Audiobooks

[GingerWifey]

I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask, so please suggest alternative boards.

I have been using Libby, uLibrary and BorrowBox via my library account and I also have Kindle, but the free trial ran out a fair few years ago.

I am looking for suggestions for audiobooks that me, my kids and my mum can access. All options look really expensive and will only allow one book per month if it's not included in the standard library. I'm looking for an account that we can all use as individuals and have access to more that one paid for book per month. I usually listen to a book a week, as does my eldest and my mum is around the same.

I pay for apple music for us all, but I can't see a way to expand this to include audiobooks as well.

What's promoted this request is that we're finding Libby has several titles in a series on audiobook, but then misses one or two, before then having them available to borrow.

We find that mix of kindle, paper copy and Libby work really well for when we're reading, but audiobooks for bus to school, commute etc are more difficult to source consistently.

Definitely don’t go looking on the Tube of You for free hooky audiobooks. I think it’s disgraceful how many are on there. Especially all the Agatha Christie ones read by Hugh Fraser.

Librivox is a treasure-trove of free out-of-copyright books read by volunteers. There is a website but they also put many on Youtube. Lots of classics, of course. Beyond that, I certainly agree with the above poster.

Edit: spotify also have free audiobooks. Don't ask me how it works though.

Do you subscribe to a music subscription service? I do via Amazon music and with that I get one free audible book a month, I love it because it’s basically any audiobook unlike BorrowBox etc which have more limited catalogues.

(Sorry just seen you mention Apple Music, so you could look at Amazon music, although I appreciate it’s a nuisance changing music providers with playlists etc, but just to warn you only the main account holder gets an audio book I think)

The thing is, audiobooks are expensive. They're pricey to produce if they're done well (and not just an author reading their own work, often not very well) because professional readers have to be paid. The author has to be paid. So if you're looking for cut-price audio books, then someone is being done out of their earnings for that book.

So I'm afraid they tend to be as expensive as paperbacks. Have you looked into reading books on CD - you can sometimes pick these up at charity shops.

Do you have Spotify premium? It's about £12 pm , you get 15 hrs listening time Inc.
You can pay for more in blocks of 10 hrs , I think it's about £10 per block .

I used BookBeat for a few months and it was good. It’s based on the number of hours not the number of books.

Maybe I'm missing something but my library allows four books a month on Borrowbox, I think. Plus surely you could all join the library?

Also, your audible subscription might only allow one book per month, but surely you build up a backlist and can re-listen to old favourites? It doesn't have to be a brand new book every time?

Borrow box is shite. Libby is okay, but I know what you mean about missing titles. YouTube does a range of audiobooks, but you have to put up with the story being interrupted every few minutes with ads which make them unlistenable.
there are a number classics which are free, but they are free because they are old and no longer under copyright. iBooks have a few free books, and sometimes do special offers, but the offers are definitely not as good as they used to be. I’ve gone back to getting cd audiobooks off eBay, once I’ve listened to them I just sell them on again, but obviously if you don’t have a cd player or a way to transfer them to an mp3 player, it’s not an option. I will probably sign up to audible, but the £5.99 a month is a complete ripoff as the book is effectively a loan, as soon as you stop membership you can’t listen to the book. £7.99 is expensive, but you do get to at least keep the book after membership. You also have access to the free audible catalogue whilst you are a member. previous I’ve had the £69 membership. Which works out at £5.75 a month, and when I can afford it I’ll take it out again, but won’t be for a few more months.
sorry OP I know it’s not very helpful. I did once get an mp3 player off eBay which had several audiobooks loaded onto it, because the seller no longer had the means to delete them!

I pay for a family subscription to Amazon music, so I use the 1 audio book a month that way. I was already paying for that though. Audible sometimes has offers for cheap subscription (e.g. £1 a month) so I am taking advantage of that at the moment and will cancel.

Have you looked at what is on offer on BBC Sounds? Obviously, you don't have as large a selection as specific book streaming services, but you might find something you like - and it's free.

We've got the Audible one book/month but there's also a list of free books and podcasts you can access as well. It's worth checking the free list because it changes regularly and they sometimes put really good ones up for a month or so before putting them back in the paid for section. A lot of classics are also free.

Where I live, Borrowbox has an excellent catalogue often with new books just out, although the waiting times can be ridiculously long for really popular books. I cancelled my Audible subscription last year because I was finding a lot of books I'd bought were turning up on Borrowbox shortly afterwards.

I think it is very much down to location, though, because the audiobook selection for the county we used to live in was quite poor and I relied a lot more on Audible.

I haven't checked recently, but I used to borrow classics from Librivox, which was free to use. They had anything that's out of copyright on their website https://librivox.org/

The only way you can share an audible account is to log into the same one on all your devices. You’ll all be able to see all your books. I do this with my kids. I make a “list” for them of the ones they’re interested in so they can find them without sifting through.

There’s no “family sharing” type option in the UK.

It is expensive but that’s what they cost. If you’re steaming through books, it’s a lot more cost efficient to go for the annual membership. Premium plus annual is the one I go for - it’s £109.99 for 24 books. £4.58 each. You get all the credits at the same time so you can buy several in quick succession. They have all the books in all the series.

I am a very heavy audiobook listener so I usually get through the 24 books well before the end of the year - you can just renew early. Plus when you get to the end of your credits they offer you three or five credits for a much lower price for a while too - always buy these through the website rather than the app as they’re cheaper. (Makes no difference for the annual membership).

Honestly for a heavy listener like you, set up an account you don’t mind sharing password / login for with your family members, get the 24 books membership, top up with cheaper credits, and make full use of the massive audible free catalogue.

I cancel audible periodically and then renew when I get another 99p for the first 3 months offer. But I relisten to most audiobooks so don’t need a library of hundreds!

I use BookBeat as I listen a lot. I have the £19.99 per month account which gives me 100 hours a month but there is a £12.99 option which I think is 40 hours and maybe 20 hour for about £7. You can add extra accounts on for a fiver each a month.

Thanks. It looks like it's going to be expensive. We all have library accounts and that's how we access what we have at present.