While reading a book has some kind of a romance to it that is unlike any, letting your ears do the reading has its own allure. Most are likely to have fond memories of listening to stories during bedtime which, at times, can be even more exciting than reading.
Fortunately, technology has made it possible to relive that excitement anytime and anywhere with what has come to be known as audiobooks. The velvet voice of the narrator, stock music and background sounds work wonders! However, you got to have the right audiobook apps installed on your device to make listening truly pleasurable.
Here is a list of some of the best audiobook apps you can have for your iPhone or Android smartphone that will make listening to the stories a real fun. From the slick feature-rich apps to the more basic stuff, the list has it all.
Audible
Audible is one of the best audiobook apps out there with an excellent collection of over 470,000 titles to choose from. That easily makes it one of the biggest audiobook libraries out there spreading over almost all genres. Those include classic titles, fiction, non-fiction, health and wellness, romance, and technology, to name just a few. The Audible app is available for both Android and iOS platforms though things are a bit more special for Kindle users for the simple reason being that it is an Amazon-owned company.
It being closely tied to the Kindle eco-system; you only need to shell out a small fee to upgrade to an Audible audiobook from a Kindle ebook. The benefits are going to be many, which includes the ability to switch from text to audiobook seamlessly. That is not all as you also have the option to let Alexa read out the books via the Echo range of speakers, making things all the more convenient.
Monthly subscription charges stand at $14.95.
Audiobooks
The Audiobooks app comes across as a cloud-based platform that hosts some 175,000 titles. Also, the collection covers almost all genres you might imagine, which includes fiction and non-fiction, drama, comedy, horror, thriller, mystery, classic titles, and much more. The free app is available for Android and iOS and offers the option to either stream the audiobook titles or download them on your device for offline listening. Then there is a flexible subscription plan to choose from after the initial 30-day free trial period is over.
Serial Box
The reason the app is named Serial Box is that you get to savor an audiobook in small chunks instead of the entirety at one go. Another positive with the app is that it comes for free. Also, you need to pay just $1.99, which applies to each episode while the first episode comes free. The price mentioned will fetch you both the audiobook and the eBook. You can read or listen to them via laptop, tablet, or smartphone. For the latter, the app is compatible with both Android and iOS.
On offer is a sizeable collection of audiobooks spread over genres that range from fiction, non-fiction, drama, and comedy to sci-fi, fantasy, and almost everything in between. The app also offers a free preview of almost all the titles it offers. That way, you can listen to or read the books before actually paying for it. On the whole, the Serial Box app makes for an interesting option for reading or listening to an eBook/ audiobook.
Smart Audiobook Player
The Smart Audiobook Player can be the best choice for listening to DRM-free audiobooks. The app also comes with a nice selection of tools that will let you alter the playback speed or set bookmarks. Then there is a sleep timer as well as is an audio equalizer so that you can fine-tune the audio as well. The app comes for a nominal $1.99 price post a one-month free trial. The app though is available only for Android devices.
Google Play Books
Google Play Books offers a comprehensive collection of titles which includes comics, textbooks, eBooks, besides audiobooks of course. The application, which comes for free, offers a preview of the audiobook so that you can actually listen to a portion of it before purchasing the same.
The app being cross-platform, you can sync all of your audiobooks across all the devices that connect to your Google account. That way, you might start listening to the audiobook on one device and continue with the same on another, and so on. The app, otherwise, is compliant with both Android and iOS. The app also offers some convenient audiobook controls which allow for the ability to adjust playback speed, jump to a chapter, or set snooze timer and such.
Sirin
This happens to be another extremely capable audiobook player but is unique in that it does not offer you audiobooks to buy. That makes it purely an audiobook player though it does come integrated with a torrent client. That way, you get the chance to download some audiobooks, besides being able to playback the audiobooks you may have in your device storage. For that, the app also supports a wide range of audio formats which includes wma, wv, mp3, m4b, Apple, flac, ogg, to name a few.
Among the other cool features of the app include the ability to alter playback speed to suit your style. There is an integrated sleep timer too, besides supporting gesture control for fast-forwarding or rewinding. There is a nice library management feature as well that will let you keep your library organized and clean. The app is free to download too.
Spotify
Spotify too is an excellent choice for listening to audiobooks. The app might best be known for audio streaming but does have a nice collection of audiobooks to choose from. Those include titles related to sci-fi, biography, fiction and non-fiction, kids’ stuff and so on. That apart, perhaps the best thing with Spotify is that it comes for free as long as you don’t mind ads creeping in. For a complete ads-free experience, you can always upgrade to the paid premium model. For the latter, you qualify for a 30-day free trial period as well.
Voice Audiobook Player
The Voice Audiobook Player is for those who are looking for a decent audiobook app that won’t cost them anything. The interface is simple and clean with a convenient set of tools for playback controls. Those include the option to adjust playback speed, bookmarking, and a sleep timer. Of course, it isn’t the best out there but is there at the top among audiobook apps that cost nothing.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
