Extended, Uncut Edition of Stephen King’s The Stand Finally Available As Audiobook http://bit.ly/z27CPV
(Ed. Note: Okay, full confession just ahead. As some of you know already, I was a little under the weather last weekend. I may not have been able to devote my usual energy to the Weekender, but it’s not like I did *nothing.* Indeed, I spent many, many hours over the course of the weekend and the following few days listening to a truly remarkable audiobook on my Kindle Fire. KF@KND editor April Hamilton has the full scoop here, but please, may I add my two cents worth? Thank you. Stephen King may have come into our cultural consciousness as a genre author in the horror category, and then as a colossally successful — and wealthy — genre author in the horror category, but the fact is that he is a novelist of extraordinary powers, as the National Book Foundation recognized a few years back when it recognized him with its Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. (See Walter Mosley’s introduction here and King’s acceptance speech here.) And it is my belief both that the uncut version of The Stand is Exhibit A for King’s place in any pantheon of contemporary American authors, and that Grover Gardner’s relentlessly energetic and pitch-perfect voice performance of the book will leave many reader-listeners, at the end of the 48-hour performance, wishing there had been more.
One last thing. Well, more than one, I guess. You don’t need a Kindle Fire to enjoy The Stand either as an Audible.com performance or as a Kindle book, but it sure helps, and it will help you save money, too. Since I enjoy both the Kindle book format and the Audible.com approaches to the digital reading experience, I often use my Kindle Fire to research and purchase the cheaper of the two formats when I know that I want to read a particular book. Finding the Kindle price is a snap, of course — you just click on the Kindle edition of The Stand and you’ll see that it is priced at $8.99, which I happen to think is a very nice price for 1,213 pages of reading pleasure. It’s a little more complicated, at first, with Audible.com, because you have to get into the mindset of translating Audible.com’s “credits” into currency. Here’s what I think’s worth knowing about Audible.com pricing:
- If you are new to Audible.com, there are two things you should know: you can listen to Audible.com audiobooks not only on the Kindle Fire but on the Kindle 2, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Touch or Kindle DX, and there’s no better way to start than with a free trial membership. With a free trial, of course, you can download and listen to The Stand or just about any other book absolutely free.
- Then as the free trial ends and you’re trying to decide how to proceed, it will be time to decide just how much you want to make use of Audible.com. When I first joined, I signed up for an annual membership which resulted in my paying $14.95 a month for one credit per month, which certainly compares well with the a la carte cost of many audiobooks. The Stand comes in, for instance, at $33.60 for a non-member or $23.52 for members. But when I realized how often I was listening to audiobooks (first on an eInk Kindle or iPad and now on my Kindle Fire), I decided that it was well worth it for me purchase 24 credits in advance under the Audible.com Platinum plan. It does mean paying $229.50 in advance for 24 credits, but that comes out to the very sweet price of $9.56 per credit — that’s right, $9.56 for all 48 hours of The Stand – and I have a year to use them, and I’m allowed to roll over up to 12 credits if I haven’t used them within the year. I’m just saying. –S.W.)
Wolfram|Alpha Brings Star-Trek Like Computer to Your Fire! http://bit.ly/wHexq2
You’ve probably seen it in countless futuristic films and television shows: a character addresses his computer by name and asks a plain-English question, prompting the computer to respond with a plain English answer. “Computer, what was the average rainfall on the Serengeti plain between the years 2000 and 2010?” “Computer, what is the recipe…
Study Finds Game Apps May Fend Off Alzheimer’s, Improve Cognitive Function http://bit.ly/x7ExZi
(Ed. Note: I’ll admit, I have no interest in Angry Birds. It’s my character defect, and I’m comfortable with it. But the Kindle Fire Gin Rummy app? That’s another story. There’s something weird about my personal brain chemistry that makes it easier for me to concentrate on the audiobook to which I’m listening if I am also, simultaneously, knocking early to put up points against Aiden, Yancy, or Mercedes in a game of gin rummy. So I was happy to learn that I’m also staving off dementia in the process. Life is good. –S.W.)
Stop feeling guilty about those stolen minutes spent playing Angry Birds, Words With Friends and Fruit Ninja on your Kindle Fire. You’re not just having fun; according to a new Archives of Neurology study, you’re giving your brain a workout that may be helping you avoid Alzheimer’s and improve your gray matter’s overall functioning with higher…
Does Amazon Want to Make the Fire Into a Gaming Console? http://bit.ly/xkLUeL
Maybe so. From the Company Town blog on the LA Times site: Amazon.com has been quietly recruiting game developers, posting dozens of jobs on its site. Why this burst of interest in game design from the world’s largest online retailer? P.J. McNealy, founder of Digital World Research, believes that Amazon is amassing resources to…
Book Spotlight: 3 Free Kindle Business Books http://bit.ly/xQmAL4
We came across this on PCWorld.com today, and are only too happy to share: For what is sure to be a limited time, Amazon is offering three business-oriented e-books for free. No strings attached; all you need is a PC, a Kindle, or any device capable of running a Kindle app (which means virtually…
If You’ve Got A Kindle Fire, You Need Amazon Prime http://bit.ly/zuznRC
Let’s open with full disclosure on this: neither this site nor any of its staff receives any affiliate fees or other compensation of any kind for recommending Amazon Prime membership, or providing links to sign up for the program. We’re recommending Amazon Prime membership to Kindle Fire owners simply because it’s the best way to…
All these and much, much more at KINDLE FIRE at KINDLE NATION DAILY or the KF@KND page via Facebook:
- Mystery of the Disappearing Ebooks on Fire Solved! http://bit.ly/Ag2vAM
- Tips & Tricks: Speed Up The Fire’s Silk Browser http://bit.ly/wxlpyW
- Are You Taking Advantage of Amazon’s Free App of the Day? http://bit.ly/As6fUz
- CX.com Makes A Bet on Kindle Fire, Launches Cloud Storage App http://bit.ly/xnZJMX
- Power Users: How to Add Ebooks You Already Own to the Fire’s Books Page http://bit.ly/zkNQXn
- Games Spotlight: Try Cut The Rope For Addictive, Casual Gaming Fun! http://bit.ly/y2wkBF
- Amazon Instant Video Movie Spotlight: Dead of Winter http://bit.ly/znHFjd
- Music: Did You Catch Obama Rocking Out With Blues Greats? http://bit.ly/y0Ryld
- Audiobook Spotlight: Full Cast Recording of Bram Stoker’s Dracula http://bit.ly/z1Rpnt
- Instant Video TV Spotlight: Carnivale – Good vs. Evil, Myth and Magic in the Dustbowl Era http://bit.ly/x5fKZJ
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- Best Adapted Screenplay Winners: Once They Were Books http://bit.ly/yHm8GA
- Kidproof Your Kindle Fire http://bit.ly/yeHrKv
- Will BAFTAs Predict the Oscars? Winners and Nominees Available On The Fire http://bit.ly/yN9wPt
- Grammy Winners For Your Kindle Fire http://bit.ly/x5prCr
- Listen to Betty White’s Grammy Winner, If You Ask Me, Right on Your Fire! http://bit.ly/yQM1VG
- App Spotlight: 3 Terrific Free Puzzle Games http://
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