Thursday, May 17, 2012

Audiobooks Question

I was looking at the back case of an audiobook I'm currently listening to, 'Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz", and noticed something strange. Its sale price was $44.95. This lead me to the question, "Who the hell would pay $45 for an audiobook?"

I don't mean this in the sense that audiobooks are not worth that price. Many are over 10 hours long and read by professional voice actors. I just don't get how the demand for this market exists. Who is buying these audiobooks? Who has the combination of lack of reading interest and the means to pay $45 for a book they are probably going to listen to once, yet does not have the capability of renting it from the library or finding a "free" version online.

Only realistic markets for people who buy audiobooks at full price that I can think of...
1. Housebound blind or nearly blind elderly (I assume non-housebound elderly and blind non-elderly people have means to acquire these books at a lower cost, whatever those may be)
2. Insane people
  
That's it. 

If you are someone, or know someone, who buys audiobooks at full price, I would love to know the motive. Please enlighten me in the comments section.

PS- Sorry if this sounds ranty or insensitive. I'm just genuinely at a loss.

No comments:

Post a Comment