Can anyone explain to me why Stephen Fry reads the audiobooks over in the UK, while we Americans get Jim Dale — a different British actor?

I mean, I can ALMOST understand wanting to have an American read it in the American version, but replacing one perfectly good Brit with another? Surely there is a reason for this illogical duplication of effort resulting in an inferior product? (No offense, Jim.)

Sure, Jim does neat voices, but STEPHEN FRY. The voice of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Short of reading it yourself, having Stephen Fry read a book to you is the pinnacle of book reading enjoyment.

Hopefully when the Harry Potter prequel and sequel serieses come out they’ll save themselves a bunch of time and money and just give us Americans the Stephen Fry versions. I don’t think I can sit through another 14 volumes knowing that there’s a better product out there that just isn’t available to me.

Defined tags for this entry: audiobooks, books, harry potter, jim dale, stephen fry

As promised, I was just about to write a review recommending simplyaudiobooks.com for all your non-encrypted audiobook rental needs. Aside from the incredibly slow turnaround time on rentals (I had 3 shipments in the month of December, amounting to one and a half books and am looking at about the same this month, despite the fact that I rip them and return them the same day) I’ve been pretty happy with them.

Unfortunately, I just received my third “you really should pay us more money and upgrade your account, because only losers pay for the cheap plan. What’s another $10 a month, anyway??” email in under a month.

I am no longer able make such a recommendation, and am now obligated to find a different mail-order audiobook rental service. (Boy am I glad I didn’t pay for a whole year in advance.) I’ll post another update regarding my next audiobook provider after I find one.

Why companies would think that badgering their customers is a good idea is beyond me, as it’s the best sure-fire way to ensure that I stop being one.

Defined tags for this entry: audiobooks, bad business, rants, spam