With people leading busy lives and driving further to go to work, the rise for audio books has increased. There are classics, new fiction dramas that have several people reading like a radio drama, educational lectures, and even children's books. Since I had a positive response for my blog about Podcasts, I decided to create one for Audio Books.
I listened to Eragon by Christopher Paolini when I drove from Baton Rouge to my hometown in Michigan, which made me feel like I had a someone with me as I drove. For many people audio books help them past the time or learn something new. With the use of children stories, some people who are ESL (learning English as a Second language) are able to hear the words as they read along.
But it can be confusing to find free sources and those that require people to pay for audio books. I have created two lists below that allow you to choose free or paid sources, however, both may require you to create an account. Please read any instructions about joining and which devices the audio book can be downloaded onto or listened on. Sometimes a special software will need to be downloaded.
Many local libraries have OverDrive, a distributor, which allows them to lend audio books to patrons. Those that do lend audio books will explain in detail how to set up an account with the library online, which devices that you can use, formats available, lending policies, and further assistance. If your library does use OverDrive, there is a guide you can watch (that requires Flash) on your computer called, “Download Digital Media- Guided Tour” from OverDrive’s website. Remember to speak with your local library to see if they have audio books available, or use this link to search libraries in your area that use OverDrive.
For those of you that do not have a public library that allows you to download free audio books and ebook, check to see if the Digital Bookmobile will be in your area sometime this year. The Digital Bookmobile travels around the US and, “is a community outreach vehicle for public libraries to promote downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video. Developed inside a 74-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailer, the nationally touring vehicle is a high-tech update of the traditional bookmobile that has served communities for decades.” Click here to see a calendar for current and future appearances.
This is by no means a complete list of websites, please feel free to search for your own. And don’t forget publishers, such as those listed on LearnOutLoud.com’s Publisher Pages, “This is the full list of audio & video learning publishers & retailers that we currently have pages for. These pages range from covering the audio book section of many major publishers to the small publishers of content in specific learning categories. You'll also find rental and digital download services that you can subscribe to or purchase from.”
Free Audio Book Links
A long list for free Audio books and ebooks for Children can be found here.
“The AmblingBooks.com site is brought to you by the creators of the Ambling BookPlayer: iBookTreasures. As avid audiobook fans, we are dedicated to making audiobook listening easier and more enjoyable for everyone.”
“All audio books on BooksShouldBeFree.com are in the public domain. This means that no one holds a copy right on these books and therefore anyone including BooksShouldBeFree.com is free to distribute them.”
“Browse the Net's largest Catalog of educational audio books,podcasts, downloads, & free audio & video. Over 25,000 titles from hundreds of authors and publishers.”
- Free Audio Books for LearnOutLoud's Members book list.
“LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.”
“Our Philosophy: If there's a free audiobook or eBook out there we hope to be able to point you to it. Our philosophy is to try and find you a free version over any pay versions on the market. Our ultimate aim is to provide a one stop shop for all the audio and electronic books out there and make browsing, searching, and downloading those books as easy as possible.”
“NewFiction offers a library of audio books that are performed by multiple actors. We call them iSoaps. Consider them modern-day radio dramas.”
“Open Culture editor Dan Colman scours the web for the best educational media. He finds the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & movies you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.”
- 225 Free eBooks: Download Great Classics for Free.
“The term podiobook was coined by Evo Terra to describe serialized audiobooks which are distributed via RSS, much like a podcast. Listeners to Podiobooks.com can choose to receive the episodes of their books via an RSS feed or by listening to episodes by directly downloading episodes from this site. Some listeners keep the audio files on their computers, some transfer the book to CD, but most transfer the file on to their MP3 player so they can listen no matter where they are,” (from their FAQ page) includes modern genres as well as classics.
“Project Gutenberg makes audio eBooks available for some of the same great literature available in plain text. Our listings are divided into two categories: Human-read and computer-generated audio books. These files can be very large, so are not well suited for people using a modem or other low-speed connection.”
- For for ebooks from Project Gutenberg, click here or read my blog about free ebooks.
- Browse By Category: Audio Book, human-read.
- Browse By Category: Audio Book, computer-generated.
Free audio stories for children. From classics to original, fairy tales to education, or young children (junior) to those learning ESL- this website had a large variety to please children as well as adults. “Our latest audio stories including totally original stories and tales that we have adapted from around the world”. A new story is available every week.
“Our journey has always been one of making classic literature available to anyone willing to listen, and now in this next phase, to expand our scope to include more thinkers, writers and essayists.”
Paid Audio Books
“The AmblingBooks.com site is brought to you by the creators of the Ambling BookPlayer: iBookTreasures. As avid audiobook fans, we are dedicated to making audiobook listening easier and more enjoyable for everyone.”
Audible- (owned by Amazon.com) with more than 85,000 audio programs.
“Come join the millions of listeners who've discovered a new way to receive the entertainment, information, and knowledge they seek. In addition to audiobooks, we're home to magazines, radio shows, podcasts, stand-up comedy, and speeches from icons who shape our culture, politics, and business world. We feature the best narrators interpreting books by top authors.”
“Browse the Net's largest Catalog of educational audio books, podcasts, downloads, & free audio & video. Over 25,000 titles from hundreds of authors and publishers.”
