Audiobooks are the new radio. Whether you are commuting to work, going on a well-deserved vacation, or working out, an audiobook will prove to be a worthy companion. Paperback and traditional books are being converted to audiobooks rapidly so that readers can enjoy listening to their favorite classics while getting things done.
Audiobooks are becoming wildly popular for their convenience and an engaging nature. Due to this popularity, new audiobook services are popping up every other day. With this plethora of services and apps, people can easily get confused and end up choosing an app or service that will waste their time and money.
We, with the aim of helping our readers as always, have curated a list of best apps for audiobooks. Following is a detailed account of the apps that we think are best out there for audiobooks. Please have a look and choose the one that suits your needs the best.
Audible
Audible is hailed as the go-to app for audiobooks. They have gained a reputation with avid listeners of audio books and is becoming increasingly popular. The reasons for their wild popularity are their affiliation with Amazon (which itself is the giant in the books business), and also their huge audiobook library flaunting a collection of over 200,000 titles.
If you want a premium service that is seamless, smooth, never-annoying, and extremely easy-to-use, you cannot go wrong with Audible. Available on iOS, Android, and Web, it offered cross-platform listening pleasure and synced up libraries to make your life easier. The subscription of Audible costs $9.99 per month, which gives you one audiobook and discount on others. They also offer a 30-day trial to let you try it out before spending your money on it.
Audible is kind of like Netflix for audiobooks; you get a library, recommendations, along with a fast and smooth player. You can download your books or stream them. The player shows you exactly which chapter are you on and has all the regular audio controls with an added bookmarks feature.
The only drawback of Audible is that you have to adhere to the subscription model and that there are some books that are protected by Digital Rights Management, meaning you can only play them on a set number of devices, to avoid piracy. You get two free audiobooks on signing up, so hurry up.
LibriVox Pro
LibriVox Pro is a treat for lovers of classic novels. It offers a broad range of audiobooks for free. To be specific, 15000 titles are available for free, and users can enjoy listening to these timeless classics right from their Android smartphones. It is an absolute must-have for all book lovers, and especially for those who are into classics.
The best part is it is free. You can browse the titles, or search them in some ways. It will keep you updated for new releases. LibriVox Pro gives you the option to stream or download the books to your mobile device so you can listen to them on the go. The app offers ratings, reviews, descriptions, and cool book cover art to make your library as pleasant on the eyes as it would be on your ears!
Audio Books by Audiobooks.com
Like Audible, Audio Books by Audiobooks.com has a huge following. Since it has the famous audiobooks.com at its back, you can expect the library to be reasonably big. With over 100,000 audiobooks, this app offers you a lot of diverse taste in books. You can find new titles and old right from your mobile phone.
It is a premium service and will cost you a subscription of $14.95 per month, but you can expect a lot of cool features that are characteristic to premium services. You get a nice-looking library, cross-platform apps, and you can switch between your app, tablet or PC, without losing your place in the book.
You can stream the books or download them, whatever option is the most suitable for you. All in all, a pretty good service if you want an entirely hassle-free solution.
OverDrive
If you are a member of a local library that offers audiobooks, this app is for you. Most local libraries nowadays provide a reasonably extensive audiobook collection, and you can make use of this great app to listen to these audiobooks. The Android app for OverDrive is free and lets you log in using your library card details.
Once you are logged in, it will show you the available audiobooks on your library, and you can borrow these audiobooks for 21 days. The app will only show you the content that your library offers, so if it was limited, ask your library to update it.
A drawback of this app is that audiobooks are only loaned to one member at a time, so you may have to wait for your favorite book to become available. You can place a hold, however, and they will notify you as soon as it is available. One last thing, the book is returned automatically after 21 days, so be sure to finish it up before your time is up.
Nook Audiobooks
Nook Audiobooks has the famous Barnes & Noble behind it and flaunts a large library with more than 50,000 titles. It doesn’t follow a subscription model and offers the users an online store where they can buy a book and be done with it, plain and simple. Many users prefer this way as they do not want to pay the recurring subscription fees.
It is a lot less hassle, and you get to make your life simpler by just paying for the books you want. So, if you prefer this model over the subscription one, Nook Audiobooks is definitely for you. It offers all the standard audiobook player controls to make your experience more enjoyable.
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