Audiobooks are here to conquer the twenty-first century of busy schedules and receding reading times. While everyone loves a good old leisurely book read, a twenty-four-hour long day is barely enough. With that in mind, how would it be to have someone narrate a story to your ears while you can work, relax, or get swayed into sleep? All of that for free? Listening to audiobooks sounds like an ideal go-to for the lovers of good books and even greater seekers of adventurous imagination.
Here’s a list of ten such audiobook apps which promise the best quality and the most extensive libraries to choose from.
Hoopla
Hoopla makes life easy with its subscription openly accessible through a local library pass, one of the most significant online hubs with a massive audiobook collection. As a result, it’s an excellent source for people with an eye for good content and a friendly interface. At the same time, all of its databases are well bestowed with security and encryption; hoopla makes sure that you can download its audiobooks for offline hearing through its built-in media player. Check this site out for further information.
Spotify
Spotify recently ventured into the audiobook market and aced it with an extensive library of audio treasures, a name well known for its music library. It offers spoken word content as well as storybooks. While one can always choose to pay for the subscription to go about the content for free without ad-breaks, it’s not a compulsion. You can very well enjoy the media with a few annoying advertisements here and there. Although it can get annoying after a certain period, the advertisements on the Spotify app are bearable. All you need to start reading an audiobook on Spotify is to type the term “audiobooks” in the search bar.
What’s best about Spotify is that it offers access across most regions in the world. Currently, Spotify is also the most used music streaming app throughout the world, so we suppose listening to music along with your audiobooks is an added benefit. With this one, you won’t have to worry about the city or the country you belong to.
Librivox
Librivox stands out perfectly as its run by non-profit-led means. Hence, it’s entirely voluntary for the people to contribute and stretch the already growing library. How does that enhance the quality? Because of the voluntary status, people worldwide have pitched in and evaded any possibility of not finding content in regional languages. Librivox features an extensive catalogue of audiobooks, also translated in regional languages. A user can find almost all pieces of literature, ranging from classical to fictional and non-fictional. All of the audiobooks are the ones present in the public domain, so the average audiobook listener never has to worry about copyright infringement as such. It paints itself as a cultural hub open to all, boasting audiobooks from disparate parts of the world. For the one who likes to explore, Librivox is tea for the soul.
Libby
Anyone from the North American Continent can trust this audiobook storehouse that breaks many barriers at once. The Libby app is not just free but also shares modes to transfer downloaded content to the kindle device. It allows synchronization with other devices and sells the app as one of the bests in the market. We feel that the option to synchronize your audiobooks across all your devices is the best feature Libby has to offer. The only catch? You will need a valid access card from a local library that shares its content with Libby. However, if you do manage that, you can disassociate yourself from all the worry in the world through the vast audiobooks that it has in store for you.
Smart Audiobook Player
When you couple audiobooks with breath-taking features, it’s sure to impress the users for a uniqueness rarely found in book libraries. The app is filled with cool widgets that allow creative organization of the downloaded library and bookmarking. You can be assured to read out downloaded pdfs and eBooks with as much conviction as the human recordings of audiobooks. If you have an already stacked-up reading list, Smart Audiobook Player will have your back.
Audible
Amazon has never disappointed its customers when it comes to its bookstore. The company that started by first selling books and novels online has grown to be a powerhouse in the audiobook space with its Audible app. Audible is one such venture from the Amazon team that proffers both free and premium plans, making audiobooks a massive hit and available with a tap of a fingertip.
Speaking of Amazon’s technological promise, Audible has been updated to include features like manual speed control and skipping tools. All such features keep the listener from being distracted as the audio runs with tailor-made specifications.
OverDrive
If Audible didn’t do it for you, we feel that OverDrive would make you cherish a very authentic and engaging audiobook listening experience. The app interface has everything and more in store with customizable fonts and bookmarking features. One can also color different code libraries. In addition, the operating company has made sure that all of its content is professionally made. All of that and unrestricted access- an ideal weekend getaway that would not require leaving the home premises is what you get with OverDrive.
Scribd
The Scribd app provides an unlimited number of audiobooks, books, magazines articles, sheet music, and many more. It has books across all genres, including Personal Growth, True Crime, Business, Travel, History, Fiction, etc. The Scribd app is also one of the few applications that gives unlimited access to the world’s most extensive document library, including more than 60 million documents.