Like audiobooks? Here's your chance to get two for free.
(Credit: Audible)I'm a longtime fan of Audible, an audiobook-download service that lets you burn your own CDs and/or transfer books to portable devices (iPods, BlackBerrys, etc.).
The company has offered various free trials and promotions over the years, but this is the best one I've seen: Sign up for a 30-day trial of AudibleListener Gold and get two free audiobooks.
So here's how it works: You sign up for a new account (which does require a credit card), then download the Audible software (available for Windows and Mac, or as an iTunes add-on if you're doing the iPod/iPhone thing). You'll automatically receive two credits in your account, which you can use to download the books of your choice.
After the 30-day trial expires, you'll start getting billed $14.95 per month for your Gold membership, which entitles you to one audio credit, 30 percent off any additional purchases, and a free subscription to The New York Times or Wall Street Journal (the audio versions, natch).
If you routinely buy one audiobook every month, the Gold plan is pretty solid. For example, Jonathan Tropper's "This Is Where I Leave You" (a terrific read, by the way) costs $23.95 on iTunes. If you used your Audible credit, it'd effectively cost you $14.95. Already burned through your credit? Your membership price is $19.59--still cheaper than iTunes.
Of course, you can always cancel your account before the end of the trial, end up paying nothing, and walk away with your two free books.
But if you spend a lot of time in the car, on the train, or even on the biking/hiking/jogging trail, nothing beats a good book. Like I said, I'm a longtime Audible fan. It's a great resource for scoring audiobooks for less than you'd pay elsewhere.
Get eight short stories and Mark Twain's most famous novel, all free from Barnes & Noble.
(Credit: Barnes & Noble)Good news, commuters: Barnes & Noble is offering nine audiobooks absolutely free. They're downloads, of course, but they're in MP3 format, meaning that you can burn them to CDs, copy them to your iPod/Zune/Sansa, and listen on your Netbook or whatever.
So, if they're free, they must be bargain bin books from no-name authors, right? Wrong. But eight of them are short stories, most ranging from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Thus, while you may not recognize the titles, you'll definitely recognize some of the authors.
Among the more notable names: Kurt Vonnegut, Louis L'Amour, Junot Diaz, Alice Munro, and Jonathan Lethem. Oh, there's also this guy Mark Twain, who provides the collection's only full-length novel: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
To get the freebies, just add one or more of them to your shopping cart. (Although they're priced at a penny apiece, your cart will show a $0 balance.) Even though no money's changing hands, you'll need to create a Barnes & Noble account and supply a credit card. (If you'd rather not, choose PayPal as your payment method--even if you don't have an account.)
You'll also need to download and install B&N's OverDrive Media Console software, which manages your audiobooks and lets you play, burn, transfer, etc. It's available for Windows and Mac.
In the interim, you'll receive an e-mail with a link that takes you to the download page. So, yeah, you have to jump through some hoops to get your audiobooks--but such is the price of free, right?
This Targus wireless mouse is just one of the deals to be had for less than 10 bucks.
(Credit: Buy.com)Got a sawbuck to spare? For no more than 10 smackers, you can walk away with any of these five goodies. The only challenge is deciding which one to get.
- Amazon MP3 has U2's just-released new album, "No Line on the Horizon," for $3.99. iTunes price: $9.99. (If you've never checked out Amazon's MP3 store, you owe it to yourself.)
- Buy.com has a Targus Stow-N-Go Wireless Optical Mouse for $9.99 shipped. Perfect for notebooks, the mouse features a USB receiver that tucks away underneath when not in use.
- iTunes has the unabridged audiobook version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" for just $4.95 (iTunes link).
- Meritline has a two-pack of 6-foot HDMI cables for $6.99 shipped. Enough said.
- Newegg has a SanDisk 4GB microSDHC card for $8.49 shipped--great if you want to pack your phone with music, add extra storage for photos and videos, and more.
Good stuff, no? If you know of any other great deals for less than $10, by all means, share them in the Comments! Or give me a heads-up at thecheapskate@gmail.com.
Who says there's no such thing as a free MP3 audiobook?
(Credit: Borders)To help kick off its new MP3 audiobook download service, Borders is offering Jon Krakauer's spellbinding Into the Wild free of charge through July 19. You do need to sign up for a Borders Digital Audiobooks account, but it's free to do so, and that's the only catch.
Well, actually, there's one more: To access the book (and any others you purchase), you have to install something called OverDrive Media Console (currently Windows-only--grrr). It's basically a download manager that organizes your audiobooks and generates multipart MP3s (which you can then copy to any portable player using the software of your choice--iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.--or burn to CDs).
Big, big kudos to Borders for hopping on the no-DRM bandwagon. I love audiobooks nearly as much as I love e-books, but I rarely listen to them anymore because of all the DRM hassles. The new store is also offering 15 popular titles for $9.95 apiece between now and July 22. Other books are priced about the same as their CD counterparts, which is a bit disappointing.
Although I haven't heard the audiobook version (or seen the movie), I read Into the Wild many years ago and loved it. Definitely worth a listen.
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