I’ve slowly found myself listening to more and more audiobooks. I’d been leery of them originally. And when I finally did try them I wasn’t sure about some of the fiction books, where a single narrator tried to create unique voices for each character, so I started out with non-fiction books where a narrator would simply read the book. That worked really well for me. But the more I listened the more I got used to, and started really enjoying, listening to fiction books in audio form. Not all work for me, there are some voices I just don’t want to listen to, at least not for the length of an entire book. But being able to sample the book before buying I’m finding myself happily purchasing books that I end up very much enjoying, and this lets me read when I might not otherwise be able to.
In the beginning I was listening to books from Audible as I didn’t know any other source of audiobooks. And I’d only buy them when on sale. The full price when not a member was too high, and at the time I wasn’t interested in becoming a monthly-paying member. At some point I stopped seeing books for sale to non-monthly subscribers, so I stopped buying audiobooks.
LibriVox.org
A selection of the audiobooks I’ve listened to from Librivox.org
Then I discovered LibriVox, a great source for audiobooks of older works. The books are those old enough they’re in the public domain in the USA. They are narrated by volunteers, sometimes by a single narrator and sometimes by a group. Some books have different narrators for different chapters, while others use different narrators for different characters. Being volunteers, the quality of narration does vary, but because they are all free there’s nothing to lose trying a book. If you don’t like it then move on to the next one. I’ve found some narrators I really enjoy and have read (listened to) some great classic works. You don’t need to sign up for anything to use them, just visit their site, search for a book, then download and load it into your audio software of choice. I most often download books in the M4B Audiobook format and load them into iTunes, where I’ll then listen to them using the Books app on my phone.
Libro.fm
A selection of the audiobooks I’ve purchased through Libro.fm
More recently I’ve found a source for newer audiobooks, including current best sellers: Libro.fm, a company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. They have some of the same audiobooks you’ll find on Audible. But the biggest thing they have going for them, in my mind, is how they’ve teamed up with many independent and local bookstores. I searched their list of affiliated bookstores, found one near me, and chose that as the bookstore I’d support. A percentage of each audiobook I purchase goes to my chosen independent bookstore. And if that weren’t enough, the books offered through Libro.fm are DRM-free. I’ve never cared for DRM encumbered digital products. We didn’t always have a choice; there were times when most everything out there had DRM. But then companies started dropping DRM from music. And later some book publishers dropped it from their ebooks. Now you can purchase DRM-free audiobooks, letting you listen on the apps and devices you want.
I started using Libro.fm by browsing through the titles they currently had on sale. Each month they appear to pick a large selection of books and offer them as some great discounts. You don’t need to sign up for their monthly membership to purchase these, though if you do they even discount the already discounted price. But I wasn’t initially sure I wanted a monthly subscription so I just created a free account and bought books piecemeal.
After purchasing and listening to several books I decided I liked the service enough to sign up for their monthly membership plan. At the time I signed up they offered the first audiobook free, after which I pay $14.99 per month for 1 book credit, which lets me purchase almost any audiobook, rolls over from month to month, and doesn’t expire. Considering many long audiobooks are over $30 or $40, this is a great price and very close to that of Audible. I have found there are a very small number of books they can’t offer as part of their monthly membership because of publisher restrictions, but these they usually offer at discounted prices to make up for that. And in addition to the book a month I can also purchase any other book at a discount, currently 30% off.
Libro.fm has apps you can load on your phone, or you can use most any other audio application to listen on your computer or device, if you prefer. Personally, I download the audio files, load them into iTunes on my computer, recategorize them as audiobooks (iTunes by default classifies them as music), and then load them into my phone to listen to using the Books app. I’ve also listened using audio applications on my computer. But most folks will probably use the Libro.fm phone apps.
If you decide to sign up I’d appreciate it if you use my referral link for Libro.fm. That lets me get a free book if you decide to sign up as a paying member of their service. But even if you decide not to, I recommend checking out both LibriVox and Libro.fm if you’re interested in audiobooks. Both offer DRM-free books, LibriVox books are free, and Libro.fm helps support local independent bookstores.
Happy reading (or listening)!
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