Audiobooks have become a popular way to listen to stories. While you can buy Audible books through Amazon and iTunes, you can also find free audiobooks to download on the internet. The best thing about these free downloads is that they are completely legal and support the authors, which helps them in their continued efforts to write more great stories.
You can find a variety of free audiobooks through online streaming websites like Spotify and YouTube. These sites also allow you to create playlists that are based on specific genres or authors. There are even podcasts that feature stories. Many of these websites allow you to download audiobooks as MP3 files. These files play on most digital devices, including iPods and mobile phones. You can also convert these files to other formats, such as WMA or AAC, if you want to use them on a different device.
Another option is to get your hands on an e-reader, which can be connected to your headphones and allows you to read along with the text. There are also apps that make e-readers into portable audiobooks. These audiobooks can be downloaded from a variety of online sources, but you should be aware that most are not professionally produced and may contain errors and missing chapters. You should also be careful when downloading from torrent websites, which are notorious for sharing illegal content.
If you have a library card, you can access the latest audiobook releases for free through your local public library. OverDrive works with tens of thousands of libraries and partners with a few dozen school systems to provide access to its catalog. If your library uses OverDrive, you can download books from their website or through an app such as Libby or Sora.
You can also find free audiobooks through non-profits and other organizations that record titles in the public domain. For example, Librivox offers a wide selection of public domain books read by volunteers. You can listen to the recordings on their site, which also includes transcripts and notes for each book. You can also download the audio in a variety of formats, including popular MP3s.
There are other ways to find free audiobooks, such as through aggregation sites. Open Culture is a good resource for finding compilations of free audiobooks from across the web. Other resources include Thought Audio, which offers a limited but high-quality collection of classic literature and philosophy titles, and Storynory, which focuses on audiobooks for children.
If you’re looking for something a little more modern, RBDigital or OverDrive might be good choices. Both work with libraries to provide a large selection of professional-standard audiobooks. RBDigital has an iPhone and Android app that makes it easy to stream from your library’s catalog. OverDrive lets you use your library card to download books from the newest releases or chart-topping bestsellers. Its Libby and Sora apps let you listen on your phone or tablet, too.