7 places you can download audiobooks for free
Audiobooks are a great way to consume literature. You can drift off to sleep at night while still in Wonderland with Alice, or go on a roadtrip across the country while also journeying through Middle Earth. Only thing is, audio versions of books can be much more expensive than their paper and ink brethren, meaning many are loathe to dive in. But fear not, we have found seven places that offer free audiobooks to download and enjoy.
Public domain
These websites allow you to download audio versions of books that sit in the public domain – meaning their copyright has expired. If you’re interested in classics like Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, or Great Expectations, these sites are perfect for you.
This site is run by volunteers, and offers audiobooks read by people from all over the world. What’s special about Librivox is that their books are often read in different languages – making their site more accessible.
You may have heard of this site before. Just like Librivox, it offers public domain titles for free download. You can choose from over 53,000 books.
This is a great resource for your grandchildren to know about. If they’re studying any of the classics of literature in school, Lit2Go breaks these books up into smaller downloadble chunks, which are great for study sessions.
Scribl is an interesting service – it offers titles (both audiobooks and ebooks) on sliding scales of price dependant upon the title’s popularity. Many of their titles are free to download, while more popular items will cost you money. For you ebook readers, Scribl will give you an ebook copy of any audiobook title you download.
Free trials
These websites offer a free trial that allows you to browse their collection and often download a book of your choice to get you started. Then, if you don’t want to pay the subscription fee, you just need to cancel before the trial ends.
If you’ve ever listened to a podcast, chances are you’ve head of Audible.com. They’ve been around since 1995, and were acquired by Amazon in 2008 for something in the region of 300 million USD. Along with all that experience and wealth go an easy-to-use site and over 200,000 titles in their collection. Sign up for their free 30-day trial to download an audiobook for free.
Get more bang for your free trial with this site – sign up and download as many audiobooks as you can handle in the first 30 days. Their library is somewhat smaller than other services (only 30,000 titles), but if you want to stock up on free audiobooks, this free trial is perfect.
This site is a spin-off of a subscription music service, eMusic. What’s great about eStories is that you can choose a plan to suit your listening habits – download 1, 2, or 5 audiobooks each month. Their collection includes over 100,000 titles. The free trial is for 30-days, and lets you choose a free book.
What’s your favourite audiobook?