Audiobooks are becoming popular as never before and for good reasons. One can describe audiobooks as a new radio and a worthy companion. It has become widely popular for its convenience and engaging nature.
The best part about audiobooks is that you can listen to any of your favourite classic on go. Whether you are working out, driving, or doing some kitchen stuff, audiobooks are your best buddy. And that’s one of the important reason most paperback and traditional books are being converted to audiobooks rapidly. It’s a huge advantage to book lovers as you can find thousands of titles available for free on both Android & iPhone.
Many come with the premium version as well with added functionalities but you also get a free version if you first want to check before buying the services.
Due to the huge popularity of audiobooks, new services are popping up every day, with a plethora of services and apps people can easily waste their time and money.
Of course, each app has its own advantages and disadvantages, which is why I’ve made this list. In it, I am looking at each app in turn, focusing where they excel and where they don’t.
Audiobooks are an absolute must-have for all book lovers, so have a look and choose the one that suits your needs the best.
Wondering what’s the difference between Podcast & Audiobooks, read here.
1. Audible:
- Updated: 11th Aug, 2020
- Size: 23M
- Requires Android: 4.1 & Up
- Current Version: 2.56.0
- Installs: 100,000,000
- Star Rating: 4.5 of 12,908 users
- Free trial: 30 days/ Monthly subscription
Audible is an app by Amazon, obviously, it has a vast and the largest selection of 200,000 audiobooks, audio shows, and original series.
The best part is you can stream or download the books to listen just about anywhere. The audiobooks are yours to keep even if you cancel the membership. It also means that you can listen to these audiobooks in offline mode also.
You can also control the narration speed up or slow down by up to 3x. If you end up not liking an audiobook, you can exchange it for free.
You can also set up a sleep timer for an hour or until the next chapter.
In monthly subscription, you get many additional features like 1 credit a month after the free trial that you can redeem for any other Audible book. You also get a welcome pack of the curated collection of stories and book excerpts. You can create your own library plus you also get 30% off on additional audiobooks.
Audible has a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books like Self-help, Crime thriller, Science fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Horror, Mindfulness and meditation, Business, Short Stories, Family-friendly kids’ books, perfect for bedtime stories
If you are an Amazon Prime member, you get free access to Audible channels.
How To Get Started:
It’s very easy to get started with Audible, download the free Audible app and sign in with your Amazon account. To start with sign up for a 30-day free trial and choose any book, your first book is free. Audible is synchronized with all connected devices.
2. Audiobooks.com
Updated: 19 Aug, 2020
Size: varies with device
Installs: 1,00,000+
Star Rating: 4.1 of 39,253
Free trial: Available/$14.95
Audiobooks.com is another free app that comes with a large number of audiobooks and podcasts. It has 200,000+ audiobooks and 1.2+ podcasts.
The best part when you sign up you get 3 audiobooks with your free trial version of Audiobooks.com. You can extend your membership by signing in for their premium version for $14.95/month. It has audiobooks on every possible category. Just browse by genre and you will be able to find the desired audiobook.
You can download the audiobooks and listen offline also. Audiobooks.com also offers a feature of customizable sleep timer for 15 minutes onwards.
Google Play Books
- Updated: 22 July, 2020
- Size: varies with device
- Requires Android: varies with device
- Current Version: varies with device
- Installs: 1,00,000,000+
- Star Rating: 4 of 16,92,008
- Free trial: Not Available
Google Play Books is yet another app with millions of titles varying from ebooks, comics, textbooks, and audiobooks.
Google Play Books does not offer a free trial, you need to buy the book but it offers a sample before you buy any book. There is no subscription also.
The best part about GPB is you can take notes and synchronize it with Google Drive, share it with your group for easy collaboration.
Another great feature of Night Light Setting is very useful for book lovers. It automatically adjusts the background color and brightness to make it easier for you to fall asleep.
Librivox
- Updated: 14 Nov 2019
- Size: varies with device
- Requires Android: varies with device
- Current Version: varies with device
- Installs: 1,00,000+
- Star Rating: 4.5/30,159
- Free trial: Available
Librivox is one of the popular audiobooks for listening thousands of books on the go. It has more than 27,000 free audiobooks. Just search for most popular book, or you can browse for the title, author, or even for your favorite narrator.
Librivox has number of fiction and non-fiction books, short stories, poetry, novels in its collection. It also has a paid version where you can have access to over 75,000 professional audiobooks.
Oodles
- Updated: 16 Aug,2020
- Size: 12M
- Requires Android: 5.0 or higher
- Current Version: varies with device
- Installs: 5,000,000+
- Star Rating: 4/ 56,656
- Free trial: Available
Oodles is an app dedicated to English classics and English ebooks. The main feature of Oodles is you can read or listen to these books. It allows you to customize the font size, style, background, line spacing, and other reading features.
You can also create a personal library but it has only English classics that belong to the public domain and not the latest releases.
You can choose from a variety of categories like fiction, romance, fantasy, adventure, science, Christmas, humor and so on. It also allows you to share e-book files with friends through email.
Oodles also has in-app purchases, but it is quite costly as you have to pay for each book, but it’s best if you like classic English versions.
You will find books from legends like ane Austen, Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Wodehouse, James Joyce, Aesop, Victor Hugo, HG Wells, Plato, Jack London, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hardy, Premchand, and others.
Kobo
- Updated: 27 July 2020
- Size: varies with device
- Requires Android: 4.4 or higher
- Current Version: varies with device
- Installs: 10,000,000+
- Star Rating: 4.1/ 2,62,951
- Free trial: Not Available
Kobo is yet another app that gives you access to over 5Million titles. It has audiobooks and e-books in its vast collection. You can search for the title, author, genre, etc.
when you subscribe to Kobo, you get Kobo super coines. You can use your smartphone or tablet to access these books. It synchronizes across all devices. Kobo also has a free e-book section and you can find many books on the graphic& children’s books.
Kobo also allows you to rate and review the books. Kobo is available in many languages apart from English. Audiobooks are available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. You can listen to audiobooks on smartphones and tablets running Android version 4.4 or higher.
Loyal Books
- Updated: 14 Jan, 2016
- Size: 4M
- Requires Android: 4.0.3 or higher
- Current Version: 1.0.2
- Installs: 50,,000+
- Star Rating: 4.5 by 791 users
- Free trial: Available
Loyal Books has a very simple interface for its collection of audiobooks and e-books. It works like any other audiobook app but its main feature is that it is available in 25+ languages.
You can create your own library within the app, also read reviews before buying any book. Loyal Books has 7,000+ audiobooks and 35,000 e-books.
You can adjust playback speed, stream, or download the books. With featured books and top charts, you’ll quickly be on your way to enjoying the best free books available.
Audiobooks are a great way in today’s fast-paced life. Audiobooks are the best tools when we don’t have enough time to sit and read a book. It helps us to keep in touch with the latest releases as well as classics. The best part is we can hear our favourite books on the go. Which is your best app for audiobooks, pl let me know in the comments below, or if you any questions feel free to drop in.