Audio Books

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

Dirk Diggler

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6 Jan 2013
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Does anyone else enjoy them? I've just started listening to them and have been surprised at how much I've enjoyed them. They do seem quite expensive; where do you buy yours? Also, any recommendations for narrators to follow/listen to as I'm sure some could really make a book stand out?
 
I currently use Audible.

Harry Potter series narrated by Stephen Fry has been really good. Also Brian Blessed reading his own autobiography (Absolute Pandemonium) is fantastic.


M.

P.S. Prefer to read sometimes. The narrator has to be really, really good especially if it's a book i've already read.
 
Audible is by far the best source and it's worth remembering that if you use buy a book and you don't like it, you can return it for a refund. I've done it a few times.
 
Another one for Audible, I started listening to them after starting an audible account earlier in the year with a 3 month free trial.

If you sign up you get one "credit" a month which covers pretty much any book (regardless of if it's £4 or £40), and get to take advantage of the deals where they do 2 for 1, or books for £2-4 each (you can still buy them with credit, but why would you?;)), I picked up about a dozen in their last sale (100 offers a day, IIRC they were £2-4 each). If you've bought the kindle ebook versions of any books that are available on Audible (even if you got it for say 99p), you usually get the chance to add the audible version for a big discount (often £4-5 to add it at the kindle checkout, or when you look for it on audible)

I'm slowly building up quite a large collection, in part because I'm also adding titles I think my dad* will like when they're cheap (it helps our taste in books overlaps a lot), and partly because I'm getting into the habit of listening to them whilst doing stuff around the house, or model making.

*His eyes are going, so I'm trying to build up a library of books he can listen to through an Echo device.
 
A google suggests you can share the books one at a time by selecting it and "share" or "send to a friend".

[edit]
Oddly enough you can share them via the household settings on the .com site (it gives me the option to share all of them, like ebooks), but the UK site doesn't have that option.
 
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I use BorrowBox. In case you've not heard of it it's run by your local library (they'll be able to help get you started) and has a huge range of audiobooks and ebooks. There isn't the range of Audible but then again it's free. :)

Although I don't use them myself, when I last went into the library they told me they also do two others free services, one of which give access to global newspapers and the other to magazines.
HTH.
 
I got in to audio books after being ill and forced to listen to BBC Radio 4extra (formerly BBC7). Some great audio stories out there, and tv series on radio.
 
I started listening to all the warhammer books, particularly the Horus heresy books and really enjoyed it.

Cancelled my subscription as i just dont get the time to listen anymore, used to have a 2 hour commute so was perfect but now my commute can be as little as 5mins.
 
Audible are the best out there imo. Selection is pretty extensive, And the 12 month return option can be very useful.

I'm currently on the 2 credit per month subscription. If I need more credits than that, they're £18 for 3 iirc. Works out pretty cheap.
Library for me totals 863 books/radio series right now. Also recently hit 15 months of total listening time through the app... Ouch...

Currently listening to Bobiverse Trilogy, really enjoying them. But Bill Bryson, Terry Pratchett, Tom Clancy, Yahtzee Crowshaw, Tony Hawks, the Alien series of books and so on are all very good. But I've also got a lot of radio series on it. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue Treasuries, Dad's Army Radio Show, I've Never Seen Star Wars, The Museum of Curiosity, Hut 33, Star Wars Radio Show, Infinite Monkey Cage, Just a Minute Collections, Yes Minister...

The daily deals they do are sub £3 and if they've got what you want, they're a very good deal. They recently did a daily deal revisited thing, they brought back 100 former daily deals for that price each day for a week or so. Then there's the various 3 for 2 and 2 for 1 sales that happen quite often. Only around 300 books in each one, but I can usually find a couple that interest me. Then there's the cheap audio books for some Kindle books, so you can get both for a reduced price. Called Audible Matchmaker iirc.

Let's add to that the fact that if you have an active subscription, you get access to the library of Audible Original Podcasts for free. Many of which are fantastic. They call them podcasts, but they're not. It's normally a series of 30 minute shows. Some live comedy, some drama, some educational, some radio shows (the complete Unbelieveable Truth is on there as is Fry's English Delight...) and other stuff.
 
Another nod towards audible, the "free" credit per month helps cut the cost down quite a bit.

World War Z makes an excellent audio book, it is a series of interviews so works really well in the audiobook format. Main narrator is the author.
 
checjb said:
I use BorrowBox. In case you've not heard of it it's run by your local library (they'll be able to help get you started) and has a huge range of audiobooks and ebooks. There isn't the range of Audible but then again it's free. :)

Although I don't use them myself, when I last went into the library they told me they also do two others free services, one of which give access to global newspapers and the other to magazines.
HTH.
Click to expand...

The library system here in Stoke on Trent has a different system, but it also has audiobooks, ebooks and magazines. I make extensive use of the audiobooks. As with the library service you use, the range is less than Audible but it's free and it's still very large. No need for an app - it's accessible through a browser. Absolutely marvellous for me. An added benefit for me is that almost all of them can be downloaded as unprotected mp3, so I can slap them on my £10 bargain basement media player I carry around without caring if it's damaged or stolen.

I haven't yet encountered a less than good narrator on a professionally made audiobook. Some are better than others, or perhaps more suited to a particular book than others, but they're all professional voice actors and that matters. There are some free audiobooks (of books now in the public domain) read by volunteers. https://librivox.org/ It's a great idea and I think it's a good thing for a person to do, but most people are not professional voice actors and oh my word it shows.
 
I discovered them recently and it makes driving to work so much more bareable. For free audiobooks just type into youtube the genre you're interested in followed by 'audiobook'. It seems a lot of people upload them! Working my way through all the alien vs predator stuff.
 
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