Do you listen to audio books?

[Butlerkid]

We are about to embark on a 8-10K miles road trip! I am considering getting audio books to listen to as we drive along. We have a new Ford F350 truck with USB connections, an iPhone 8 and a Samsung S8+, and an older Samsung Galaxy Pro 8.4" tablet and a much older iPod.

I'd like to download several books in the next 5 weeks to have them available on the trip, so a monthly service that only allows 1 or 2 free/low cost downloads a month may not be the best option.

Where do you get your books? Pro's and con's of different services.... Sound quality?

We like crimeand political thrillers/mysteries such as those by Vince Flynn, Lone Survivor, etc. And I want Atlas Shrugged by Christopher Hurt.

 

[davidzvi]

Standard quality in Audible.

 

[socrdude]

we tow our travel trailer on trips and listen to all kinds of Books or Pods ... Audible I think my wife gets them from.. Really makes the driving time fly by..

 

[Butlerkid]

Standard quality in Audible.

Thanks.

we tow our travel trailer on trips and listen to all kinds of Books or Pods ... Audible I think my wife gets them from.. Really makes the driving time fly by..

Thanks! Yep, we will be towing our 5th wheel. What do you use to listen to the books? Do you download them to the computer first, then transfer them to a device? Is downloading eBooks just a simple matter? Audible wants almost $50 for Atlas Shrugged by Chistopher Hurt! But they say I can get if for free during my 30 trial. Is there a $10-15 price for most books, with only a few being free> What do you think of "Audible Originals"?

 

[Pa]

I'd like to download several books in the next 5 weeks to have them available on the trip, so a monthly service that only allows 1 or 2 free/low cost downloads a month may not be the best option.

Where do you get your books? Pro's and con's of different services.... Sound quality?

I don't hear well enough for this so I've never tried it, but I've noticed that our local county library allows virtual audiobook checkouts. This might require a continuous internet connection, but maybe not.

And I want Atlas Shrugged by Christopher Hurt.

I thought Ayn Rand wrote that.

 

[Butlerkid]

I thought Ayn Rand wrote that.

Christopher Hurt is the narrator.

 

[Clix Pix]

Christopher Hurt is the narrator.

It is still appropriate to identify a book by its actual author, even if it is an audiobook..... Proper usage would be: "Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, narrated (or read) by Christopher Hurt." [Sorry for the correction, but this is bringing out the librarian in me!]

As for audio books, can't be helpful as far as recommendations since I don't use them at all and instead prefer to listen to music when I'm in the car, whether it be for short trips around town or for longer drives to a destination out of town.

 

[Pa]

25 years ago my wife and I were driving from New Mexico back to Virginia in separate cars. That was before cell phones, and we didn't have any way to communicate...just tried to maintain visual contact.

We were both listening to audiobooks on cassette tapes. I got so engrossed in the one I was listening to I missed a turn in Memphis in horrendous traffic. She dutifully followed me, finally caught up, and motioned me over.

A word to the wise.

 

[McQ]

Audible for my audio books. Don't know the quality of other services. Good quality on Audible.

Also, check your library for audio books if you have a CD player in the car. I used to get audio books there, too.

Also, podcasts are a great way to kill time. I use PocketCast to find and listen to podcasts, and you can search by genre. There are a lot of good true crime podcasts.

 

[Butlerkid]

Audible for my audio books. Don't know the quality of other services. Good quality on Audible.

Also, check your library for audio books if you have a CD player in the car. I used to get audio books there, too.

Thanks, Glenn. Can you download the audio books from the library? Otherwise, we will be gone 9 weeks, a lot longer than the time allowed to return something.

 

[McQ]

Thanks, Glenn. Can you download the audio books from the library? Otherwise, we will be gone 9 weeks, a lot longer than the time allowed to return something.

Oh, good question, Karen. I honestly don't know. It's been a few years since I got one.

I only ever got CDs from them, but I'll bet that most libraries now have some way to get the audio books to you in some sort of download for longer periods of time.

 

[Pa]

I just checked and found that our library has 12 downloadable audio books by Vince Flynn.

These are called "Hoopla Audio Books".

 

[gnagel]

My library has many audio and book titles for download. I have not downloaded an audio book yet, but I have downloaded a couple of hundred books to read over the past few years--and I am able to read them without an internet connection. So, I'm assuming it is the same for audio books.

Glenn

 

[Vico]

Here is a site with many free audio books
>1,000 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free | Open Culture

I listened to Rand's 'The Fountainhead' for about 1500 miles and it was quite melodramatic, like a dated soap opera!
The above site has many better downloads IMHO, but even Rand makes the time go by faster. One of my favorites from openculture was 24 lectures on Joyce's 'Ulysses'.
-Vico-

 

[Butlerkid]

Oh, good question, Karen. I honestly don't know. It's been a few years since I got one.

I only ever got CDs from them, but I'll bet that most libraries now have some way to get the audio books to you in some sort of download for longer periods of time.

I just checked and found that our library has 12 downloadable audio books by Vince Flynn.

These are called "Hoopla Audio Books".

My library has many audio and book titles for download. I have not downloaded an audio book yet, but I have downloaded a couple of hundred books to read over the past few years--and I am able to read them without an internet connection. So, I'm assuming it is the same for audio books.

Glenn

Thanks, Guys! We live literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest library with a possibility of audio books is an hour away..l..in a different county. I have downloaded books from Google Play and can read them without an internet connection. So I assume the same is true with ebooks. I'm assuming there will be lots of time when we don't have internet connection during our trip.

Thanks, @Pa for the information on the Vince Flynn ebooks. I'll try to find them.

Audibile is $14.95 per month, but you can cancel at any time. But in the trial period, you can only download one book and 2 "Audbile Original" books. So, I guess I'll join for the free trial, download Christopher Hurt's narration of Atlas Shrugged, looked around and then cancel.

Google Play has the Vince Flynn series. I've already bought quite a few as "books" but will buy others as audiobooks. They are about $12-$17 per audiobook.

My plan would be to download to my PC if possible, then move to either my Samsung S8+ or the Samsung Galaxy Pro tablet (assuming it still works). I'm leaning toward using the tablet instad of the phone. Thoughts?

 

[Pa]

Thanks, Guys! We live literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest library with a possibility of audio books is an hour away..l..in a different county.

One of the perks of living in a university town is access to a great library.

 

[svalley]

I have been using audio books for more than 25 years. The rise of smart phones and other digital audio devices and improved download speeds have made managing the process really easy and it hardly takes up any space.

I listened to them on my commute to work, but discovered that I could listen while I was working as long as I was not reading any text. I worked in an entomology lab mostly photographing insects and it turned out I could listen and understand while I was preparing and positioning subjects, setting up camera and lighting, shooting the images and performing pretty much all of the post processing. It was amazing, I could "read books" and perform my job at the same time. An added bonus was, I could block out distracting noise from the rest of the lab when I really needed to focus on my images. Some days I was in the mood for music and it worked also.

I am able to download books from the local library, but there is also a network of libraries so even if the copies of a desired book are all out on loan, you may be able to download from a different library in the network. It seems odd that they can only let one user at a time check a digital file and the books expire after a certain amount of time and will not play.

I also searched for and found an online library of copyright free books that you can download and play anytime you want. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin was a good long listen.

I mostly have used Audible for the past 4 years. There are a few things I don't care for, but they have a huge collection, I recently finished listening to an 80 hour book that cost one monthly credit. I tend to search for long books and my genre is usually science fiction with a few mysteries.

To listen I sometimes use earbuds or noise cancelling headphones. I have pretty profound hearing loss so I use hearing aids that can connect to each other and my phone using Bluetooth, so I can hear my phone, my music and my audio books right through my hearing aids. Ain't hitech wonderful?

 

[Pa]

I have pretty profound hearing loss so I use hearing aids that can connect to each other and my phone using Bluetooth, so I can hear my phone, my music and my audio books right through my hearing aids. Ain't hitech wonderful?

I've got to learn about this.

 

[Butlerkid]

I have been using audio books for more than 25 years. The rise of smart phones and other digital audio devices and improved download speeds have made managing the process really easy and it hardly takes up any space.

I listened to them on my commute to work, but discovered that I could listen while I was working as long as I was not reading any text. I worked in an entomology lab mostly photographing insects and it turned out I could listen and understand while I was preparing and positioning subjects, setting up camera and lighting, shooting the images and performing pretty much all of the post processing. It was amazing, I could "read books" and perform my job at the same time. An added bonus was, I could block out distracting noise from the rest of the lab when I really needed to focus on my images. Some days I was in the mood for music and it worked also.

I am able to download books from the local library, but there is also a network of libraries so even if the copies of a desired book are all out on loan, you may be able to download from a different library in the network. It seems odd that they can only let one user at a time check a digital file and the books expire after a certain amount of time and will not play.

I also searched for and found an online library of copyright free books that you can download and play anytime you want. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin was a good long listen.

I mostly have used Audible for the past 4 years. There are a few things I don't care for, but they have a huge collection, I recently finished listening to an 80 hour book that cost one monthly credit. I tend to search for long books and my genre is usually science fiction with a few mysteries.

To listen I sometimes use earbuds or noise cancelling headphones. I have pretty profound hearing loss so I use hearing aids that can connect to each other and my phone using Bluetooth, so I can hear my phone, my music and my audio books right through my hearing aids. Ain't hitech wonderful?

Thanks for the info! Right now I'm fighting with the Galaxy tablet. I haven't used it since 2014......and it doesn't like ANY of my current passwords!!!! UGH! Even when I reset a password and get an email saying the PW was reset, the tablet won't accept it! UGH!

I may be forced to use my phone! LOL!

 

[ShaunK]

Thanks, Glenn. Can you download the audio books from the library? Otherwise, we will be gone 9 weeks, a lot longer than the time allowed to return something.

A dirty little secret about that... I use my local county's Overdrive to download audio books because I listen to them nonstop. I then transfer them to my iPod. Once on the device, they remain until I delete them. They are deleted/returned from my Overdrive app on my computer at the end of the 2-3 week loan so that others can use them, but they are still viable on my device. I always delete them once I am finished listening, but I suppose there might be a way for someone dishonest to keep the books long-term...