Today, if you’ve to listen to popular audiobooks, you have limited options unlike reading free books on Bookbub.
And most of the options you’ve, are available at monthly subscription rates.
Then be it from:
- Audible
- Kobo Audiobooks
- Audiobooksnow or
- Playster.
But what if you can’t afford these expensive monthly subscriptions?
Is there any option for you to listen to them free of cost?
Yeah! There are multiple options but none of them comes close to Librivox. So, up next in this post I’ll explain what is Librivox along with its benefits and downsides. Let’s get started:
What is Librivox?
Librivox is a public domain audiobook catalog with thousands of free audiobooks. While it can be difficult to find what you’re looking for, if you stick to the main categories and browse through the short descriptions, you’ll eventually find something that suits your fancy.
Currently, there are over 4K titles available on Librivox. The main categories are:
- Non-Fiction (859)
- Fiction (1740)
- Poetry (347)
Advantages of Using Librivox
Collection of Public Domain Books
You can download any book from the Librivox catalog for free, but you might be surprised to learn that the vast majority of those books are not works of fiction. Instead, they’re non-copyrighted texts that have fallen into the public domain and are therefore allowed to be published without a fee.
This is good news for Librivox (and its readers) because it means that all of its audiobooks are completely legal to download. That’s not always true when you go looking around online for free audiobooks—sometimes you’ll find places that host pirated material and don’t care about copyright laws (or worse yet, sites that trick people into thinking they’re downloading legit stuff).
In addition to offering users an amazing selection of public domain titles, LibriVox also makes sure they’re well-recorded so as not to lose any detail in translation between text and audio format.
Audiobooks Available for Lifetime
When you download a book from Librivox, it’s yours to keep forever with no strings attached.
But that’s not all. The best part about downloading audiobooks from Librivox is that there are no limits to how many you can download at once. You can listen to the entire catalog of books or just one or two books at a time—it’s totally up to you!
There are also no restrictions on how long you can keep your downloaded audiobook files forever. As long as they remain on your computer, they will always be yours with no strings attached. There is no library return deadline, late fee threat or need to delete a book after it’s been listened to so that it doesn’t count toward your monthly storage limit (or whatever).
You don’t even need an expensive subscription service subscription for access—they’re free! All of this makes Librivox a great online library for anyone who enjoys spending time listening to good stories told by great actors
Created By Volunteers
Most Librivox recordings are made by volunteers. These people are not paid for their time or talent, and they may be unknown to you. It’s possible that the reader’s voice is not as clear as your favorite professional actor or actress’s, but in reality, this can add an element of authenticity to the experience. Being able to hear someone who is reading a book out loud (and maybe even with a different accent) can make it more interesting than hearing from someone who has been trained in vocal arts.
Dis of Using Librivox
There are some downsides to using Librivox, but most of these can be overcome with a few simple workarounds.
While all of Librivox’s content is free, it does have some downsides.
- The quality of recordings can vary greatly—some are great, but others aren’t. Your best bet here is to listen to sample clips before investing time in an entire book.
- Some audiobooks are read by more than one person: there’s a different reader for each chapter, and sometimes more than one narrator will read the same character’s parts (for example, if there are two narrators who both read Sherlock Holmes). This can be confusing when you’re listening (especially if you’re driving), so be sure to pay attention while you’re listening until you get used to how they do things.
- Most books on Librivox are out of copyright or were written very recently so they’re still under copyright protection. Older titles may not be available at all through Librivox or will only be available as part of larger collections such as Great Books of Western Civilization or Great Women Writers Collection.
How to Download audiobooks from Librivox is an easy way?
- Downloading audiobooks from Librivox is easy to access great literature at no cost.
- The books in the Librivox library are all public domain and therefore free. There are no strings attached, just great audiobooks.
- The Librivox catalog is enormous, making it easy to find something you’ll love.
- You can listen on your phone or computer using a browser and an internet connection, which makes this platform convenient for commuters and those who don’t want to carry around a bunch of physical media like CDs or MP3s (though there is an option for that too).
Parting Thoughts
Many-many weeks ago I had suggested Librivox as one of the Trove alternatives. And I would say, this audiobook rightly deserved that mention.
Even though Librivox can’t beat the likes of –
- Audible;
- Kobo Audiobooks.
Or some of its other paid options, Librivox is one of the best places to download and listen to books.
That’s all for now.
If you’ve got anything to ask about this website, do let us know in the comments section below.
