Whay are audio books so much more expensive

equality72521 · 07-28-2009, 09:44 AM

than paper books? I like to listen to podcasts while driving long distance so I thought why not get some audio books. Jesus! Take for example Harry Potter. It's about $15 on Amazon for a new paperback of the latest book. The audio book is $70-$80 depending on where you download it from. I understand they need to pay the person reading it, the production, bandwidth for downloading, and such but I can't imagine that it costs anywhere near producing paperbacks. How do they justify the dramatic increase in the cost?

legion · 07-28-2009, 09:46 AM

They have to pay for all of that PLUS the royalties on the content to the author of the book.

The fact is that audio books are an extremely small market, so all of those costs are spread out over a much smaller volume. I paid around $50 for Atlas Shrugged, Animal Farm, and 1984 on CD for my drive down to Florida...

equality72521 · 07-28-2009, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by legion

They have to pay for all of that PLUS the royalties on the content to the author of the book.

The fact is that audio books are an extremely small market, so all of those costs are spread out over a much smaller volume. I paid around $50 for Atlas Shrugged, Animal Farm, and 1984 on CD for my drive down to Florida...

Ahh, I feel stupid not thinking about market size.

jyl · jyl's Garage

They'll charge what the market bears, gross margin on audiobooks is probably very high.

Check the audiobook out from the library, then rip the CD into iTunes or whatever music player you use.

We buy plenty of audiobooks because needed the physical CD to play in the car. Now that I've sorted out how to connect the iPod to the car audio, we might rent-and-rip more often.

cmccuist · 07-28-2009, 11:10 AM

the guy only has to read it one time . Then, burning it onto a CD is pennies. It's gotta be the supply demand as the cost to distribute is much less.

widgeon13 · 07-28-2009, 12:24 PM

They see you coming. Having spent many years in the paper and publishing business, I'd say the profit on an audio book is substantially more than a paper book. You are simply paying for the technology and convenience.

K9Torro · 07-28-2009, 03:05 PM

I found that buying on Flebay is the best place for audio books, they are great for trips and you can build quite a library of them for little money. I also use Cracker Barrel alot on trips, you stop pick up a book and pay for it, then find another CB to turn it into and they give you a refund for all your money but $3.45 for a week it is a great deal.

Todd

DavidI · 07-28-2009, 06:25 PM

A better way of getting audiobooks is to go through your library. You can register for free, and then request your specific title/aothor/genre. In some cases. you can download it directly from the library, and upload it to your iPod or burn a cd.

David

alf · 07-28-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidI

A better way of getting audiobooks is to go through your library. You can register for free, and then request your specific title/aothor/genre. In some cases. you can download it directly from the library, and upload it to your iPod or burn a cd.

David

+1, that is how i get all my audio books King County Library System. Free downloads to my laptop or smart phone anywhere in the world with an internet connection.