If you’re a fan of our weekly podcast then you’ll probably already be aware about the delights that can enter your ears on a regular basis. However, if you’re on the bus, in the car or stuck on a train and want to even more audio entertainment, how about trying an audio book?
Yes, you usually have to pay for these. Audible springs to mind instantly as an example. It’s £7.99 per month and you can have 30 days free and they’re an Amazon company, so you know that they’ve got a bit of a catalogue. There’s an app too, so it’s all seamless.
Anyway. What am I ? Some sort of Audible promoter? We like free stuff, so – provided that you’re not after the latest releases you can try LoyalBooks.com.
It’s riddled with adverts for Audible (strangely enough) but if you’re wanting to listen to the likes of Pride and Prejudice or The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes then you just click the book and then download a whacking set of MP3 files – one for each chapter.
Those recordings, from what we’ve seen, are read and uploaded by volunteers on a website called Librivox.org. You can volunteer to read a book yourself if you wish, then others can listen to your dulcet tones while they’re travelling to and from work. Use the search engine (which is quite slick) and you can again download a big ZIP file with all the chapters in MP3 format. Slap that onto your phone and off you go.
Free? Yes. Latest selection and large range of books? Not so much my friend.