Old Man’s War Audio Book on Audible.com
Posted on October 11, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments
Those of you who keep asking me: “When is there going to be an audio version of Old Man’s War available?” can stop asking: It’s now out on Audible.com. This is an unabridged edition, so you’ll have 10 hours of pure listening satisfaction as the story is read to you by William Dufris.
Those of you planning to rush to your nearest bookstore to pick up the CD copy should know that the Old Man’s War audiobook is available only as a download (and as far as I know exclusive to Audible.com, but don’t hold me to that). However, once you’ve downloaded the audio files you can burn them to CD pretty easily if that’s what you need.
Why is it available download only? I suspect for two reasons: The first is that I think it’s assumed that readers of my stuff are fairly technically adept, so you can handle getting this in electronic format — indeed many of you would just get the CDs and rip the audio files to your iPods anyway. This will save you that intermediary step.
The second is that it’s faster to get it to you all this way: You get the audio files without having to wait for the time it takes to create packaging and deal with shipping and whatnot, most of which I suspect most of you don’t give a damn about. Anyway, I know how all of you hate delaying your gratification. Well, delay no longer.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think.
“it’s faster to get it to you all this way: You get the audio files without having to wait for the time it takes to create packaging and deal with shipping and whatnot”
Not to mention, cheaper, too. :-)
Looking forward to this. Off to buy it right now.
Ooh, ooh, shiny!
What’s the format here? And does Audible use DRM?
If this is a clean copy, I’m *so* buying it as a gift for a certain family member. (My apologies to the purveyors of DRM and odd formats–I don’t need the tech support headache of making DRM run on a old player.)
The Jane Sagan audio book was a thing of great awesomeness. But this would be a much better starting point for someone new to the series.
Eric:
I don’t know if there’s DRM or not. But inasmuch as you can burn it to CD, if there is DRM you can pretty easily re-rip it into something DRM-less.
And, for those of you interested in getting this audio book for free, here’s a deal for you. If you go to audible.com/sciencetalk you can sign up for a free 14 day membership and 1 free download of any book (via the Scientific American podcast, which I recommend.. skepticality was also offering this deal, but it seems to have expired already).
I signed up this morning and saw Old Man’s War under the new releases and added it to my wish list. I’ve found enough books that I think I’m going to keep the subscription, though I still haven’t decided what I’m going to download first.
Audiobooks seem ideal for trips and driving back and forth to work. Right now I listen to podcasts mostly, but I think I can fit a book a month in too.
Who read it?
I had forgotten how much audiobooks cost; I generally get them at the library on CD or cassette. Not to sound like a skinflint, but I’ll probably follow ordinary girl’s advice and use my free book to grab Old Man’s War. I’d have a hard time justifying spending full-price hardback money on the audiobook of a novel I’ve already bought ten or twelve copies of (they make great gifts!)…..
Do you read it?
With a mouthful of bacon?
Audible.com has a list of compatible devices. If you an iriver user, you will not find your device on the list. While this has probably saved me thousands of dollars in things I didn’t download but would have, it’s still a bit frustrating since irivers are really fantastic little gizmos and audible.com seems to be an otherwise fantastic site. I have not tried the re-ripping idea, but if anyone does that for an incompatible device, I’d be interested in the outcome.
Bogus! I’ve just checked and it is not yet available on the UK site.
Damn you, John, I got choked up listening to the opening. When I get home, I’ll be snagging this, no question.
John: Thanks for the suggestion about re-ripping!
Unfortunately, it sounds like the whole process slightly exceeds my aggravation threshhold (especially with 10 hours of CDs involved).
But congratulations on this new release, and good luck with your sales!
Any plans to make the rest of the books in the series available? Or maybe TAD?
Fun , I have to wait until my subscription renews later this month. Easy devices to use with Audible that are not so much – Creative stone plus is small , has a readout so you know whats playing They make set of speakers to play through- Scalzi playing on a baby boom box, better that Tupac.
I am very excited to see you on Audible; I have been getting my audio fix from them for years. Thank you in advance for making my commute a bit more enjoyable.
Nick:
“Any plans to make the rest of the books in the series available? Or maybe TAD?”
I would suspect it depends on how well OMW does.
Hi there,
Can anyone advise how I can get audible.com books onto my philips SA23xx? It’s not listed on the website as a compatible device.
Thanks.
Hey. Love your books! I think I’ve listened to ‘Fuzzy Nation’ twice and ‘Android’s Dream’ like four times.
BTW: is there any plans to make this book available to Australian Audible users?
Please make available to your loving adoring Australian Audible users. We neeeeeeeed it!
Having loved The Human Division and Redshirts immensely I’d really like to get audio versions of Old Man’s War, Ghost Brigades and Last Colony on audible.co.uk. Pretty please? :)
Any reason these aren’t available to Australian customers? Books 4 and above are, but 1-3 aren’t. A piracy encouraging scheme?