The audiobook industry is currently worth over $2.1 billion dollars and over the course of 2015 many new companies have developed subscription models that allow you to listen to a fixed number per month or a few offer an unlimited plan. There are many options available for your Android or iOS device or simply via the internet browser. Whether you are taking a long car ride this holiday season or just looking to avoid your stale music collection, we are going to look at the best audiobook sites of 2015.
If you have an Android or iOS device and listen to the radio, you are likely familiar with TuneIn. The company has been around since 2002 and has over 100,000 radio networks available. This summer they unveiled a new r a Premium service for $8.99 per month that gives you access to over 40,000 audiobooks.
Many people have decried that the UI for the audiobook player leaves something to be desired for, but it is one of the few apps that truly gives you an unlimited experience.
Audible is the largest audiobook system in the world. They have over 180,000 titles can be downloaded for free or purchased. The company always has a promotion where if you are register for a new account you can download a few audio titles for free. Audible is owned by Amazon and has the largest footprint in terms of sheer number of users who regularly access the platform.
Audible does not offer an unlimited program but you can subscribe to one of their various tiers, based on the amount of content you want to listen to.
Good e-Reader is offering you a special rate of 2 free audiobooks, instead of the default plan which is one. Click on this LINK to check it out.
| Gold Monthly Membership | $14.95/month | 1 credit per month |
| Platinum Monthly Membership | $22.95/month | 2 per month |
| Gold Annual Membership | $149.50/year | 12 per year at time of enrollment |
| Platinum Annual Membership | $229.50/year | 24 per year at time of enrollment |
Scribd initially got into audiobooks back in 2014 when they ironed out an agreement with Findaway World to have an initial library of over 30,000 titles. They expanded their network in April of 2015 with directly fetching audiobooks from major publishers.
Initially Scribd had an unlimited audiobook model, but due to the crazy demand they had to limit the number of titles people could listen to with a subscription. In addition to your monthly dues to read all the e-books you want, you can also listen to one audiobook title a month for free, and then pay $8.99 if you want an additional one.
Audiobooks.com has a library of 50,000 titles. They have a subscription service for $14.95 a month, where you get one audiobook title for free and save 75% off anything else you want to buy.
The thing I like about their line of apps is the way they curate the audiobook discovery experience. You can browse for New York Times bestsellers for Fiction and Non-Fiction. I also like the fact you can listen to anything you download offline.
Kindle Unlimited includes over 3,000 free Audible Audiobooks. These Audiobooks are Whispersync for Voice-ready so you can switch seamlessly between reading and listening to the Kindle eBook and the Audiobook. Audiobooks included in Kindle Unlimited will automatically appear in your cloud library when you get the Kindle eBook.
You can browse Kindle eBooks that come with free professional narration here. Keep in mind this program is USA only and not available for people in Canada and most other markets.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
