Can you explain audio books please?

[TeenToTwenties]

My DD would like to listen to audio books on her phone. How please? Is this right?

She subscribes to Audible?
She gets some 'free' per month? Is that from a limited choice or what?
She can 'buy' others from amazon?
Where do they get stored? How does she access them?

We don't do online music. I use BBC Sounds and that's about it.

Are books read out by a real person or some kind of speech synthesiser?

Can you dip in and out or go back a chapter easily?

Is Audible the only way?

Any guidance appreciated!

Firstly audible is not the only way, but I've found it's probably the most convenient.

You set up an audible account & download the audible app onto your phone. Then you can access all audio books you've bought via the app & download them to your phone.

If you have an audible subscription there are free books you can access. But your subscription is often for 1 credit per month, which you can use to buy any audiobook on the website.

If you want to buy books you have to go on the website rather than the app.

Hth

And books are pretty much always read by a real person (in my experience) - it should tell you the narrator before you buy.

I use audible and I love it!
I pay £7.99 a month and get one free credit. A credit allows you to buy a book of your choice, it’s not limited, you can literally get any book you want.
If you’ll listen to more than one per month, you can buy more credits (£7.99 each) and choose another book. You get emailed a daily deal every day, a different book each day that’s usually either £1.99 or £2.99. So if there’s a book you like on the daily deal, it’s handy to buy and some for when you next run out, as they are much cheaper.
The books just get stored on tne audible app, I’ve attached a picture of my Library which shows all the books I’ve bought/listened to. The one at the top is the one I am currently on.
They are read by real people, not synthetics. Some have one reader, some may have a make and a female for different characters etc.
You can easily skip back a chapter easily. I’ve attached a screenshot of the screen I have up when I’m listening. You can scroll back a few minutes if you realise you’ve got distracted whilst listening, or just click back to go on the previous chapter.

I honestly would recommend just getting it and having a go. It’s so easy to use. I’ve had it a few years now and wouldn’t look back!

There are also a lot of free books as part of the subscription and podcasts that you can't get elsewhere.

And you can buy 3 credits for £18 or 5 credits for £28.99 which brings the cost down a bit if you want extra books.

We have the Libby app, it’s free and linked to a library card, sometimes you need to wait for books to become available but we tend to do a search of what’s available now. It’s brilliant, has adult and children’s books, usually they’re read by the author but always a person. There us another library app if your local one doesn’t use libby as a platform.

Libby and Borrowbox, both free Library apps are brilliant. Sometimes you have to wait for a book to become available but there is good choice on both of them. I would try whichever your local library uses (they will be able to help you, if you need it) and see if your daughter gets on with it.

Ha! was just going to post what Bringnbuy77 has put up :)

Also, if your local library has talking books in CD form then easy to convert to MP3 & put on phone

This.

Ours uses Borrow Box - just like a library in your phone !

The selection on BorrowBox/Libby isn't anything like as good as it is on Audible IME, but it's free so you've got literally nothing to lose.

There are also lots of fiction podcasts that you can listen to using any podcast app (Apple's own one is fine, not sure about Android) again, mostly free with adverts. BBC Sounds has some good audio books if you search around: free with no adverts, and some good podcasts.

Thank you all, very helpful.

DD wants vampire werewolf romances (see Twilight etc)!

I have an audible subscription and borrow from the library. That way I can pick and choose which I need to buy and which I can borrow from the library. I'd recommend checking out the offering at your local library before subscribing to audible. Then if they don't have the books your DD wants try audible.

I listen to books on my Spotify music account - not just music obviously but I didn't know that when I first subscribed. Books usually seem to be read by the author (limited experience) and I pay £13.99 pm but have endless music playlists. The books and podcasts are a bonus for me.

I use spotify more for podcasts than music these days but yes, you can use it for audio books as well. Funny that something that historically was just seen as an aid for blind people is now so commonplace.

Audible also has Daily Deals - book available for 24 hours at £1.99 or £2.99 and buy 1 get one free and other sales occasionally.

Really, strongly recommend checking out the narrator as, in my opinion, it makes a big difference. Early days of audible the narrators were less good. Now they quite often have a "big name" narrator or the author themselves.!

Also, I've found you can often find audiobooks have been uploaded to YouTube and are free to listen to.

We didn’t rate Spotify for Audiobooks tbh.
Husband and I both audible obsessed. We spend a fortune on credits.
I download them and listen in the car whilst travelling etc. Currently listening to Richard Armitage read me Crime dramas 🤣

Please don't do this, except for books in the public domain. It's a licence violation and the author doesn't receive a penny for books that have been illegally recorded like this.

I would start with Libby and Borrowbox. They are free and full of YA books and audiobooks, including vampire werewolf romances, and she can listen to them on her phone. If she exhausts those she could try Audible but I have not felt the need.