Audiobooks
Catfish_Fan
Posts: 513 Member
I love them. Great for workouts, household chores, etc. I use "immersion reading" most of the time, where I follow along with an e-book or physical copy while I listen, but taking a break to just listen is great too. Some books seem created for audiobook versions, to me, but the narrator makes a large difference.
I use the Audible App and the Hoopla App on my Fire Tablet, but most often I use my iPods. Yes, they are old, discontinued, but I am glad I bought them when they were still available. I have a couple of SanDisk Clip Jam mp3 devices also for Overdrive mp3 audios. Audiobooks can be expensive, so in addition to Audible I have memberships with my local library, Brooklyn NY and Houston TX to add Overdrive e-audio content. Good source for e-books too. Librivox has a lot of free public domain volunteer-read audiobooks, for the classics.
Does anyone else here listen to audiobooks? What do you use for a player? I know most would use a phone, I prefer to save my phone battery and use dedicated players. Where do you acquire your audiobooks? Maybe your public library is larger than my rural cooperative and you have a great resource that you are underutilizing?
I use the Audible App and the Hoopla App on my Fire Tablet, but most often I use my iPods. Yes, they are old, discontinued, but I am glad I bought them when they were still available. I have a couple of SanDisk Clip Jam mp3 devices also for Overdrive mp3 audios. Audiobooks can be expensive, so in addition to Audible I have memberships with my local library, Brooklyn NY and Houston TX to add Overdrive e-audio content. Good source for e-books too. Librivox has a lot of free public domain volunteer-read audiobooks, for the classics.
Does anyone else here listen to audiobooks? What do you use for a player? I know most would use a phone, I prefer to save my phone battery and use dedicated players. Where do you acquire your audiobooks? Maybe your public library is larger than my rural cooperative and you have a great resource that you are underutilizing?
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Big fan of audiobooks here! I get them from Overdrive, YouTube, and Librivox and listen on the computer. My vision is waning in my old age and reading really irritates my eyes, so I can consume more books without discomfort if they are audiobooks. It also lets me make progress on my knitting, which doesn't bother my eyes as much as reading does. Yes, the narrator makes a big difference. I also like immersion reading when I have the physical book on hand, because I often can't get the names of characters and locations in audiobooks3
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A coworker uses audio books all the time, listening to them during his commute rather than the radio. I find it amazing some of the books he can listen to, not because of the title per se but because of how recently it was released into the physical bookstore. To whit, he's listening to an audio version of a book which was made available to buy only a couple months ago. Figured it would be a much longer delay.3
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A coworker uses audio books all the time, listening to them during his commute rather than the radio. I find it amazing some of the books he can listen to, not because of the title per se but because of how recently it was released into the physical bookstore. To whit, he's listening to an audio version of a book which was made available to buy only a couple months ago. Figured it would be a much longer delay.
Usually the audiobook version is released the same day as the e-book/print book edition. If he has an Audible membership he may pre-order audiobooks that he is particularly interested in, or if it is at a public library often the wait-list starts months before the book is actually released. If he is quick or has a large library e-audio selection he may grab those audios right away after release date.
My friend uses them on his commute as well, good way to kill the 45 minutes each way in the car. I use them a bit more frequently than that.
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I love audiobooks. I use an iPod. I borrow from my library through Overdrive. I carry my iPod when walking in my basement and also as I do chores in the house.1
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I love audio books and can listen to them when working out and also when I am stitching. It is also easy to listen to them when working on the computer2
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Here is a good question: How long is the longest audiobook you have read?
Mine is A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series book 6) at 57 hours 50 minutes.
I am aware that there are some longer ones, namely James A. Michener books that I haven't read. Texas is 63 hours. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is also 63 hours.0 -
The longest audiobook I have listened to is "World Without End" by Ken Follett at 45.5 hours.
My iPod Touch is giving me fits as far as eaudio goes right now. If anyone has suggestions I would appreciate it. I could listen to what I has already downloaded but when I tried to borrow more or return what I had already I got a message that a secure connection could not be established. I found (by Googling, the Overdrive Help was no help) that I should go to http://www.overdrive.com. and log-in. That didn't work. I removed the Overdrive app and installed the Libby app. Same problem. It is not a wi-fi issue as I can get to other websites using the Safari app and other apps are working fine. So I am having to use my phone which I would prefer not to do.
I will eventually go to the library and see if they can help but would love it if I could fix it on my own.1 -
In researching the issue I mentioned above I learned that Overdrive will phase out its Overdrive app next year in favor of its Libby app.1
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Hanoverlady1 wrote: »In researching the issue I mentioned above I learned that Overdrive will phase out its Overdrive app next year in favor of its Libby app.
I didn't know this, I use Overdrive app on my Kindle Fire tablet sometimes. I haven't used Libby because the Overdrive app worked. On my PC I use the Overdrive for Windows app on a Windows 8.1 machine to download audio, then transfer it to my mp3 players. I didn't have any luck getting that to work on Windows 10. I know Microsoft probably will be making Win 8.1 obsolete soon now that Windows 11 is out, I don't know how I will get the files to my mp3 players after that?
Wish I could help with the ipod touch issue, I don't have one of those. I prefer not to use my iPhone also, I don't want to be using my battery up listening and having to charge every day or more than one time every day (depending on how much audio I listen to), my phone is for calls and texts primarily. I really prefer a small portable dedicated player, like an iPod. I don't find my tablets to be all that convenient to carry around, so I bought a $30 Android Tracfone and never activated the phone part to use as a mini-tablet. So far that has been working to get me access to the apps too, I download the audio and then put it in airplane mode to save battery life.
I have written to Overdrive tech support before and found them to be less than helpful with solving technical issues. It it isn't in the FAQ on the website they don't know either.0 -
Hanoverlady1 wrote: »In researching the issue I mentioned above I learned that Overdrive will phase out its Overdrive app next year in favor of its Libby app.
With some research I figured out how to install the Overdrive for Windows program (not app from the App Store) on my Windows 10 computer and successfully download and transfer an audio book to my mp3 player. I read that Overdrive (the app, as in on phones and tablets) will be phased out in favor of Libby by the end of 2022, so I have some time. I don't know about support for the program which runs on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10? I don't plan to upgrade my PC to Windows 11 but if I move to Windows 11 someday it will be on a new machine. For now I am good to go.
I just finished Outlander book 8 which was 45 hours long. It felt like forever to get done, but I did it in 8 days. I'm prepared for (and in line at the library for) the audiobook of book 9 when it is released in November.1 -
I just learned that my largest audiobook source, Brooklyn Public Library, will no longer allow me to renew my library card when it expires in order to better focus on NY members. I kind of understand, with the popularity of audiobooks soaring, and the wait lists for popular books being months long, the increasing costs of audiobooks by the publishers, and the increasing limitations on checkouts, but my rural library cooperative locally just isn't even a library that I can use, being less than 1/20th the size of Brooklyn's offerings. The reason people bought out of state memberships with them was this reason. I would gladly have paid double or triple the $50 annual fee to retain access. It saves me much more than that in e-audio and e-book purchases per year. I'm a voracious reader, going through 171 books last year alone, and Brooklyn was my go-to source. Don't know how I will supplement my collection come February when my card expires, at least I have that long to contemplate it.1
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I've never tried an audio book. My "commute" is 10 minutes and I can't think when else I would listen. But I've heard them praised so much and I have several students who listen to their assignments rather than reading them (!) so I'm intrigued...0
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FitMary202 wrote: »I've never tried an audio book. My "commute" is 10 minutes and I can't think when else I would listen. But I've heard them praised so much and I have several students who listen to their assignments rather than reading them (!) so I'm intrigued...
I find them a "better" way to kill time while exercising than music, anyway to me the time seems to pass faster. Because exercise is so boring. I've been doing three 30 minute walks per day lately, and I don't watch very much television or movies at all, so almost all of my reading is audio or "immersion" with and e-book companion to the audio. For most of my daily chores I have headphones in, so a few hours a day plus a couple more in the evenings added up to 171 books last year.
I'm going to have to get picky with what I buy from Audible, and start using Thriftbooks a little bit to get copies for reading without Brooklyn's supply to look for. There are a couple of other libraries around the country that offer non-resident cards that you may apply for remotely, besides Houston which I already belong to, but I see the trend continuing and the offerings for non-residents to be shrinking, not growing in the near future. Philadelphia ended their out of state program in 2019, now Brooklyn which was the largest and most popular in 2022. The industry is changed and big money is being made...1 -
I must explore the world of headphones. I only have them in when I have to do a Zoom call...1
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Catfish_Fan wrote: »FitMary202 wrote: »I've never tried an audio book. My "commute" is 10 minutes and I can't think when else I would listen. But I've heard them praised so much and I have several students who listen to their assignments rather than reading them (!) so I'm intrigued...
I find them a "better" way to kill time while exercising than music, anyway to me the time seems to pass faster. Because exercise is so boring. I've been doing three 30 minute walks per day lately, and I don't watch very much television or movies at all, so almost all of my reading is audio or "immersion" with and e-book companion to the audio. For most of my daily chores I have headphones in, so a few hours a day plus a couple more in the evenings added up to 171 books last year.
I'm going to have to get picky with what I buy from Audible, and start using Thriftbooks a little bit to get copies for reading without Brooklyn's supply to look for. There are a couple of other libraries around the country that offer non-resident cards that you may apply for remotely, besides Houston which I already belong to, but I see the trend continuing and the offerings for non-residents to be shrinking, not growing in the near future. Philadelphia ended their out of state program in 2019, now Brooklyn which was the largest and most popular in 2022. The industry is changed and big money is being made...
So excited to tell you that I started listening to my first audiobook last night! The River of the Gods by Candace Miller is gonna be a barn burner! The reader--Paul Michael--is great, and the prose is scintillating. All free from my library! I was listening on my phone without headphones so I still need to investigate options, but so far a rousing success! Thanks, Catfish Fan!2 -
Paul Michael reads a lot of the Jeff Shaara books I have listened to. He's very good!2
