When I was in my twenties, spending countless hours on the fixer-upper home that Will and I lived in, I discovered audiobooks. Will and I quickly found that listening to a great book made the rehab time pass a little quicker. I remember the book that hooked us: we checked out The Professor and the Madman from the library—on compact disc!—and listened while we painted our kitchen blue.
That was nearly twenty years ago, and audiobooks sure have changed since then. Audiobook usage has skyrocketed, and it’s been ages since I listened on anything other than an app. And I use my audiobook apps a lot. I’ve come to rely on reading with my ears so that I can enjoy good books while my hands are busy.
Many readers want to try audiobooks, but it’s easy to be intimidated by the number of choices we have now. Today we’re going to walk you through some popular options.
It’s probably no surprise to anyone that Amazon’s audiobook service—Audible—is great. They have an extensive library including originals and exclusives, a generous return policy, and an easy-to-use app. The Kindle-Whispersync add-on option often makes accompanying audiobooks a steal. You can buy books outright from Audible, or use a subscription that gets you one book credit to use each month plus 30% off additional audiobook purchases. If you’re a Kindle Unlimited user, there are also thousands of books for you on Audible.
But many listeners are looking for an alternative to Amazon, whether that’s in an effort to support local businesses or save on that subscription cost. Whatever your reasons, we have 8 great alternatives to Audible right here.
Libro.fm
I love Libro.fm; they’re my go-to for audiobooks these days. The app is fantastic and your membership supports independent bookstores. For about the same price as an Audible subscription, you get one book each month, and a portion of your membership dollars is paid directly to the independent bookstore of your choice. You can also share your credits as gifts.
Because local bookstores desperately need our support right now, Libro.fm is offering a special deal: when you start a membership with code CHOOSEINDIE, you get two audiobooks for the price of one ($14.99), and 100% of your payment will go to the independent bookstore of your choice.
Everand (formerly known as Scribd)
Everand is an unlimited subscription program for ebooks and audiobooks. You don’t own any of the titles, like you do with Audible or Libro.fm, but you can listen to an unlimited number for one flat fee each month (though some titles may be unavailable depending on your recent activity, which can be frustrating for some listeners).
We’re gonna lay all our cards out on the table here, the app is sometimes buggy. They’re constantly working to improve and add new titles (and even have some exclusives, like Peter Heller’s latest, The Orchard, not available anywhere else). For the subscription price, it’s worth giving it a try (they offer a 30-day trial period) but I wanted you to know the drawbacks.
Chirp
BookBub’s audiobook platform Chirp offers no membership fee or hold lines. You buy and own the books you choose. Create an account and tell them what types of books you enjoy, and then Chirp will send a regular email when books that might match your interests are on sale. Download their free app and stream or download your books.
Library
Don’t overlook your library as a source for audiobooks that supports your local community, and are free to use (well, at least they’re already paid for with tax dollars). The best part is that if you’re having trouble getting started, you can ask for help at your local library.
- Libby & OverDrive: Libby, the leading free library app by OverDrive, is a service that lets you borrow materials from your local library. You can borrow videos and ebooks as well, as long as those titles are in your library’s collection. The library collections vary by location.
- Hoopla: Ask if your library offers Hoopla as an option. Hoopla offers audiobooks, ebooks, even movies and music. The app is easy to use with lots of features and you can tap to build a favorites list. Hoopla’s nonfiction and classics selection is outstanding, but you’re typically better off relying on Libby for those new releases. Still, since unlike with Libby, there are no waits on any book in the catalogue, this is a great place to check first. Depending on your library’s subscription program, the number you’re allowed and the checkout time to listen is often quite generous.
Physical CDs
Don’t discount the ease of a good old fashioned compact disc. You’ll never have to fiddle with the shuffle feature, and if you’re letting kids listen, there’s no chance of them accidentally downloading another app or title. Many libraries and bookstores still carry an extensive collection of CDs that you can pop into your car’s player on your commute. Cracker Barrel also has a weekly rental service. Buy the audiobook disc set, then return them to any restaurant. They’ll refund you the price, minus a small rental fee.
LibriVox and the Audiobooks app
These audiobooks are in the public domain and read by volunteers, so they are FREE. The narrators are hit-or-miss, since anyone can read or listen to the catalogue of books available, but seasoned users tell me they quickly find narrators whose performances they enjoy, and have even discovered books they never would have otherwise found because they followed their favorite narrators to new titles. Plus, did I mention it’s free?
Spotify & podcasts
I’m not talking about bookish podcasts, though obviously we love those, but actual books and stories read in small increments. This is especially popular with children’s books — Anne of Green Gables, The Cinnamon Bear, The Wizard of Oz have all gotten the podcast treatment. Search for “Loyal Books” for classics like Pride and Prejudice, The Count of Monte Cristo, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, and Little Women. More recently, author A.S. Peterson has been reading his Fiddler’s series, one chapter at a time, on the podcast Fin’s Revolution. (Update: Spotify Premium users can now enjoy 15 hours of audiobooks per month.)
Networks like Slate and ABC News have been adapting works of nonfiction to the podcast format, such as in The Dropout (Bad Blood) and The Queen (The Queen). If short stories are more your speed, Levar Burton Reads is a podcast dedicated to Levar Burton’s favorite science fiction stories, and David Kern of the Close Reads podcast network reads one poem each weekday morning in The Daily Poem.
Where do you get your audiobook fix? Do you have a favorite source we haven’t shared? Tell us in comments!
P.S. To built your audiobook collection, check out our MMD Ebook Deals. We frequently post audiobook deals from various sources to our daily Ebook Deals page–from Audible Daily Deals, Whispersync, Libro.fm, and others. We’re always scouring deals and letting you know when we find audiobooks at a discount.
P.P.S. Check out this What Should I Read Next playlist featuring episodes perfect for audiobook lovers, as well as 7 ways to discover your audiobook style.
Not sure WHAT to listen to? Check out our audiobook archives for solid recommendations. I recommend starting with my favorite audiobooks of the year or 10 audiobooks so good you’ll want to fold another load of laundry, finish washing the dishes, or just sit in the driveway for 5 more minutes.
52 comments
Our library switched over to CloudLibrary. We no longer have Libby, Overdrive, or Hoopla. The books don’t automatically download, and sometimes there are some glitches, but for the most part it’s working well for me. They don’t have all books available, but I haven’t run out of options that I want to read yet! Most books are immediately available to download.
Wisconsin Public Library Consortium, dropped the Overdrive app this year folding its service into the public library’s use of the LIBBY app, which depends on your own browser’s sound function which was never designed to produce good quality sound. I can get gorgeous sound on the iHeart app and the LibriVox app with my Android tablet while Libby sounds tinny and weak, no matter which default browser I choose. And Libby lacks audiobook controls which made Overdrive app so useful.
Is there no Libby app for android? Books sound great in the app on my iPhone
The audiobooks.com app is great! You can do a monthly subscription and even share it with family members. They do different 2-for-1 deals each month, and your subscription comes with a free VIP download each month as well. You can also access podcasts through the app making it easy to everything in one app.
I disagree. The audible database is flawed with many mistakes. I have tried for 8 years to get l e modesitt’s book filed under M not J… like how many in USA have a surname of jr. 0%! One of w e b griffin books is filed under w e b Dubois. My daughter has found many where the reader is listed as author. The software is written to please programmers need for idiot goodies like turning every list to recent.. like I need to know what I have read. Why run a listing on bottom of page like you find in emergency situations… like I need to know what I am reading. I will be cancelling my audible books even tho I have 1800 books in my library. Of course, I have another 2000 hard bound books.
Thanks for including the library options. Many public libraries are closed and working hard to provide service for our patrons. We appreciate any help we can get.
My go to is Libro.fm, but this is a great list! So many options.
Hoopla is great for audiobooks and NO holds! Libraries are working hard to continue to provide services during the closures.
One thing that I don’t like about Hoopla is that, for most books, there is not a Table of Contents or list of Chapters. On the other hand, the books are always available for download. Libby is wonderful and very user friendly, but I usually have to put my selection on hold and wait a few weeks. I manage this by having a rotating list of books on hold.
Our local library uses Axis 365 and it has been pretty good. Another library I previously used did Hoopla and it is good as well (my card is still active, so I use both of them these days).
As an aside, who wrote The Cinnamon Bear? Goodreads only has a few titles with that in the name, including one called Cinnamon Bear Buns which definitely does NOT sound child-friendly. 🙂
Hi, Emily! Wikipedia says this: The Cinnamon Bear in the Adventure of the Silver Star (2007) by Rick Lewis and Veronica Marzilli was published during the 70th anniversary of The Cinnamon Bear. Jerrel McQueen and Timothy Holmes provided the illustrations.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cinnamon_Bear)
But Amazon says this: The Cinnamon Bear Book: Paddy O’Cinnamon, Searching for the Silver Star Since 1937 Paperback – 1987 by Chuck Schaden (Author) (https://www.amazon.com/Cinnamon-Bear-Book-OCinnamon-Searching/dp/B00072GFI2)
Thanks for all that information! I just started audiobooks and this really helped a lot.
I use Scribd and I love it. Also because I am also a book quitter so the unlimited subscription works better for me. Few people know that Scribd also has a basic subscription that costs half of the price of the normal subscription, but with access to a limited part pf their inventory (it still offers plenty of choices). Sometimes this basic subscription is hidden away, but you can see it if you try to cancel your normal subscription.
How many books can you listen to before getting cut off? I’ve tried it twice but keep reaching the maximum.
From my experience with Scribd, it seems to more depend on the types/popularity of the books you’re choosing rather than the number. I have experienced limits on listening to popular books from major publishers after listening to 2-3 audiobooks, but still have found others to listen to while waiting for the “new month” to start. I listen to a lot of YA, though, and think that helps as they are not popular NYT bestsellers or the like. I do wish Scribd would just be up front about their limitations though!
Chicago Public Library gives me access to Overdrive, Libby, and RBdigital – thank you! I also second using LibriVox – search for solo recordings to find best narrators. I am working through classics so I can find what I need. Popular new releases need to be purchased or wait a year on a library hold list.
I am a homeschooling mom of five, so I primarily read via audiobooks these days.
My go-to sources are Libby and Audible. My local library has an EXCELLENT audiobook library, but as a military wife who moves frequently, I find that this isn’t the case for all local systems (even some in major metropolitan areas where one might expect it).
I tried to give up my Audible subscription (for frugality), but their content is SO wonderful that I just couldn’t. One way I’ve “hacked” my subscription, though, is to use my credits only on the titles that have the yellow “Audible original” banner on the bottom right corner. (These won’t be found in our libraries’ collections.) So while my Libby app has about eight different versions of “Jane Eyre,” one of your recent guests, Anne, recommended the Thandie Newton version on Audible. I am reading it right now, and wow!- it is one of my top three favorite audiobooks of all time. Also, it’s been a super easy way to read one of those classics that I “should” have read in high school, yet I find that I am sure I appreciate it so much more in this stage of life.
(I, too, tried Scribd but found it lacking when I was accustomed to the quality of Audible’s services.)
Thanks for this post, Anne! I always love audiobook chats.
I’d be interested to hear what devices everyone uses for listening. My old ipod finally crashed, and I’m looking for a small mp3 player to use when I’m walking the dog.
@Sue, I bought a Moto phone with a lot of storage. I only use wifi with it. I use it like an iPod, exclusively for listening to audiobooks. It was $50 on sale. (My regular phone is an iPhone).
Thanks Donna. Good idea!
New to audiobooks… is there a (sort of) “formula” that you might use to choose an audiobook over print form? A friendly recently relistened to Becoming. It never occurred to me to listen to M Obama reading here own book in her voice!
Ellen — memoir read by the author is a GREAT way to try audio books! Becoming is fantastic on audio, but I did have to increase the speed. She’s talking a bit slower than normal in the recording.
Full-cast performances can be a lot of fun, as can a narrator who can do different voices for characters in a convincing way (Bahni Turpin comes to mind. The Hate U Give on audio is amazing).
I like to listen to audiobooks that are set in a foreign country and listening to the voice is helpful with accents. I’m a sucker for a British narrator reading any book as well 🙂
I listen to audiobooks when I am cross stitching or crocheting. I’m a big multitasker so I enjoy being able to read and craft.
Can we please clarify some things about Audible? Before it was bought by Amazon, Audible was indeed a small business at one point. When you use a credit on a book, you do own it forever. However, Audible also has a “borrow” program, called Audible Escape. For $7.95 a month, you get unlimited access to any of the books in the Escape program. Many of these books are romance based, (which is my preference), but include everything from classics to the entire “Virgin River” series to the latest straight to audio content. I am really picky about my books, and this way if a book doesn’t appeal to me, I can move on to the next one with no guilt!
I am an avid audio book listener, and love using Overdrive to make my hold lists & wish lists, and using it’s companion Libby app for the actual audio book listening. My library doesn’t *always* specific titles, but I’ve found they’re usually able to purchase if I make a request. But aside from that, they do already have a very large selection in their catalog, and I can always find something interesting to check out. Plus, if I don’t like it, I can just return the book, no harm, foul. I never have any issues with the app itself or with the books, and I enjoy every second of “reading” while I wash dishes or drive the car!
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your shout out for library content. We spend a lot of money on this content and we want the community to take advantage of our digital collections!
I’ve been using Scribd for audiobooks for almost 5(?) years now. I get through at least 1 title/month and usually have about 3 different audiobooks that I’m cycling through at one time. In all this time I have never had any issues with the app- definitely wouldn’t call it buggy 🙂
I wish I could say the same. A friend recommended Scribd and I loved the cost for unlimited books compared to Audible. But, about 50% of the time, my book restarts from the very beginning. So, if I get in the car to listen, it will have a problem reloading and start me over from the introduction. I try to remember to “bookmark” where I am when I stop, but I often forget. Super annoying. (This happened on my iphone 6s and my new iphone 11.)
My library subscribes to RB Digital.. I love it! There are thousands of books to chose from in many different genres. You can put audio as well as digital books on reserve. In addition you can look up title by keywords such as author, reader and even main character. A feature I like is that if an audiobook times out after 2 weeks, when you get it back it picks up where you left off. I listen on my phone as I walk by pups (at least twice a day!)
And Audible kids’ items are FREE right now while all of the kiddos are out of school!!!
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
i’ve tried Scribd but didn’t like the idea that I didn’t own the book having paid for it. Librovox is very hit and miss- more miss than hit unfortunately. So I keep going back to Audible. I’ll give Libro.fm a go now you have explained the benefits to bookshops.
Thank you so much! This gave me the last push to opt out of Audible – being a big Amazon- boycotter, this was the last thing, I couldn‘t let go off, being dependent on my daily audio-fix – great to have alternatives!!
There are several apps that contain works in the public domain like you would find at Prioject Gutenberg. The app FreeBooks is my favorite because of how it categorizes. Readers are volunteers. An entire book may be narrated by one or more people and sometimes it’s in a multi cast format. The interface is simple but they do add new books. I like to listen to the teen or kids categories because they don’t require as much focus for me. There are some wonderful gems in the public domain that you will never have heard of and worth a listen. My favorite has been the Grace Harlowe series. I have listened to 10 so far and they are a good length. If you haven’t checked out public domain books yet then give them a try. FreeBooks lets you download as many as you want.
My library uses CloudLibrary and I love that app more than many others I use! On Scribd you need to make sure and flag what you want to read and they will tell you when they lift the restriction with a date.
A great free (and for purchase) audiobook source for classic lit. is B.J. Harrison’s The Classic Tales Podcast
https://www.thebestaudiobooks.com/. Great narration and a variety of options for listening free or owning.
I second The Classic Tales Podcast. I’ve been listening to it for 10 years and have really enjoyed it.
I have used Chirp, but I’ve found some of the narrators make the stories monotonous and the books they recommend are often way out of my interests. However, I keep trying. I loved Hoopla when our library made it available, but so many people are using it, it’s hard to get the audiobooks. I love Audible and, when I’m ready to read a classic, some of the free places have a large offering. Thanks for the lists and explanations.
Public libraries in England used to offer Overdrive, then Libby, and now use BorrowBox (I think maybe Australia does BorrowBox too?).
We can have 5 items – mix of books, audiobooks, etc – on loan at one time. You can request items and, if nobody has requested the item you have on loan, you can extend the load period twice. The system works reasonably well, the choice is quite good and it is nice to support a local community resource.
Another Hoopla lover here! No holds, easy renewal, and our library’s subscription has a TON of new (last three to six months) worth of options. I love it for audiobooks and I’ll use it for e-books but really wish it was e-reader friendly for my eyes. It has been the BEST during the quarantine!!!
Excellent suggestions! I love using the OverDrive app with my library cards. I have three different library databases to choose from – one city, one county, and one state. So I have lots of choices. And their hold system works great. There are table of contents and chapters and not glitchy at all.
I use a combination – Libby, Audible, Scribd, and Chirp. Although I’ve had the same issue others have with Scribd (occasionally audiobooks restart from the beginning), Chirp is actually much buggier in my experience. Not only does it restart books from the beginning (and does so far more frequently), it will cut off chapters before they’re over and not let you go back to listen to what it skipped. All that said, I’m always able to find what I’m looking for between the four apps! Our library has some absolutely absurd wait times for popular titles (current record was waiting over a year for one book!) so it’s great to have other ways to get access to audiobooks.
Can you do another post outlining the return policy of Audible alternatives? Audible recently changed its policy to one that that is greedy and inflexible, and I’m in the market.
Thanks!
Duly noted!
I have used Scribd for years. There is no return date The audiobook you have downloaded is NEVER cut off. The subscription is less than 15.00 a month.Audiobooks from every imaginable genre are available.One drawback is you have to learn through browsing which categories to avoid. After a month you will know those.You will learn which authors to avoid. Another drawback is only half of a series is available sometimes. Other times the complete series is available. Every month a huge number of new titles are added. Before beginning a series you must check on web to find out the number of books are in the complete series or you will end with cliffhanger instead of the compket series. Scribd is the best audiobook site. I have Hoopla,Overdrive,cloudlibrary. I am an audiobook addict. I do not want to buy audiobook. Amazon audible is too expensive. I cannot imagine paying so much just to hear audiobooks.
Thanks for this list – I am trying to reduce my spending at Amazon and am getting ready to cancel my Audible membership. I have been using Chirp for a while. I always check Chirp’s daily emails with deals, books for $1 to $5, and have found some great titles.
My husband and I got hooked on Books on Tape—that’s right, we’d check out an album of cassettes to listen to! We found favorite narrators right away, would listen to George Guidall or Barbara Rosenblatt read the phone book! Now we’re more modern, but still get so much pleasure out of our audio books.
I love my local library,and on a fairly tight budget so Libby and Hoopla have been a fantastic resource.
Also with Chirp, they have excellent sales daily. You can get on their daily sale email and they send you he current sales. I have gotten great audio books from $.99 to $3.99.
I recently read Dharmayoddha Kalki Book 1: Avatar of Vishnu in Tamil, and I was blown away by the story. I wanted to find the audiobook version of the book to experience it again, and I found it on Pustaka. The audiobook was of excellent quality, and the output was great. I would highly recommend anyone looking for Kalki ebooks or audiobooks to visit Pustaka.
Audible books bought on Amazon are NOT yours if you close your account. They wiped away 199 books I paid for. I just wanted out of Amazon and didn’t even consider they would take my audio books. They did. And they also took 34 Kindle books. They do not have any record of me being a customer for 16 years and I am straight out of luck on this. Thank you for this article.
You can also find audiobooks on YouTube.