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September 19, 2008 Simply AudioBooks When setting up my test account I had a few glitches. I called support for assistance with the download and play process and found the person very helpful. Janet had me well trained in minutes. She also explained how everything worked. Once up and running, I found the website easy to navigate. Their support number is available on most pages of their site. The home page is simple and very informative. They even offer current Netflix members a 15 day free trial of the Simply Audiobooks rental program. You can rent audio CDs, download books to your computer, or purchase them. There are several price groups for each option. The remainder of the home page covers Hot Titles, a featured review, a FREE download each month, and a sample group of new titles, The free downloads can be anything from a children’s book to self help or fiction. I was allowed to download one title as a test. The download worked perfectly. I played the book on the Lenovo ThinkPad using Windows Media Player 11. I then loaded the book into my Sansa Fuze and an older Creative Movo with no problem. The experience was similar to Audible.com in that is was good. Download plans are available as monthly or annual. Check the site for details. The rental plan has monthly and yearly pricing as well. It is very similar to NetFlix. You browse their book list to find titles you like. When selected they are placed in a numbered list of your requests. As they become available you are sent the next one on your list or, if all copies of that book are out, you will get one further down on your list. This means you may not get the first on your list but maybe the tenth. There is a way you can move requests up and down so they can take a higher or lower place in line. Simply Audible suggests creating a list of 15 to 20 titles on their site so you always have something they can ship to you. My plan gave me up to two rentals at a time. When one was returned to them another from my list was sent. There is no limit as to the number of books you can rent per month. Just the number you can have out or in transit at any one time. The best part is there are no late fees, no due dates, and shipping is free both ways. Although you need to supply a credit card and pay a monthly fee it is easy to cancel anytime. Cancel a prepaid plan and the unused monthly fees will be refunded. The Simplify Audiobooks library includes about 11,000 books. There is a wide range of topics including fiction, non-fiction, self help, language, and many others. As they grow their library will have to increase. It is important to look at the icons on the far right of the book listings. Some books are not available in all audio versions. Some are iPod only. Others are not iPod at all. Some are Tape only while others are CDs. Some are only for download. Some include all types. The search matrix allows you to make or remove a check mark in a box that will limit your search to exactly what will work for you. You can also limit to unabridged or abridged. Once you narrow these choices down you can also narrow to Mystery/Thriller, Language, Comedy and many other categories. If you find a book you think you might like to rent someday but are not sure it can be added to your Wish List. This is just a note to yourself so you can go to the wish list anytime and move a title to the request list or delete it if you decide it is not one you want. There is a page that lists the books you have rented to date and another that shows what you currently have out or in transit. I liked this simple plan. As simply audiobooks grows I expect their library will grow as well. More new releases with more copies of each book will bring them to the next level. I feel they are on the right track now. I hope you agree with me after you give it a try. |
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I am a long time member of Audible.com so when I received an invitation to test 