Audible.com has thousands of audiobooks for download, and you can play them on your iPod, smartphone, mp3 player, computer… pick a device, really. Audible has you covered.

Right now, as a way of introducing themselves, Audible is offering you a free audiobook, just to see how easy their product is to use. Yes, really. Choose from crime dramas, science fiction, classics, romance… whatever your taste, you’ll find something you like. And again, the first book you download is totally and completely free. You don’t even need a credit card – I tested the download myself, just to see how it worked, and Audible was honest about the whole thing.

I chose On Basilisk Station, because I’ve always had a bit of a weakness for the pulp science fiction epics, the ones with a militaristic bent in particular. My Dad had a huge collection, and I can’t pick up a book about a sentient super-tank or a bitter captain of a rogue battlecruiser without remembering days spent reading this stuff nestled against Dad’s hip. I had to provide an email address, and pick a username and password for the Audible website.

After that, there’s a download – you need a file manager from Audible, but it checked out when I ran it through my malware and antiviral screening software. Nothing fishy there. I chose to get the player installed to my Android phone – and no toubles at all with that step, either. Now I can listen to the tale of a captain exiled to a distant post, sent there to fail by corrupt military leadership. But that’s not in the plan. Now she’s mad. I plan to listen to the story in the mornings and afternoons, while I walk to work – and I’ll probably go back to Audible for more, after this.