My brother-in-law asked me for recommendations on where to get audio books. He’s been using Spotify but found that he’d listened to too many and couldn’t hear the end of the most recent book.
He’s using them when commuting to work, which is over an hour’s drive each way. He’s not sure Audible is worth the price. He’s tried from his local library, but they have limited titles and long waits.
I’ve never been able to get into audio books. Having someone speaking when I’m trying to write throws me off, and I work remotely so I don’t have them for a commute. I’m wondering if anyone has a favorite source for audio books. Thank you!
For me Audible “just works”. Far as I can tell over-comes the issues you report for other services. As for being “worth it” … well, that’s up to your brother-in-law. There are a lot of titles and it “just works”. I like the integration with the books on Kindle. I’m not a voracious listener–mostly now do my listening to podcasts–but I’m a long-time Audible account holder even before Amazon took them over. Others may have different experiences or know of other services.
I had an Audible monthly account for a few years, gaining 1 credit per month, and have a lot of books.
It’s useful to know that you still can listen to the books you’ve bought (either outright or with the monthly credit) even if you stop paying the subscription, as long as you don’t cancel the account itself. Of course, this is just the same as with Kindle books, but I wasn’t sure so I specifically asked Audible the question and cancelled the monthly subscription afterwards.
I don’t buy either books or audiobooks from Amazon anymore, for all the obvious reasons, but at least I’ll be able to work my way through all the backlog…
I’ve seen a lot of recommendations for libro.fm as an indie alternative to Amazon. I don’t personally enjoy audiobooks, though, so I can’t comment from experience.
My wife listens to audiobooks all the time as reading has become difficult for her. She likes Audible.
I haven’t listened to any as I still prefer reading, albeit on my iPad, usually with Apple Books or Kobo. Both of those also have audio book versions of many of their tittles, but I don’t know how they compare price-wise with Audible.
If your BIL is in the USA, he can use his library card to sign up for Hoopla for free. It provides free audiobooks, plus streaming movies and TV shows. All courtesy of your local library.
