potential renters may want to check several titles from different genres and publishers to make sure that there will enough books in the queue to justify membership expenses.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
