Beach Reading? Don’t “read”…listen!

Whenever I take a book to the beach, it never fails, I seem to trash it—sand, sunscreen on my hands, water damage, etc. That’s why I’ve always enjoyed audio books. It’s so relaxing to just lay there on your beach lounger and listen to your book with a headset (be sure to get sport or water-resistant headphones); no need to take your reading glasses to the beach, no page turning, and you can “read” while lying in any position.

Audio books are also great for the trip to and from your vacation destination. You can listen while driving or flying to your destination. I listen in my car, while relaxing in the bathtub, and even while I’m vacuuming my house.

I recently had a great experience with a service called Audible.

While shopping for an audio book that was in the $14.99 range on both iTunes and Amazon, I happened to remember about Audible and checked out their site. They offer a program for $ 7.49 for the first three months and I noted that I can cancel at any time. Even if I cancel after the first month, I essentially would have my audio book at about half the price I almost paid! I doubt however, that I will cancel because it’s looking like I am really going to like and use this service; I am confident I will easily get my money’s worth each month.

The signup process was quick and easy, and took me about five minutes. My book automatically imported into iTunes and within a minute or so, I was syncing it onto my iPod and was off to the gym. The next day, I also downloaded the app for my Android HTC cell phone.

They offer mobile apps for iPod, Android, and Blackberry devices, and work with most devices made by Apple, Zune, Garmin, Motorola, Pioneer, Memorex, Creative and many more. You can also download audiobooks on your Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, or Kindle Keyboard. Another great feature is that you are not limited to only one listening method; you can choose to burn books to CD, listen on your mobile device, or listen on your computer.