No matter what’s going on in the world, books can be a perfect portal to freedom from boredom and stress. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, many of us are striving to escape the dreadful reality while staying at home. Reading offers you the right respite!
Thankfully, books are easy to access while staying in the comfort of our home. While nothing will ever replace the pleasure of turning the pages of a conventional book, ‘Audiobooks‘ are the best alternative.
What is an AudioBook?
A recording of an oral reading of a book, often in abridged form. Abridged forms such as audiocassettes, CDs, MP3, etc.
Audiobooks are perfect for the dreary commute, long drive, stressed workout, or just before bed, when you don’t want to hold a book.
With both classic literacy texts and brand-new stories being reinvented as audiobooks, you can now turn hours of boredom into bliss, anytime, anywhere.
So, if you are looking for new audiobooks to listen to, then sit back, relax, and prepare for hours of bliss with our most popular audiobook retailers, websites, services, or apps:
10 Best Audiobook Services For Your Bibliophile Needs
1) Audible
Amazon-owned Audible is the most famous name in the audiobook ecosystem owing to its giant library of more than 200,000 unique titles. It offers unique Audible Original titles that other services can’t offer.
Audible offers many options and features. You can either buy, rent, or stream audiobooks. Moreover, you have the option to exchange the audiobook for free and download your preferred titles to listen offline.
Audible is compatible with almost any device, including iOS, OS X, Android, Windows, and Amazon Alexa.
Unique Features:
- Enormous number of titles
- Compatible on any device
- Unique Audible Originals
- Discount for Prime Members
- Subscription cancellation for free in the first 30 days
2) Google Audiobooks
Google Audiobooks sells audiobooks individually, and it doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee. It offers thousands of audiobook titles through the Google Play Books app, and you can retain the audiobooks forever once you purchase them.
Moreover, users can preview audiobooks before buying them. It works with various voice commands to jump chapters or adjust playback speed without pressing a button.
Unique Features:
- No monthly subscription fees
- Voice command to manage playback
- Narration speed control
- Retain purchased books forever
3) Librivox
Unlike other audiobook services, Librivox is free of cost. The users can find completely free audiobooks to download and listen to. However, LibriVox only offers public domain titles, which are typically written decades ago.
The unique feature of this platform is that many of its audiobooks are narrated by volunteers across the world. Plenty of LibriVox audiobooks are narrated by celebrities or authors too.
Unique Features:
- Free of cost
- Download in MP3 format
- Classic collections
- Audiobooks come with sample reading
4) Kobo Audiobooks
Kobo Audiobooks has the most affordable subscription pricing model. The subscription begins with a 30-day free trial period. Kobo Audiobooks offers a host of options, including time skip buttons, timeline scrubber bar, playback speed configuration, chapter navigation, and a snooze timer.
Moreover, it provides cross-platform syncing, book previews and reviews, and custom recommendations.
Unique Features:
- Free first audiobook
- Custom book recommendations
- Cross-platform syncing
- Book previews and reviews
- Affordable subscriptions
5) Downpour
Downpour is owned by Blackstone Audio, which is one of the biggest independent publishers of audiobooks in the USA. So, Downpour users can choose from a vast collection of titles, including the latest bestsellers. Users can access the entire library and download audiobooks for offline playback.
Unique Features:
- One yare validity for credits
- Easy to navigate catalog
- Keep audiobooks forever
- Flexible pricing model
6) Scribd
Scribd is another best audiobook platform that offers unlimited access to all audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, and sheet music from its library.
Users can download audiobooks for offline playback. You can even buy a Scribd gift card to present it to someone for a special occasion.
Unique Features:
- Unlimited listening and reading
- Wide range of media
- Giftcards
- Easy to use
- Compatible with Android and iOS
7) Hoopla
Hoopla allows users to instantly borrow audiobooks from its library. It also offers eBooks, music albums, comics, TV shows, and movies to enjoy on your computer, tablet, phone, and even TV.
The app is free of charge. The titles can be streamed instantly or downloaded for offline playback.
Unique Features
- No subscription charges
- Includes eBooks, music albums, comics, TV shows, and movies
- Easy to use
- Instantly borrow titles
8) Blinkist
Blinklist is a non-traditional audiobook platform that includes titles on personal development, career and success, science, parenting, economics, among others.
It offers summaries of around 3,000 bestselling non-fiction books via 15-minute read audiobooks. The platform allows the users to buy a copy via Amazon or send it to their Kindle.
Unique Features
- Save entire library offline
- Contains 27 categories
- Share to Facebook or Twitter
- Syncing to Evernote and Kindle
9) Libby
The Libby app by OverDrive allows users to borrow and read ebooks and audiobooks from the local public library for free. The app is compatible with Android and iOS.
Unique Features
- Sync across all devices
- Offline access
- Share to Kindle
- Listen through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or a Bluetooth connection
10) Spotify
Spotify isn’t just a go-to for music platform anymore. You can now free your reading from the tyranny of turning pages with the ‘audiobooks’ feature on the subscription music service app.
- Pause and resume option
- Playback speed control
- Bookmarking
Mental and Physical Benefits of Audiobooks
In Conclusion
There are many such audiobook platforms, and your best option is probably to combine free and paid subscription services to maximize your title selection. Before you make any choice, compare audiobook libraries and key features of each platform, and choose the service that best suits your needs.
Subscribe now, listen on-the-go, and indulge in the beauty of storytelling!
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