Anyone listen to audiobooks?

ChrisHeathcote

ChrisHeathcote

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,717
Name
Chris
Edit My Images
Yes
If so how, do you buy or subscribe to a service.

I have recently been pondering the idea of audiobooks as I spend a lot of time in the car. I started to look at Audible, however my concern is that it only gets you one book a month. Now I know a book may last for 10-20 hours but when I spend in the region of 15-20 hours a week min in the car, it wouldn't take long to get through a book. I just wondered if anyone else experienced similar and what you did. Ideally I would like something like Deezer but with books. Any ideas?
 
I looked at Audible a while back as I commute by coach which takes 2 hours and get a touch motion sickness when I read. I didn't take it up in the end but I thought it was a subscription service where you paid a monthly fee and got as many books as you could for that. Or do you mean you can't download for offline use?

I have Deezer and that's my main attraction to it, being able to listen offline so I don't drain my data
 
Also worth checking out podcasts. There are some awesome ones out there.
 
What sort of podcasts do you listen to? I've downloaded a podcast thing so that I can listen to Charlton Live. Not yet ventured further than that
 
Mine are science and astronomy, but they are available in all manner of subjects.
 
I may have to have a browse later
 
I too may have to look more into podcasts, for the occasional audiobook I just use the kindle library, I sometimes listen to a book falling asleep so pay the couple of quid for audio.

Obviously if you are awake/listening longer etc it would become expensive maybe.
 
For podcasts, check out Scroobius Pip's "Distraction Pieces" brilliant interviews with some amazing people
 
Couldn't live without audiobooks - especially when my mind is going hell for leather and I can't get to sleep. Audible works well for me. Worth every penny :)
 
Hi I have used Audible for a while now I find it very good there are a great range of books .It is 7.99 a month but every day you get offers for a couple of pounds . I have the unabridged ones which go for quite long ,it keeps me going and I listen for a few hours every day .Also library's carry a range on line of downloadable audio books you have a few weeks to listen .Hope this helps
 
I love listening to audio books, sometimes when I'm listening to a really good one I end up sitting in the car outside the house until the end of a chapter. I drive about 10 hours a week and subscribe to one book a month with Audible, although I think you can get more. The rest of the month I have a few podcasts I subscribe to which build up while I'm listening to the audio book.

Favourite podcasts...The Danny Baker Show, Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podacst, The Infinite Monkey Cage, Answer Me This, TED Radio Hour & No Such Thing As A Fish.
 
i`ve got all the Ricky Gervais podcasts and still laugh out loud re running them.there is hours and hours of them on youtube you can download to an iphone
 
I spend about 15-20 hours in car a week and find a range of podcasts helps no end, news, politics, comedy, sport, drama allowing some 'mood' decisions to be made
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
I started to look at Audible, however my concern is that it only gets you one book a month.
Click to expand...

Not sure what option that is, but Ive signed up to Audable, on the "24 book annual membership" option that for £109 gives me 24 credits that I can use at any time on any book. 1 Credit is 1 book. Its brilliant btw.
 
I've been using Audible for years - well worth the money for the coding quality and range of books imo.

I'm not sure when it kicks in but I get an offer at least once a month - three extra books for £18.
Useful to top up supply.

Worth a call to their helpline?
 
Mattyd said:
Not sure what option that is, but Ive signed up to Audable, on the "24 book annual membership" option that for £109 gives me 24 credits that I can use at any time on any book. 1 Credit is 1 book. Its brilliant btw.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that. Didn't know this plan existed. Seems I bought exactly 24 books last year so it will be perfect for me and I've switched to it.
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for the hints. I might give the podcasts a try and see if they help to while away the boredom. The Audible subscription is the standard 1 that's promoted, I think it's 7.99 a month and it gets you 1 credit per month to use on any book. You can then purchase more at a discounted price. For 14.99 you get 2
 
Audibe daily deals for me as well as BBC podcasts - I really like "In Our Time" to get a taster for other subjects.

Anything that helps eat up the motorway miles :)
 
I find the spoken word far more distracting than music when driving and discourage conversation so I can concentrate on the more important task!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sky
I use Audible and have currently 30 or so books on my small iPod Nano. I also keep an eye on Kindle books as you can often 'add' an Audible download onto a cheap book purchase for less than buying it from Audible themselves even though it basically the same company. I've got 1000 + audio tapes and must say that a digital alternative is much easier to live with. I didn't know about the annul plan though and will definitely look into that avenue.
 
Audible also are happy to pause your membership, and you still have access to the daily deals. This is a good option if you have a few unlistened books in your library.
 
Resurrection of a very old thread (I was searching for something else but I download all my audiobook from the county library service, all free and a good selection.
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
If so how, do you buy or subscribe to a service.

I have recently been pondering the idea of audiobooks as I spend a lot of time in the car. I started to look at Audible, however my concern is that it only gets you one book a month. Now I know a book may last for 10-20 hours but when I spend in the region of 15-20 hours a week min in the car, it wouldn't take long to get through a book. I just wondered if anyone else experienced similar and what you did. Ideally I would like something like Deezer but with books. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
i used to listen to a lot of audio books, when i was out walking or fishing, i tried on car and bike journeys and if im honest i wouldnt recommend them for it, you have to concentrate on the drive and when you do you cant concentrate on the book as much and you lose it a bit and its harder to follow. i do listen to music on the bike( ive headphones built in to the helmet) so i can listen to the satnav, make phone calls or as i said listen to music and ive no problem with them but cant with a book. Dont listen to books as you fall asleep either, you drop off and the book keeps playing so you lose your space and its a ball ache to find where you were up to
 
Take a look at Libravox.They are free and easy to download
 
For long journeys I use podcasts, the long format ones that are between an hour and 2 hours. Either from one I follow or something that ive looked up the night before that might be interesting.
Does audible not have a timer, unless completely restless I usually fall a sleep within 15 minutes so set anything to 15 minutes sleep timer. If awake just go with another 15 minutes
 
I can get free audio books from my local library.
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
i used to listen to a lot of audio books, when i was out walking or fishing, i tried on car and bike journeys and if im honest i wouldnt recommend them for it, you have to concentrate on the drive and when you do you cant concentrate on the book as much and you lose it a bit and its harder to follow. i do listen to music on the bike( ive headphones built in to the helmet) so i can listen to the satnav, make phone calls or as i said listen to music and ive no problem with them but cant with a book. Dont listen to books as you fall asleep either, you drop off and the book keeps playing so you lose your space and its a ball ache to find where you were up to
Click to expand...
There are books that I find ok for driving, they would often be categorised as ‘holiday reads’, so nothing too intellectually taxing! Try some Caimh McDonnell, great books and easy to read. I doan loaded a Max Hastings and for the life of me I found I couldn’t get into it. Far too much detail to take in as an audiobook for me. Truth be told I may struggle with it on a written page!

ps. I would, suggest everybody download their audible purchses and de-drm the. If audible ever remove the book from their catalogue or deactivate your account then you will still have access to the books you have purchased. Look up inaudible dedrm software.
This is not pirating as you have purchased the books and you can only de-drm books you have purchased.
 
paulcamcas said:
Couldn't live without audiobooks - especially when my mind is going hell for leather and I can't get to sleep. Audible works well for me. Worth every penny :)
Click to expand...
I tried a few, but then ended up falling asleep and had a hell of job trying to get back to the point I thought I could remember. So just stick to my Kindle now. How do you manage keeping your place?
 
There are a couple of apps that log each play / pause / rewind.
You also need to be using a proper audiobook file format (like m4b) so that the book has chapters, rather than 10 hour mp3 file. Makes it much easier to navigate.
 
munch said:
I tried a few, but then ended up falling asleep and had a hell of job trying to get back to the point I thought I could remember. So just stick to my Kindle now. How do you manage keeping your place?
Click to expand...
this is the problem i had, i listen to them on my phone and i tried on the audio player setting a time limit to half an hour so even if i did fall asleep all i had to do was rewind half an hour at the most, i listen to music now when i sleep, i have a headband/sleep mask thing that has in built flat speakers that works well
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top