Thought? opinion? recommendations? A thread for all things audiobooks.

I'm listening to my very first one, it's a travelogue. It requires more concentration than I thought as I'm not retaining the information as well as I do when I read it myself.

i've never listened to one

do people pay for these? or can you find them somewhere for free? (non-torrent)

I tend to not enjoy the audiobook experience, personally. I've listened to a few books but I can't think of an audiobook that I've enjoyed more than a traditional reading experience. I've heard, though, that the experience continues to improve in a post-podcast world.

The Magic 2.0 series of books have a good narrator. I can't access Audible atm to get his name but I really like him. I actually started seeking out books he narrated because of it.

The Themis Files series is a really good listen because they have different people doing each character like it's a play. Given that the books are set up as a series of interviews, it makes sense.

If you can find them, the first two Red Dwarf audio books have a wonderful narrator that can do a lot of different voices. I honestly thought they got the actors from the show when I started listening but it's just one guy doing it all.

The audiobook for the Joe Hill graphic novel Locke & Key is probably the best one I've heard. It is more of a play than most given the fact that they had to interpret from drawings instead of just reading what was on the page, and on top of that everyone has a voice (some more than one). I got it free from Audible from some promotion but I think it's worth it, or at least one Audible credit.

And I don't know about anyone else but Wil Wheaton is usually a hard pass for me. He did a bunch of books for Cory Doctorow and the combination of poor writing and narration kind of burned me out on hearing him. Though I just saw on his wiki that he did the last few Amber books and that's a series I'm about to start. Hmm.

I listen to audible.com a lot. The Dune series is the best I've heard, but I'm fine with one guy reading as well. It's rare that the narrator is distracting.

tried once and couldn’t do it

Guys, see if your library use the Overdrive app. If so, you can download tons of popular audiobooks for free from the app with your library's log-in info. Completely negated the need for Audible in my house. Currently digging Patton Oswalt's first book.

I never thought to use Overdrive, thanks for the tip trag.

Oh yeah, Overdrive. They just recently changed apps though to something called Libby, I think? Yup, just searched for it. It's "Libby by Overdrive" (how about that) and it works pretty well for me. The UI could use some work because I feel like I have to fumble around to find where books are downloaded but I blame that on lack of use. I'm sure if I used it more often it'd be easier.

My son's school have Overdrive on their iPads and he used it to read the newest Nightvale book. I haven't even had a chance to read that yet.

Sounds cool.

I also listen to a lot of public domain stuff on YouTube, but the readings can be pretty bad.

Ha, ditto. I go to sleep to a lot of Philip K Dick or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Dick readings especially are pretty bogus.

I actually have favorite voice actors. Scott Brick and Stefan Rudnicki are the shit!

http://scottbrick.net/audiobook_index

https://www.audible.com/search?searchNa ... n+Rudnicki

I get them almost exclusively from my library. I've paid for a few. Usually, I get a free trail at audible, then when I cancel and tell them it costs too much, they offer me 3 months (1 book per month) for half price. I usually do that b/c I can get a few that my library doesn't have for free.

ah yes! ours does and i completely forgot about it.

how in the heck is there a queue to listen to a digital book??

I did this a lot as a teenger--the library near our summer cottage had lots of audiobooks, and I remember renting a lot of Michael Crichton and James Bond books. With the kind of reader I am now, though, there's no way I could do it--I only want to read in my interior voice, basically, and at my own pace.

I remember being number 54 on a waiting list for 1 copy of Carrie Fischer's last book.

Your library pays a fee for X number of copies of books. Each copy can only be accessed by one patron at a time. It's ridiculous in a digital book world. It's supposed to drive people to buy the book, so they don't have to wait to read it. I think it actually drives piracy.

pretty sure im going to start listening to bill gass read The Tunnel on my commute to & from work