Hello everyone.
Given that a lot of society is shutting down due to COVID19, I thought I'd come here and point people to some good ways to access audio books. Please keep in mind that some of these are free, some are paid, some are only available based on your region, and some are only free for students.
Please keep in mind that this topic is not to cause controversy, but I'm just doing this to help you guys find something to do with your time to keep occupied. So, without further to do, let's get started.
Starting off our list at #5 is Librevox. Many of you may know what Librevox is, but for those who don't, I'll give a brief explanation. Librevox is a company that was founded in 2005, and most of what they record is classic literature. This includes authors like William Shakespeare and Mark Twain. The service offers books in a variety of languages, and all books are in the public domain. This means they are free, and can either be accessed through the official Librevox app, or some can even be accessed through YouTube.
Coming up at #4, we have RFB&D, or as it's known today, Learning Ally. Learning Ally is a US based organization who provides access to human narrated leisure and textbooks. Their newer books feature text that is highlited so those with vision can follow along. As far as I know, Learning Ally is only available in the US. It is also important to note that Learning Ally comes with a $100 a year subscription fee, but different schools and blind services agencies may be able to help. Learning Ally also has their own assistance programs that people can sign up for.
At #3 on our list is BookShare. Just like Librevox, Bookshare is one of those services that is available internationally. Bookshare provides a wider selection of material when it comes to textbooks and leisure books, but the only downside is the fact that the books are read with synthetic speech. In the United States, BookShare is free for students, then after you finish school you will have to pay a fee. Unfortunately though I don't remember how much. Also, whether or not this is legal, I am unaware, but according to *** BookShare is free for Pakistanis.
At #2, we have the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) You may also remember NLS as its previous title National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapt. NLS is a service run by the Library of Congress in the United States. In order to receive the service, you must be a United States citizen living in the US or abroad. NLS offers a variety of leisure and music books, and they also offer Spanish language content. NLS updates its catalogue of books almost daily, and they even update from a lot of their cassette recordings to digital ones that are much higher quality. Some books in the NLS catalog are the same recordings you would get if you used Audible. To name a few books, all the Jim Dale recordings of the Harry Potter series were added to the collection, and the Kane Chronicals and Magness Chase and the Gods of Asgard, which are two Rick Riordan series use the same recordings people get on Audible. Patrons of NLS can choose to access their books either through a reader such as the Victor Reader, BookPort, or a device in the Blaze series from HIMS. Also, you can access it through a specialized player with specialized cartridges the library will send you. The most convenient way to access NLS's service is through BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download). On Windows, you can access the BARD Express application, and you can use BARD Mobile on your iOS or Android device of choice. On top of these devices, Amazon Fire devices include BARD support. The best part of NLS however is that once you sign up, as long as you keep your United States citizenship, all services provided by NLS are free for life.
Finally, topping off our list at #1 is Audible. Audible, as everyone already knows, is the service owned by Amazon that allows you to listen to books, podcasts, and other types of shows. I've personally never paid for Audible, but I hear good reviews of it. The best part about Audible is that although it comes with a $14.95 subscription fee, it is easier to get the newest books that are out right now. Services like NLS, Learning Ally, and BookShare take time to get the books published. Since Audible is a service available to the mainstream market, it is easier to find more of a selection.
Please keep in mind I did not include any other accessible book services outside the US because although I know that they exist, I don't know much about them and I would not want to provide inaccurate information. If anyone knows of some good services I may have missed, please let me know
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Best legal ways to get audio books (Page 1 of 2)
AudioGames.net Forum → Off-topic room → Best legal ways to get audio books
Posts: 1 to 25 of 28
#1 2020-05-01 00:33:37
#2 2020-05-01 01:16:19
Bookshare is $$75 the first year, and $50 every year after. Also, Bookshare is legal the same way the NLS is I think.
#3 2020-05-01 03:49:46
There's also Google Play audiobooks, and they quietly dropped their drm recently. They have a near duplicate of the newer Audible catalog. The one downside is that their drm-free books are single m4a files, not m4b, so no chapter stops whatsoever. You will need to split the file yourself using qpoints, then use a software application like Dolphin Publisher to turn them into structured daisy.
#4 2020-05-01 05:30:44 (edited by SirBadger 2020-05-01 05:40:40)
audible's only downside is that they like you to use their own media players on your computer or phone etc. you can get them to enable you to download directly but then you need to convert the books. there are very easy ways to do that but I probably shouldn't go in to that here, people can look that up for themselves. far as I know doing that isn't against the law but I know they don't like it.
they constantly email me asking why I have bought books and not read them and that If I don't like them I can return them. fact is, I have read them. I just converted them so I can read them the way I like to. I don't share them, book is mine, I want it in mp3 split in to chapters.
#6 2020-05-02 00:26:35
Woo. NO DRM? Nice. I may have to check Google Play out. The only thing that's stopping me from using Audible is that silly DRM. I did get a free Audible book when I purchased a Kindle version just to test things out, and while the cloud player is okay, the Audible Manager program has issues. There's an app for Windows 10 as well, but it's probably more of a pain than just using the cloud player. Just let me download my purchases as normal audio files and use winamp, okay? Sheesh. I mean, Amazon does that with music, so what the heck? There could be something that disallows a return if you download the files if that's an issue.
#7 2020-05-02 02:05:34
#8 2020-12-15 02:51:52
Hi,
To add to this, if you're a UK citizen, check out RNIB reading services.
https://readingservices.rnib.org.uk
This gives you actual audiobooks, not just synthetic speech, and you don't have to pay a dime for it. Basically the NLS bard of this side of the pond, if you will. Do note though that not all books have the original audiobooks available, and instead are narrated by RNIB volunteers, which may vary in quality.
You can also login and play your gbooks on mobile, without having to deal with manually copying daisy files and such, by using the dolphin easy reader app, available on both IOS and android.
I only just discovered this today, and I'm already loving it. A lot.
#9 2020-12-15 03:06:11
There's also libro.fm
They sell audiobooks in a model similar to audible, $14.95 a month for one credit for one book, I believe, and the rest of the books are discounted for members. They also will donate to an independen bookstore near your location. Not sure if this is US only, but still something I personally like seeing. They are also supposed to be DRM free. Can't confirm since I haven't talked myself into buying just one book yet.
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#10 2020-12-15 03:58:47
#11 2020-12-15 04:05:10
There is also Chirp.
It's like Audible, except you don't have to subscribe.
You can look at their catalog and see what's on sale.
Most of the books are $2.95, $3.95, prices like that.
I don't know if it's available outside the U.S.
It has a fully accessible iPhone app too.
#12 2020-12-15 05:25:37
you also have book share. I am not sure if it out side of the us.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Boo15mario
#13 2021-01-02 21:40:25
Not sure if this is available outside of the US, but recently, I've been using the Libby app. As long as you have a library card, you can check out books. They have both ebooks and audiobooks. while ebooks are not accessible through the app, you can have them sent to kindle, and either read them on a kindle itself, or use one of the many kindle apps. For audiobooks, the built in player works perfectly fine. The interface itself is a little strange in terms of finding books, but definitely useable. Just remember that you do not own the books, and have to return them after 14 days, or you can extend the period if you need to. You can also put books on hold if they are not available, and will get a notification when you can check out the book.
TLDR, I read so many books that I needed a free way to read, and I love the whole library experience.
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#14 2021-01-02 22:51:30
So they give you unencrypted epub files, yet you're supposed to return the books after 14 days? Something doesn't quite add up here.
#15 2021-01-02 23:38:17
They don't show you the file itself. I think your referring to the send to kindle part? If that's what you mean, you just sign into your amazon account and hit send to kindle. Amazon supports library books. and since the audiobooks are right in the app, you never interact with the file itself.
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#16 2021-01-03 00:26:23
I remember being able to download the raw audio of an OverDrive book. Wow! Anyone remember that? Point is that it's the same thing @haily_merry mentioned, and even though I *was* supposed to return it after 21 days by policy, I had the raw audio stored locally, so...
#17 2021-01-03 02:36:55
Hello everyone.
If you are from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia or several other countries, you can check out
http://av3715.ru/
They have quite a lot of audiobooks not only in Russian, but also in other languages, such as English or French. In addition, they have audio versions of many magazines, both created specifically for the blind and aimed at a wider audience.
To register, you need to contact your local library for the blind, and they will register you by providing a password to log in. After that, you can listen to books using either mobile apps or the Online library program for Windows.
Jitel#3538
#18 2021-01-03 02:48:45
@Jack
Please tell me in more detail, how do you break books from google play into fragments?
I understood from your message that you do not wait for the end of each fragment of the book, but use programs to divide the book into fragments?
If so, tell me how you can do it?
Thanks in advance for your reply!
The faceless ghost wishes you a good mood and good luck in all your endeavors!
#19 2021-01-03 02:57:08
Hi.
Libby and OverDrive are from the same company, and OverDrive can still be downloaded. If you have the Windows client, you can download the audio files from the book. I unfortunately have never tried it so not sure what the steps are
#20 2021-01-03 03:54:04
That's insane! I mean, awesome, but insane!
So why do they have 2 separate apps now?
#21 2021-01-03 04:09:12
That one I'm not exactly sure about.
I do know that back in 2018, at least I think that's when it was, Libby had a message whenever you were using Voiceover that you should still use Overdrive. Not sure if they've changed it, but that may be one of the reasons
#22 2021-01-03 15:14:44
@Rich_Beardsley, haily_merry, I believe that overDrive is *supposed* to be deprecated, but I didn't like Libby's layout when I tried it a couple years back, thought again it may have been fixed. That, and I could probably dig through the Appstore to find when I downloaded OverDrive and download it again.
Unpopular opinion: I do not like Dolphin Easyreader. It feels too much like a heavily watered-down version of Voice Dream, and I can't get behind having to purchase Vocalizer voices for 7 quid a piece when I already have them as part of iOS. Otherwise, I'm stuck with the compact voices, or Alex, which I was already using as my VoiceOver voice.
#23 2021-01-03 16:17:24
#24 2021-01-03 17:04:26
"Rich_Beardsley, Yeah, you need to click on the currently-selected voice, instead of the add voice button. You'll then get a list of voices you can use freely, with Alex being the very last option in there.
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