How do you start listening to audiobooks?
Start free: install Libby, add your library card, borrow an audiobook and press play. If your library has a wait, add Hoopla for instant borrows. When you want to buy, choose between Audible (biggest catalog, books stay inside Audible), Libro.fm (DRM-free files you keep) and Chirp (discount deals, no subscription). Spotify Premium includes 15 hours a month in the US if you already pay for it.
What do you need to listen to an audiobook?
A phone and headphones. Every major audiobook service has a free app for iPhone and Android, and most also play on the web, smart speakers and some cars. You download the book in the app over Wi-Fi so it plays offline, then listen like a podcast with chapters, a speed control and a sleep timer.
You do not need a special device. Kindle e-readers can play Audible books over Bluetooth, but a phone does the job better.
How do you listen for free?
Your public library. Libby, from OverDrive, connects to most US public libraries: install it, find your library, enter your card number, search, borrow, play. Popular titles have holds queues, so place holds early. Hoopla, if your library offers it, has no queues but caps how many titles you borrow each month.
Many people qualify for more than one library card (where they live, work or study), and adding a second card in Libby widens the catalog. Our free audiobooks guide covers that and other legal free sources such as LibriVox for public domain classics.
Which paid option should you pick?
Audible if you want the biggest catalog and exclusives: Premium at $14.95 a month gives a credit for a book you keep, Standard at $8.99 gives a pick you can play only while subscribed. Libro.fm if you want to own files: one credit a month buys a DRM-free audiobook you can download and keep anywhere, with a share going to a bookshop. Chirp if you refuse subscriptions: discounted deals on a rotating list of titles, bought one at a time.
Spotify if you already pay for Premium: in the US, Premium Individual includes 15 hours of audiobook listening a month from its subscriber catalog. Everand or Kindle+ if you read and listen a lot across both formats and accept a rental catalog. Our audiobook price index compares what one book costs by each route.
How do you set up your first listen in ten minutes?
One: install Libby and add your library card. Two: search for a book you already want to read, ideally under ten hours long, and borrow it or place a hold. Three: download it on Wi-Fi. Four: set the speed to 1.0x for the first chapter, then try 1.2x. Five: set a sleep timer if you listen in bed.
If your first choice has a wait, borrow something available now rather than waiting weeks. The habit matters more than the title.
How do you keep track of a long audiobook?
Use the bookmark button for passages you want to find again and add a word or two of note. Listen in chapter-sized sessions so you stop at natural breaks. If you come back after a week and have lost the thread, rewind to the start of the chapter rather than pressing on confused.
For supported titles, Magic Bookmark (iPhone, first book free) gives a spoiler-free recap and cast list up to the last line you heard. Our recap apps page compares the options.
How should you choose your first audiobook?
Pick something you would enjoy hearing told aloud, not the densest book on your list. Memoirs read by their authors, novels with lots of dialogue, and books you have already read are easy first listens, because you can follow them without effort while you get used to the format.
Play the free sample in the store, or the first ten minutes of a library loan. If the narrator's voice bothers you now, it will bother you more at hour nine, so return it and try another edition or another book. Start at normal speed and raise it in small steps once you are following easily; there is no correct speed, only the one at which you still hear the story. Our speed listening guide covers the trade-offs.
Questions readers actually ask
- What is the best free audiobook app?
- Libby, with a library card. Hoopla is the best companion for instant borrows.
- Can I listen to audiobooks without a subscription?
- Yes. Borrow free from the library, buy individual titles on Chirp or Libro.fm, or buy single audiobooks on Spotify.
- Do audiobooks play offline?
- Yes, once downloaded in the app. Library loans stay offline until the loan ends.
- What speed should I listen at?
- Start at 1.0x and raise it in small steps to the fastest speed at which you still follow comfortably, often 1.2x to 1.5x.
Sources
Refresh schedule: Quarterly