If you commute, travel a lot, or just don’t have time to read - but you do like to keep up with your favorite authors, then I’ll bet that you discovered audio books a long time ago. If you’ve ever purchased them, then you also know how pricey they can be. But have you ever considered renting them? Did you know that you could? Well, you can…

Simply Audiobooks is a service which allows you to rent up to four audio book CDs at a time, as many times in a month as you would like. They have over 22,000 titles, so your odds of finding something you’ll enjoy should be pretty good. They also offer a “prepaid rental option, enabling subscribers to pay up front for a full year’s worth of audio listening.  Plans are cancelable at any time, with refunds prorated at the discounted rate.

I took a quick look at some of the titles they have available, and I was impressed to see books by some of my favorite authors including James Patterson, Jonathan Kellerman, Faye Kellerman, Tess Gerritsen, Linda Fairstein, Karin Slaughter, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Ted Bell, Harlan Coben, Michelle Martinez, Jeff Lindsay, Patricia Cornwell…and shall I keep going? I didn’t have quite as good luck with some of my favorite lesser known authors, but I bet that their books probably aren’t available as audiobooks. And yes, the Harry Potter series is available. So how does this work?

You go to the Simply Audiobooks site, and sign up for “access to thousands of dollars worth of audio books on CD–for as little as $15 per month. That’s less than the cost of one audio book at most retail chains. Your monthly fee covers an unlimited supply of audio books, with no shipping charges, no late fees and absolutely no hassles.”

Since you are renting an actual CD, the title you want might not be immediately available. So you can work the system by searching their inventory to find the books you’d like to hear. “Whenever you see a title of interest, click “Add to Shelf” (while logged in). The book will automatically be added to the bottom of your Rental Shelf. At your leisure, edit your list to make sure the books you most want to hear are at the top of your Rental Shelf.”

Books are automatically shipped in order of availability and priority. That means every time we receive a selection back from you, we’re able to send out your top next available pick the same day.

For those who prefer digital audio books, they are also available although the selection is not quite as broad (about 10,000 titles), they won’t work with Macs or iPods (PlaysForSure devices only), and in my opinion the plans aren’t as generous (one to four downloads a month).

Ah well, options are good. :-)

Simply Audiobooks also offers free downloads through their Free Download of the Month Club. Through this club, “audiobook lovers can download and keep a classic title each month from such authors as Agatha Christie, Machiavelli, P.T. Barnum, Jack London and others, at absolutely no cost.”

Past books offered in the free series have included:
•    Living The Good Life, by David Patchell-Evans
•    The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli
•    The Art of Money Getting, by P.T. Barnum
•    Fit From Within, by Victoria Moran
•    Voltaire’s Science Fiction, by Voltaire
•    Tainted Love: Diary of a Smoker, by Tina Triano
•    Michael Jordan: An Audio Tribute, (Soundworks)
•    Sea Wolf, by Jack London
•    Miles of Mystery, by Agatha Christie

Simply Audiobooks looks like a good option for anyone who enjoys audio books; having the choice of joining clubs for either unlimited CD rentals or a particular number of digital downloads per month is a nice bonus.:-)