So, what software/app do you guys use to consume audiobooks? I haven't found a decent one that works with external downloads.
Smart AudioBook Player on Android works great for me.
Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
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Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#62Does anyone else have an issue with audiobooks as literature? Like, if I'm not able to control the pace at which I'm paying attention, it's problematic. I can't guarantee I'll pay 100 percent attention to noise that otherwise would almost be background to me. Regardless, the selection here is pretty bad-ass.
It's like anything else; it takes practice. For my first months of regular audiobooking I had to reread sections pretty regularly. Five years in I listen between 1.6x and 2.6x, depending on the subject and reader, and almost never have to reread anything (unless something taxing pops up suddenly and I don't pause immediately). Over 100 of the books I read last year were audio.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#63Also, most public libraries have extensive audiobook and ebook archives, and there are apps that bring all that content straight to your phone. If you live somewhere that has library access, you can greatly and easily expand your access to books, new and old through that method.
I listened to hundreds of audiobooks by borrowing boxes of CDs. Now, many libraries have accounts with Overdrive and similar services that make audiobooks available for free (as well as e-books and similar resources).
I feel kinda bad that I haven't been inside my local branch in a very long time. I love libraries and are very grateful for how much material they have lent me over the years. I am glad that they continue to provide those services for people, and hope that the shift to digital resources doesn't result in closing branches. They're still needed.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#64If you are looking for free german audio books, checkout - https://www.vorleser.net/ For a free conversion tool, checkout - https://github.com/sandreas/m4b-tool - https://github.com/gonzoua/AudioBookBinder - https://github.com/yermak/AudioBookConverter
Thanks for the conversion tools. I was lost trying to deal with m4b audio books and SubSonic not supporting them.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#65So, what software/app do you guys use to consume audiobooks? I haven't found a decent one that works with external downloads.
I use subsonic to host the audiobooks and play:Sub/AVSub on iOS to listen to them. play:Sub can speed up the books which is very nice for some slower voice actors.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#66Does anyone else have an issue with audiobooks as literature? Like, if I'm not able to control the pace at which I'm paying attention, it's problematic. I can't guarantee I'll pay 100 percent attention to noise that otherwise would almost be background to me. Regardless, the selection here is pretty bad-ass.
It's like anything else; it takes practice. For my first months of regular audiobooking I had to reread sections pretty regularly. Five years in I listen between 1.6x and 2.6x, depending on the subject and reader, and almost never have to reread anything (unless something taxing pops up suddenly and I don't pause immediately). Over 100 of the books I read last year were audio.
Agreed. This is a skill you develop over time. The instinctive pause, and 30 second rewind, have got me to where I feel my Audio Book listening is on par with with normal reading. But this took 5 years listening to at least 1 book per month.
But even with physical books, I could often drift mentally when I was reading and would need to reread a page or two when I noticed I hadn't been fully present.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#67Why is this sorted by author name ? Site is very spammy and unusable
...why shouldn't it be sorted by author name?
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#68If you are looking for free german audio books, checkout - https://www.vorleser.net/ For a free conversion tool, checkout - https://github.com/sandreas/m4b-tool - https://github.com/gonzoua/AudioBookBinder - https://github.com/yermak/AudioBookConverter
Thank you so much for that resource. It is greatly appreciated.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#69I think this (pre-recorded) audio book thing is a short-term phenomenon that's creating an economic distortion. Recording audio books requires extra labor, but not much (how many person-hours does it take to record War and Peace compared to person-hours spent by each publisher publishing a new edition, even assuming the use of an existing translation?). Yet Audible rakes in huge amounts of cash by charging a premium (particularly popular titles) for audiobooks over regular ebooks. Sometimes it's because they get famous people to read books, which is a blatant cash grab by the voice artist and/or by Audible. You could find 10 people who have better reading voices than any particular famous person, unless your only objective is to hear your favorite famous person read a book, any book.
Also, subscription plans are designed around most people not using them fully, and not optimizing their purchases.
Soon enough neural net TTS + ebooks will be nearly equivalent, and doesn't cost any more than the base ebook. Plus TTS allows synchronizing between print and speech which you can't get between ebooks and audiobooks; i.e. it would be nice to read in print, then switch to TTS while commuting or working out, then back to print.
Re: Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free
#70Does anyone else have an issue with audiobooks as literature? Like, if I'm not able to control the pace at which I'm paying attention, it's problematic. I can't guarantee I'll pay 100 percent attention to noise that otherwise would almost be background to me. Regardless, the selection here is pretty bad-ass.
No, it's actually better for me. I come from the unfortunate generation in USA that grew up with "hooked on phonics" .... as a result, my reading skills are utterly abhorrent.
Audio books impose a strict pace on me; I have no choice but to keep up. Personally, I like also being able to speed them up. My brain accommodates the new transmission rate just fine after some time. So, what would normally be unintelligible becomes a really low-effort way for me to ingest content.
For me, background noise creeps in when I'm trying to read by sight. It can be exhausting.
My 2¢