How To Rent Audiobooks By Mail

This post is copied from my Squidoo Article about the same subject.  You can see the original article here.

What type of Audiobooks are you looking for…exactly?

If you are an Audiobook Addict like me- then you NEED to know you don’t have to BUY them. Knowing this one little secret (which most people are not yet aware) can literally SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!

There are several websites where you can find and RENT the Audiobooks you want to listen to and they send them to you in the mail- directly to your home or office. You just have to know where to look.

There are several specialty Audiobook rental websites that have lots of titles in one or two specific genres so you can get your Audiobook fix! Such as:

RentBusinessAudiobooks.com (Business & Investing Audiobooks)
RentInvestingAudiobooks.com (Business & Investing Audiobooks)
RentLeadershipAudiobooks.com (Leadership & Management Audiobooks)
RentSelfHelpAudiobooks.com (Self-Help & Personal Development Audiobooks)
RentMysteryAudiobooks.com (Mystery & Thriller Audiobooks)
RentChristianAudiobooks.com (Non-Fiction & Fiction Christian Audiobooks)
AudiobooksForTeachers.com (Audiobooks To Help Students Learn)

There are also numerous general Audiobook rental websites that have a few titles in just about every category. These sites include:

Audiobooks4Commuters.com
AudioAdventures.com
AudioDiversions.com
AudioQueue.com
AudioToGo.com
BooksInMotion.com
BooksFree.com
ComeHearBooks.com
Jiggerbug.com
Kitabe.com
RecordedBooks.com
RentMP3Audiobooks.com
SimplyAudiobooks.com

If you are past the need to “own” everything you consume and just need to “use” something for a little while- renting is great! The Temporary Ownership phenomenon is finally sweeping across the United States.

I’d rather pay a smaller percentage of the purchase price of an Audiobook, listen to it, then return it and get something new. Most people, including myself, only listen to an Audiobook one or two times anyway! If I can rent and listen to 3 or 4 Audiobooks for the price of buying one- I’d rather rent.

I end up saving gas (not having to drive to the library or store), time (same reasons) and money. Plus the majority of services offer Free Shipping both ways, no due dates and no late fees. LOVE IT!

Most of the Audiobook Rental websites use a system similar to the one Netflix or Blockbuster use for their online movie rentals. Some offer free trials, some offer discounted trials and a few offer discounts on long-term memberships.

You’ll need to decide how much you are willing to spend each month or pay up front (for a discount) and how many Audiobooks you want to rent at a time. Most prices range from around $13-$18 a month for one Audiobook rental per month. You can also choose plans where you get 3 or 4 Audiobooks at a time at a discounted rate of $5-$10 per Audiobook.

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**THE UNLIMITED RENTAL OFFER**
Several of the services mentioned above offer ‘unlimited’ rentals per month. Even though this sounds like a better offer (compared to the ones who might not offer this) please don’t fall prey to this common marketing tactic. Nothing is ‘unlimited’. They really can’t send you ‘unlimited’ Audiobooks each month- because there are not an infinite number of Audiobooks. Even a couple of the popular DVD rental sites have been blasted and accused of slowing down the return and shipping process (known as throttling) to ‘limit’ the number of DVDs some of their more active members can get in a month. They wouldn’t limit the number of rentals you can have out at a time if it were a true ‘unlimited’ offer.

My point- don’t get swept up in big shiny happy marketing words like ‘unlimited’…think about how many Audiobooks you can realistically listen to in a month!

Even if you listened to one complete Audiobook everyday (because you don’t have a job)- the most you could do is 30 or 31 a month. I have two hours a day to listen on the weekdays (my commute time) and a few hours on Saturday and Sunday (if I don’t have anything else going on that weekend). So I might have 50-60 hours a month to listen to Audiobooks. If you take let’s say 56 hours divided by 8 hours (average length of a Fiction Audiobook [Non-Fiction Audiobooks run about 5-6 hours normally])- I end up with time to listen to about 7 Audiobooks a month. Most people I talk with say they listen to 6-10 Audiobooks a month with these plans.

The ‘Unlimited Rental’ offer may give you a warm, fuzzy feeling when you’re first signing up, but- generally speaking- is a bit of a far-fetched offer. Don’t believe me? Call one of them up and ask for them to send you 100 rentals at a time! Let me know how that works out for you…
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Once you choose your favorite website and are ready to sign-up, you’ll most likely need to get out your credit card/debit card. Even the services offering free trials still require this information for security purposes. Some services accept payments from PayPal (this payment option is my preference just for my own security concerns since the service never actually sees my credit card information) and some have their own payment services or direct pay options.

Fill out all the requested information completely, including your billing and shipping address, telephone number, email address, sign up for newsletters if you want, etc. and complete the account sign-up process.

Once you’ve created your account and received or chosen your username and password you will probably get a verification email to activate your account. Again, this is typical and just a security measure to make sure you are the person you claim you are.

Now you should be able to sign-in to your new account and start picking the first set of Audiobooks you want to rent. This list is known by several different terms, such as Wishlist, Book Shelf, Rental Shelf, Rental Cue, Rent Que, My List, etc.

You should choose between 10-15 titles to start with (or more if the service recommends it). Most services will send you the next available Audiobook title on your list starting at the top.

**Keep in mind- the first Audiobooks you get in the mail might not be the first titles you added to your list. Since the Audiobooks are constantly coming in and going out- a few of the most popular titles may be completely rented out already. That’s why it’s better to have 10-15 titles in your list at all times so they can go down the list.

Once you receive your first shipment in the mail, it will probably come with some type of welcome letter, a receipt/invoice for your plan, the Audiobook CD’s and some type of pre-paid return envelope or box. Keep the return envelope in a noticeable place (so you don’t forget where you put it).

Most of the rental services only send one complete Audiobook in each envelope/box and some split longer titles into a couple of different shipments.

Either way- you now have your first RENTED Audiobooks and should stop reading this and start listening! Enjoy!

Dave

If you have any questions about How To Rent Audiobooks By Mail or would like Audiobook Rental service suggestions (be warned I am a little biased, but will do my best to suggest the right service for your listening habits) please send me a message or send me an email!