Digital reading has been taking off for years. Many avid readers already use an e-reader and some even read from the screen of a tablet or smartphone. But you don't need a screen at all for your digital books! Playing an audiobook may be even more relaxing. In this article, we'll show you how downloading audiobooks works, manages them, and plays them on all your devices.
1 Why audiobooks?
Audiobooks (aka audiobooks) have quite a reputation for being lazy people's books, but that's unjustified. Listening to audiobooks is especially efficient. Because when you read, you usually can't do anything else. If you listen to audiobooks, you can. In short, you can paint your entire house and have "read" three books at the same time. You won't be able to do that with a traditional book. It also ensures that you may listen to books that you would otherwise (for lack of time) pass. It is true that not every book is suitable for every moment, see the box 'Concentration' below.
2 Audiobook sites
Later in this article we discuss Audible in detail, a service with a wide selection of audiobooks. Still, we also want to let you know that there are a lot of places where you can buy audiobooks just like you would with regular books. Usually you just download them as an audio file. These types of sites are not hard to find. Bruna, for example, has many audiobooks and you can also find them on Bol.com. In addition, you can go to iTunes for audiobooks on your iPhone or iPad and to Google Play for books that you want to listen to on your Android device. In short, plenty of options. Oh, and googling 'buy audiobooks' brings up the best options right away.
3 Subscriptions
There are also subscription services for books, such as Netflix for movies and series. You pay a fixed monthly fee and can, in some cases, download and listen to as many books as you want. The largest Dutch site in this area is Storytel, where you have unlimited access to audiobooks for 9.95 euros (note: access, you stream the books, you do not download them). Listen Library is also an interesting service, especially because you can use it even if you are not a member of the library. You are then limited to books that belong to the public domain, so your choice is a lot less. Bliyoo is Bruna's book subscription, which offers you access to both books and audiobooks for 9.95 euros.
For free?
That the sun rises for nothing is not entirely true. The internet is full of free audiobooks that you can download and listen to (check Google for that). What you should keep in mind is that this is of course not about top books by Dan Brown or the Harry Potter series. When you come across a site where you can download these types of audiobooks for free, you can assume that it is an illegal offer. That does not mean that you will never find a top title for free, but it will almost never be a new title.
4 For Windows 10
An audiobook is, of course, just a sound file. In theory you can just play that in any program that plays media files. Then why look for a specific player? Because you get all kinds of extra options that make listening to such an audiobook a lot more pleasant. Audiobooked is a good example of an app for Windows 10. This free app (with ads) allows you to adjust the playback speed, set bookmarks and activate a sleep timer. In addition, the program supports a wide range of file formats.
5 For Android
Almost every provider of audiobooks also offers a smartphone app in which you can listen to them. But it is also nice to have an app that is not linked to a service. We think Smart AudioBook Player is a fantastic Android app for listening to DRM-free audiobooks. The app includes super useful features, such as tracking progress in several books at once, creating character lists, an auto-pause feature when you fall asleep, and so on. The app can be used for free for fourteen days, after which some functions will be lost unless you pay 1.99 euros, which we find very reasonable.
6 For iOS
In iOS you can of course also just download audiobooks in iTunes, and with that you can also play the books. But that program is not ideal for listening to audiobooks. Bookmobile Audiobook Player is. The interface is beautiful and the app contains almost all the functions that Smart Audiobook Player for Android also has, but with the option to also play DRM-protected content (from Audible or iTunes, for example). The app is a bit more expensive, after a free trial of sixty (!) days, you pay 3.99 euros for the app.
drm
Just like with e-books, with audiobooks you quickly have to deal with drm. This is a technique with which digital rights of the creator/publisher can be arranged. In practice it is a protection against copying of the material.
It is of course understandable that a publisher of books does not just want you to be able to copy the file and send it to others. In that respect, DRM is a necessary evil, but it is important that you take this into account. When you buy an audiobook within a certain program or app, check whether that program/app is also available for other devices. This way you avoid being stuck listening on your PC while you also want to be able to continue listening on your smartphone if it suits you.
7 Audiobooks on CD
Most audiobook services allow you to burn books to CD on a limited basis. However, that is a lot of hassle, and things sometimes go wrong (and since you only get one burning license per title with some services, that's a shame). In this case, we recommend converting the audio file to a DRM-free file with DRM Audio Converter for Windows. Not quite the intention of course, but if you really only do it to make a copy for yourself on a CD, we see no problem with that. The app costs 39.95 euros, but you can try it for free.
