In which I continue to hate Audible.com

There was a deal this summer where you could get four months of Audible at a cheap rate. My webpage told me I qualified, even though I’d been an Audible member before. Actually, they charged me the complete rate, but I didn’t feel like getting in an argument with their customer service bot, so I left it, because I wanted to get Marcus Aurelius and Chekhov and the Montefiore speeches. Turns out the speeches aren’t available in the US in any format, Aurelius was only available in that format (so at least I got that), and I did get the Chekhov but then almost immediately after I downloaded it I learned there was an audiodisc version, so it was a wasted credit when I could have had the discs.

Anyway, after all that, I figured I could wait for the Agatha Christie things for the last two credits. I was ambivalent about them (Christie is so casually racist and I am afraid they won’t hold up well) but I figured at half price, why not? Two weeks before they were supposed to drop, Audible removed them from the regular Audible page and moved them to Audible Plus, so now I can’t download a copy of them — only listen to them in their library as long as I’m a member. I don’t stream audiobooks even when I do listen to them; it’s not convenient. Since I was kind of only a member *for* those specific things this time around, that plan fell apart. It looks like I could buy the Christie titles as standalone audiobooks, but only if I am not an Audible member. This is what I hate about subscription services in general — you spend a lot of money for access to things you don’t want but you’re barred from actually owning the things you do want and would be willing to pay for.

So I got the Beatrix Potter tales instead of Montefiore. And now have one Audible credit and nothing I want to buy.

Richard Armitage is really the only artist I would go through this level of aggravation for. But I think this is probably the end of my willingness to give Audible money unless he reads something I would be interested in listening to even if it weren’t him, which means basically nothing. I’m going to cancel my subscription in the next day or so.

So if you’ve listened, should I download Bedlam (this is the third novel in the series — I hate not starting with the first) or His & Hers (not a solo narration — which means I won’t listen to at least half of it)? If you have listened to both or either, do you have insights or a preference?

(I either have a copy of, or have rejected, all the other options.)

Bedlam or His & Hers?

[UPDATE: I CHOSE HIS & HERS AND CANCELED MY SUBSCRIPTION. THANKS TO ALL WHO WEIGHED IN.]

~ by Servetus on November 2, 2020.