Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#51

Post by zevon » Fri, Jul 18, 2025, 5:29 PM UTC

navanchauhan wrote: post #9

If you want to sail the high seas, MyAnonaMouse is one of the best private trackers. If you want a public tracker, I’ve heard good things about Audiobookbay

I've also heared good things of this island called Audiobookbay (and there's also this useful service called Bugmenot where you can find all sorts of login credentials...)

And even if it's a bit of a hassle, I always check if there is an option to buy books/audiobooks as directly as possible from the author (in some cases you can buy content directly on the author's website, for example).

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#52

Post by tyronehed » Fri, Jul 18, 2025, 5:52 PM UTC

archive org. Look for the audiobook "Mawson's Will: The Greatest Survival Story Ever Told"

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#53

Post by loco5niner » Fri, Jul 18, 2025, 6:17 PM UTC

tene80i wrote: post #12

Audible, but your library might have them too. Don't use torrents. That's cheap. Pay authors, just like you expect to be paid for your work.

That's funny, because isn't Amazon the worst place for authors to get paid for their work?

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#54

Post by PokemonNoGo » Fri, Jul 18, 2025, 9:10 PM UTC

anton-c wrote: post #36

PokemonNoGo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit shouldn't be included in anyone's digital detox.

GP didn't state they were detoxing they asked for book recs. One or two reddit posts shouldn't send them into the doomscrolling abyss.

No they didn't?

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#55

Post by treetalker » Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 3:53 AM UTC

As others have said, try Libby and Hoopla through your local library.

But I'll also go out on a limb and suggest that, for a "digital detox", you should read physical books instead.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#56

Post by tene80i » Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 7:23 AM UTC

loco5niner wrote: post #53

tene80i wrote: post #12

Audible, but your library might have them too. Don't use torrents. That's cheap. Pay authors, just like you expect to be paid for your work.

That's funny, because isn't Amazon the worst place for authors to get paid for their work?

Depends, but for traditional publishing the royalty percentage is exactly the same because it's the publisher paying a % of the sale price. Amazon might discount more heavily (but then so do other large retailers). But they also provide more volume.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#57

Post by ROBERT_TABLES » Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 12:38 PM UTC

nickthegreek wrote: post #39

ROBERT_TABLES wrote: post #32

I download epub files and then have ElevenLabs read it to me using AI generated voices I created/cloned using its built in tool. I prefer this method because I can have a book narrated to me using any voice I want to. For example, I’m currently listening to the foundation novels but having it narrated by an AI clone of Lou Lobell’s voice since she narrates the tv show. You can also export narrations as mp3 files and…

What is the average cost of using elevenlabs for that? they have great voices, but I would have assumed this would have been cost prohibitive.

I pay $22 for the unlimited subscription which allows me to generate more audio narration than I can reasonably listen to in 1 month.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#58

Post by ROBERT_TABLES » Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 12:38 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #37

ROBERT_TABLES wrote: post #32

I download epub files and then have ElevenLabs read it to me using AI generated voices I created/cloned using its built in tool. I prefer this method because I can have a book narrated to me using any voice I want to. For example, I’m currently listening to the foundation novels but having it narrated by an AI clone of Lou Lobell’s voice since she narrates the tv show. You can also export narrations as mp3 files and…

Where do you get DRM-free epub files?

I pirate books that I own physical copies of or find them on archive.org.

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#59

Post by more_corn » Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 10:43 PM UTC

Library

Re: Ask HN: Where do you guys find audiobooks?

#60

Post by gadders » Mon, Jul 21, 2025, 8:17 AM UTC

derwiki wrote: post #47

gadders wrote: post #17

Libby: Source is local library Spotify Premium: You get a certain number of free hours per month BBC Sounds: Worst app of the lot, but they do have audio books I wish all of these apps implemented a "Default Sleep Mode" between, say, 10pm and 7am so if you press play it defaults to only playing for 30 mins. Podcast Republic has this.

IIUC you’re asking for a sleep timer? If so, built-in timer on iOS can “stop playing” instead of an alarm sound. Not sure about Android.

The sleep timer works OK as you fall asleep. If I wake up again in the night I need to fiddle about with my phone to reset the sleep timer to use it again, which wakes me up further.

I would rather it just assume that it would stop playing after 30mins, if I ever play anything at night.