Audiobooks.com review

 AUDIOBOOKS.COM SUMMARY

Having tested and used Audiobooks.com since 2019, I confirm it has an excellent selection of over 200,000 audiobooks and competitive pricing. Also, their highly-rated easy-to-use apps make it worthy of being your audiobook service of choice.  There are two drawbacks; the book returns policy needs improving, and there is no smart speaker support.

With access to over 200,000 audiobook titles, and new releases arriving quickly, you will not notice any real difference between the Audible service and Audiobooks.com.

Importantly, like Audible, you own the book, which means that even if you terminate your subscription, you should have access to your audiobooks; for me, this is vital.

                        get free trial

Firstly, there is no easily discernible way to return a book you are unhappy with.  In fact, looking into the user agreement, it says: “Audiobooks.com grants refunds at our sole discretion. We do not offer refunds on any subscription charges”.

Secondly, there is no support for smart speakers like Alexa, Apple, or Google Now.

Audiobooks.com, a Great App With Good Recommendations.

Audiobooks.com Pricing

Free Trial

Audiobooks.com offers a free 30-day trial during which you can access 3 free credits to exchange for 3 audiobooks, plus access to a VIP Book.  This is an excellent free trial.

Monthly Membership

The monthly membership costs $14.95 per month, which gets you one credit for a book you own and access to an additional VIP book from a selection they have curated.

This means the average cost per book is $7.48.

The only issue I have with this is that you do not actually own the VIP book.  It will always be in your library, but if you end your subscription, you will only have access to the books you purchased with a Credit.

This means all the VIP books will be removed as they were only loaned to you, not actually purchased by you.

This essentially means the real cost per book should you end your subscription is $14.95.

On the positive side, they are always running 2-for-1 deals, which means that if you buy books in the deal, you may bring your average cost per book back down to $7.50.

Audiobooks.com Book Club – New in 2021

Audiobooks have introduced a great new member benefit called book club. Instead of spending your book credit on a single book, you can spend it on 30 days of access to one of 8 book clubs. The book clubs are focused on the Romance, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Health, Business, and Religion genres.

This means when you join one of these book clubs, you get unlimited access to the featured books. I checked, and there are at least 200 books available in each book club. This is an innovative new offering. The only downside is that most of the books are over 2 years old, so do not expect the latest bestsellers to be included.

Finally, if you spend your credit on the book club, it means that you have not purchased a book that you keep forever; you have essentially rented access to unlimited books for 30 days.

clear-review-is-it-worth-it full Review.

CLEAR at the airport is easy. It’s the price tag that’s scary.

Head to CLEARme to register for your membership. At $179 per year, it’s a steep cost – especially considering a TSA PreCheck membership costs just $85 for a five-year membership.

But there are easy ways to drastically cut that cost.

 

 

For starters, all Delta SkyMiles members can enroll in CLEAR for just $119. So even if you’re not flying Delta, you can quickly sign up for a free SkyMiles account to capitalize on this lower cost. But if you’ve got status with Delta or hold one of the co-branded Delta SkyMiles American Express, that drops to $109. And the lowest pricing of all is reserved for top-tier Delta Diamond status holders, who can select an annual membership as a free perk.

United has also partnered up with CLEAR to offer similar pricing to its own members.

 

 

Not sold yet? CLEAR occasionally offers free two- to three-month trials, which allows you to give the program a test-run before ponying up for a full membership. Late last year, they offered free six-month trials.

But it can potentially get even cheaper … or even free.

The Platinum Card® from American Express was recently overhauled, with a higher annual fee and a slew of new benefits – some better than others. But one great new benefit is an annual credit of up to $179 a year that covers CLEAR enrollment. It’s the only travel credit card that currently covers the entire cost of signing up for CLEAR.

Just pay for your membership with your card and voila: A statement credit will kick in automatically to cover the cost.

Related Reading: How to Use the Amex Platinum Card’s CLEAR Credit…For Two!

 

 

Click Here to learn more about the Platinum Card from American Express

 

The American Express® Green Card also carries a smaller annual $100 credit towards the cost of CLEAR membership.

 

 

Click Here to learn more about the American Express Green Card.

All information about The American Express Green Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler. The Amex Green Card is no longer available through Thrifty Traveler.

After signing up, you’ll need to finalize your enrollment at the airport before your flight.

 

Finalizing CLEAR Enrollment at the Airport

Don’t worry – it’s not hard.

After you’ve signed up and received a confirmation email from CLEAR, you’re all set. Just head for the CLEAR lanes at security checkpoints – with bright neon signs, they’re hard to miss – as if you’re ready to go through security. Tell a CLEAR ambassador you need to finalize your enrollment, and they’ll guide you toward a kiosk.

You won’t need anything but your boarding pass and an ID. A CLEAR ambassador will help you finish everything up. That includes getting fingerprints, thumbprints, and an iris scan. They’ll take a quick snapshot of your face and scan your driver’s license. And that’s it. The whole process of finalizing enrollment takes about five minutes.

 

 

Using CLEAR to Cut to the Front of TSA Security

Once you’ve finalized your enrollment – or if that’s already taken care of – you’re off.

Just head for the CLEAR lane at the security checkpoint with your boarding pass in hand. A CLEAR agent will once again bring you to a kiosk for a quick scan of your eyes or fingerprints, glance at your boarding pass, and then escort you to the front of the TSA line. CLEAR members don’t need to show their ID – that’s what CLEAR is for.

From there, you’re ready to go through TSA security.

 

 

Over the course of the last year, I’ve used CLEAR about 10 times. While security checkpoint lines have grown as travel rebounds, CLEAR and TSA PreCheck lines have been short – or even nonexistent. Without fail, I’ve made it through security in less than five minutes every single time at every airport. Sometimes, that’s more like just two to three minutes total.

 

 

Prior to the pandemic, I was more skeptical of CLEAR and its value. But a quick, touchless trip through security is paramount these days.

Is that worth it for everyone? It depends on how much you travel – and how much you’d wind up actually paying for CLEAR. At $179 a year, it’s hard to make sense of paying for CLEAR if you travel just once or twice a year. But if you’re flying five-plus times a year, you may be able to easily justify the cost – especially with such an easy way to drop that to at least $119 a year with a free Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus account.

And if you can cut that cost even further using credits from the Amex Platinum or Amex Green Card?