What are your experiences with audio books?

My mom is virtually blind from macular degeneration, and listens to audiobooks all the time. I often listen in the car. The reader makes a big difference, as you are dependent on them for inflection and stressing, but most commercially produced ones are pretty good.

My friend downloads them to her iPod when she runs or is at the gym, and likes doing that. She checks them out of the library at no cost.

We used to listen to Hank the Cowdog stories on car trips. Kept the kids entertained for hours.

‘Course this was after we got one of them newfangled cassette tape players for the car

@rojo: we loved Hank the Cow Dog! :-)

Any particular apps, or program names recommend?

I plan on using my phone.

Can’t help much, sorry. My friend downloads books on CD to her computer, then loads them onto her iPod (or whatever) from there as audio files. I imagine you might be able to do the same with your phone.

I’m sure the more tech savvy folks here can give you more comprehensive advice.

I tried that before, with an older phone. Computer wouldn’t detect it after couple tries and generally was annoying to use. Maybe this phone will be different.

Thinking just downloading from the phone would be easier. I’ll search around.

Good luck!

Bloody brilliant! I ended up listening to things I would never have picked up off the shelf in book form, the narrator can bring a book to life and I don’t remember being disappointed by any particular narrators, one does develop a preference for particular voices though.

And to illustrate how varied and wide the books I listened to were:

The Alchemist ~ Paul Coelho (by Jeremy Irons)
The Fall – Simon Mawer
Diary of an Ordinary Woman – Margaret Forster
A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
The Shooting Party – Isabel Colegate
My Left Foot – Christy Brown
Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
Regeneration – Pat Barker
The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
Border Crossing – Pat Barker
Mr. Golightly’s Holiday – Sally Vickers
Tulip Fever – Deborah Moggach
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
Part of the Furniture – Mary Wesley
Coromandel Sea Change – Rumer Godden
About A Boy – Nick Hornby
A Greengage Summer – Rumer Godden
The Turning – Tim Winton

**All these audio books were sourced from a local library, at no cost (NZ).

I prefer an actual book. It’s mainly because my listening skill isn’t enough. I find reading much easier.

@Mimishu1995 Listening skill. Interesting way of putting it.

I use Audible.com on my computer. This program can be transferred to a lot of devices and phones. I just downloaded Stephen King’s new book and can’t wait for bedtime!

@faye Do you find that it helps you fall asleep faster or keep you awake?

It works both ways. Sometimes the voice just nudges me straight to sleep and then the book was really worth the money because it takes weeks to reach the end!