What is Audible? + How Audible Works

Sometimes, it's nice to just kick back, relax, and read a good book.  However, not everyone is the biggest fan of reading, and there are times where you don't have time to sit down and pick up a book.  For people like that, there are audiobooks, books in the form of sound files that you can have narrated to you anytime, anywhere.  And one of the prime places to get these is Audible.

So what exactly is Audible?

Audible.com is an online portal for purchasing, downloading, and listening to audiobooks.  It allows you to search for or browse a large collection of audiobooks, which you can buy using money or membership credits.  You can then listen to those books right on Audible, or download them to your device of choice.

How does Audible work:  3 reasons to try it out

1. One of the largest audiobook libraries out there

Audible has over 150,000 audiobooks for you to discover, buy, download, and enjoy!  From mysteries to history, from romance to science fiction, from self-help to comedy, Audible is sure to have a book that you'll love listening to.

A sample of the books available on Audible

2. Audiobooks available where and when you want them

You can listen to audiobooks from Audible right on the Audible website, using the built-in audio player.  Or, you can download an app for your mobile device or desktop computer, download your audiobooks, and listen to them on the go.

Downloading a book from Audible

3. Join the club and get extra benefits

If you buy a premium membership to Audible, you'll get extra goodies like one or more free books every month.  Plus, you can take 30% off the price of any books that you buy with cash!  There's also a 30-day free trial option available!

Your membership status on Audible

What can I listen to on Audible?

Audible contains audio versions of some of the best-loved timeless classics, as well as newer books that are hot off the printing press.  Here's a sample of some of the best-selling books on Audible:

Overall best sellers

Mystery and thriller best sellers

Romance best sellers

Comedy best sellers


Well, that's a brief introduction to Audible and how it works.  The rest of our Audible course will focus on how to buy, download, and listen to books from Audible, including how to create or delete an account.  For the moment, though, we'll take a quick look at the costs associated with Audible in our next tutorial.