What Are AudioBooks?
Audible is the gold standard in the seemingly crowded market as an audiobook app. With over 400,000 audio programs from well-known publishers, broadcasters, and entertainers, the world’s largest producer of the downloadable audiobook is a one-stop platform for bibliophiles. Reading can be an expensive hobby. Libraries do exist, although they appear to be underutilized. Instead, many people prefer to download ebooks to their Kindles and iPads or listen to an audiobook on Audible, which has been increasingly popular in recent years.
The problem is that Audible is not inexpensive. While $15 per month for an otherwise $20+ audiobook may sound like a bargain, many competing audiobook applications are free or significantly less expensive than Audible. There’s a reason why Amazon’s audiobook company is the market leader, but the following 10 Audible rivals are worth checking out and may even suit you better!
There are numerous audiobook services available. However, to be one of the top Audible alternatives, they must offer something unique that sets them apart and provides audiobook fans with something Audible cannot.
How do Audiobooks Work, and How do You get them?
Audiobooks function similarly to podcasts. You may either listen to them online or download them to listen to them offline. Most audiobook apps allow you to add your favorites to a wishlist and even build a comprehensive library of all the audiobooks that interest you.
How much does Audible cost?
Audible Plus is $7.95 a month, for which you get to listen to any book in the library (but you don’t get to keep them). Audible Premium Plus costs $14.95 a month and gives you everything Audible Plus does, plus one credit per month to select any audiobook in their library to keep.
Features of Audiobook:
Features of the Audiobook are given as follows:
- It should be stable.
- It should offer reading speed controls.
- It should seamlessly support CarPlay or Android Auto.
- It should offer a choice between offline playback and streaming.
- If should have a sleep timer.
- It should provide free audiobooks to test.
List of 14 Best Audible Alternatives:
So, in this article, we’ll take a brief look at Fourteen of these free to near-free audiobook apps.
1. Libby:
The first is Libby, which uses your library card to access your local library’s digital ebook and audiobook collection.
Libby has a user-friendly, intuitive layout and an audiobook player that looks similar to Audible’s. You can change the playback speed, set a sleep timer, skip a few seconds forward or backward, bookmark a section, and view chapters. You can download books for offline listening, just like Audible.
Libby comes with a handful of caveats. To begin, you can only listen to audiobooks from your local library. Second, Libby treats audiobooks like any other library item with borrows, holds, and renews. This implies that if there is only one “copy” of Where the Crawdads Sing, and it is currently on hold, you can put the book on hold, and Libby will let you know when it will be ready to borrow.
2. Google Play audiobooks:
Google Play, a competitor of Amazon, debuted an audiobook service at the beginning of 2018. The greatest difference between Google Play and Audible audiobooks is no subscription plan. You don’t have to pay for a monthly membership that hooks you with one audiobook, but you can use the Google special discount to buy Google Play audiobooks. Android, iOS, web, smart speakers, and Google Assistant-enabled devices are all supported for listening to Google Play audiobooks. We don’t have an official report from Google to reveal how many titles Google Audiobook has, but given that it’s still a newcomer in the audiobook sector, I’m guessing it’s fewer than Audible’s. Google Play audiobook is a fantastic option if you don’t plan on listening to one audiobook per month. Furthermore, any book you buy will be kept safe in your account for as long as possible.
3. Spotify:
Although Spotify is not primarily an audiobook distribution platform, it does provide a nice selection of audiobooks. Even one of the most popular audiobooks, Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, is available for free on Spotify, but it would cost $10-$25 on other platforms.
Spotify does not have an extensive audiobook library, and there is no information about how many audiobooks are available on the app. However, if you’re looking for an audiobook, you should always seek it on Spotify first.
When it comes to the user interface and availability, we’re all familiar with Spotify. It features one of the best user interfaces and allows you to customize it extensively. Furthermore, the app is compatible with all leading platforms.