Why are audiobooks so expensive?!

As my classmates are aware (because I’ve been complaining A LOT), I’m attempting to go a full week without music. Starting tomorrow.

I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say I’ve been dreading this experiment. I may not survive.

But anyway, back to the point. For my week without music, I’ve decided to invest in some audiobooks. Just because I’m not listening music doesn’t mean I have suffer from (or in!) silence. And based on the recommendations of my 3-hr classic lit class, I’m going to listen to the entire series of Harry Potter, narrated by Jim Dale.

I’m not sure how much I thought the audiobooks would cost… but I was not expecting over $30. Which unfortunately is roughly how much one book-on-cd/mp3 costs (it depends on the store). Even iTunes charges over $40 for the newer books.

I (sort of maybe) understand that the physical audiobooks cost more, since there are actual CDs and all. But why do the digital editions cost so much?? I know that Harry Potter is amazing, and Jim Dale’s voice acting is superb, but seriously! How does an audiobook cost more than a multimillion dollar budget DVD? That’s a pretty big chunk of change that I won’t be getting back. And as a college student, I need all the change I can keep. I guess for now, I’ll just have to keep purchasing regular print books.

Image from PalmAddict.