April 6, 2005

Audio Samples On The Web

We’ve been recording some podcasts recently and to spice things up a bit we’ve been giving a showcase of a few handpicked audio samples culled from various web resources. Not every retailer has an audio sample of a given book so it became a search that yielded only a few results. I want to give you a look at the websites that offer samples. As you’ll see, some of them offer an extensive selection (audible) while others are just plain paltry (Audio Renaissance)

First off we’ll start with the aforementioned audible.com. They basically have every title they carry repleat with a good sample Most are good quality here’s one for “America: The Audiobook ”

By far the most generous with their audio samples is Nightingale Conant’s website. They offer multiple samples from a given book with added bonus of each sample being an average of about 15 minutes long. You basically can hear the whole book at that rate. Quality is crummy but you get what you pay for on this count. Here’s some words of wisdom from Brian Tracy’s “The Power Of Clarity”

By far the worst supplier of audio books is Audio Rensaissance. I hate to rage on AR because I believe they are one of the best providers of quality audio books and lets face it, audio samples are a perk, not a normal feature. Nevertheless, they have nothing more than a small page of samples for their newer releases. This is great if you want to hear a brand new hot off the press best seller, but now if you want to hear one of their more obscure titles. Audible just plain beats them to the punch. Here’s a look at their page for audio samples.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a brief look at what’s out there. There are only a few more pages that offer samples. There are a few retailers and publishers that offer samples for select titles. The most notable and comprehensive providers are: Blackstone Audio, Harper Collins, and Time Warner Audio. If you look through their catalogues, you’ll see many if not most offer samples. I do think this is a unique and cool feature every retailer/publisher should offer. It not only gives a better example of what you’re about to buy, but it also utilizes the medium in a special way unique to its strengths. Yeah. Hope this was of some help.