WoT Audio Books - Why so expensive?

[Shendare]

The good news:

 

Macmillan Audio called back and informed me that they are indeed working on releasing the Winter's Heart audiobook as well.

 

The less good news:

 

The representative stated that it would most likely be about a year between the release of Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart.

 

I may end up getting Winter's Heart from Audible and making do with the poor quality, then looking into the CDs later. I doubt it'll take me 15 months to get from The Dragon Reborn through Path of Daggers, even with my relatively short commute in the car.

[Darth_Andrea]

The need to re-release all 11 books unabridged on CD, Lord of Chaos is really hard to find and when you do it's like $200 on ebay or amazon.

 

 

 

[glow=green,1,500]Darth_Andrea[/glow]         

[Shendare]

The only books I didn't see available on Amazon at regular prices were the two mentioned here, Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart.

 

The other 10 books (including New Spring) all showed up as "In Stock" in unabridged audio CD format, though as of today the Shadow Rising page says "Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way)."

 

Lord of Chaos - "In Stock":

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Chaos-Book-Wheel-Time/dp/1593976836/

 

If you're having trouble finding the unabridged audio CD form of a book, the easiest way to find it is to just find and open the default page for a particular book (paperback, hardback, etc.) and look for the box that lists other formats. Click the link that says "See all editions and formats", and it'll list the audio CD entries.

 

Some books have multiple audiobook formats (abridged, unabridged, cassette, cd, etc.), but it wasn't difficult to pick out and check the status of the unabridged audio CD format for each book.

[mrc1ark]

 

Lots of discussion about audio books but not a whole lot to answer the original question.  Why do they cost so much?  I understand why people like them but it seems a lot to pay for the book.  I could see myself paying maybe 15 bucks.  Past that its to expensive for me.

 

So does anyone have any info on WHY they are expensive rather than just why they are great?

[Marrow]

 

Lots of discussion about audio books but not a whole lot to answer the original question.  Why do they cost so much?  I understand why people like them but it seems a lot to pay for the book.  I could see myself paying maybe 15 bucks.  Past that its to expensive for me.

 

So does anyone have any info on WHY they are expensive rather than just why they are great?

 

My guess would be that the audio books adds yet another cost to the book: The money the reader is to be paid.

[Casabamelon]

 

Lots of discussion about audio books but not a whole lot to answer the original question.  Why do they cost so much?  I understand why people like them but it seems a lot to pay for the book.  I could see myself paying maybe 15 bucks.  Past that its to expensive for me.

 

So does anyone have any info on WHY they are expensive rather than just why they are great?

 

My guess would be that the audio books adds yet another cost to the book: The money the reader is to be paid.

 

That, and you don't sell (generally speaking) as many, so your margins need to be higher, plus you don't want to discourage people from buying your book (this is also why the Hardcover versions come out before paperback), plus the cost of production of the physical media...

[Auld Manriva]

Lord of Chaos in Audio Form is 41 hours and 37 minutes long. At Audible with a member plan it's $44 (if you simply buy without a monthly subscription).. that is barely a dollar an hour. A typical music CD is $10 appx at iTunes Store and is at best just over an hour long. Expensive?

Eye of the World (which I have on CD) is 31 hours and TWENTY FIVE discs. Buy 25 music CD's....

 

Audio Quality at Audible depends greatly on the format you choose to download the book in. I use Format4 .. it is mp3 quality, what the actual bitrate is I don't know but I'm certain it's over 32kbps. I think that rate is Format2. There is now a more high quality Format called Audible Enhanced and is usable if you have a newer iPod or other mp3 player than I have.

 

I've been a member at Audible since 2005. I've never bought a book on CD since nor have I felt the need to burn one to disc.

I have not quite 81 DAYS worth of listening on 284 books from 32 authors.

 

I like Audible... can you tell?