Free Audio Book Resources

As a homemaker, I find that my mp3 player is one of my most important tools. I really enjoy listening to audio books while I do my housework, bake and cook dinner and do crafts. I can listen to some of my favorite authors and discover new books, which is great, since it can be hard to find the time to sit down and read sometimes. It's especially nice to have an interesting book to listen to when there are chores that I am less than enthused about, like mowing the lawn or weeding the garden. Having someone reading to you can really help pass the time, and make those chores go more quickly.

There is one problem with my reliance on audio books: they can be so expensive! Audible.com sells their monthly credits for $15, on a subscription basis. And iTunes audio books range from $10 to $40 and more. If you listen to audio books for even just a few hours a day, they can be a very expensive source of entertainment, since most books are between 4 and 15 hours long, making it easy to go through a few a week. I have found a great source for audio books, however, that doesn't cost much, if any, money at all.

My local library offers audio books in several formats. You can check out cd's and tapes, of course, if you don't mind carrying around your walkman from middle school, but even better, my library offers mp3 players that contain the digital files for the book. Each audio book has it's own case with an mp3 inside, just like a cd audio book, but so much more compact and easy to listen to. But even better than the mp3 players, my library's website offers instant downloads of audio and ebook files.

The instant download service allows you to check out audio books from your own home, download them to your computer, burn them to cd, or transfer them to your own music player. You need to have a library card with the library system and set up an online user id, but after that, you've got plenty of free and instantly downloadable entertainment and information available right on their site.

Many libraries offer digital services for their patrons now, but if your library doesn't, you might have some options. Check with your library to see if your library card with them might allow you to use services provided by a larger local library. Ask your library to subscribe to services like Overdrive or netLibrary that allow digital downloads for libraries. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask, and they can find the money because people have shown interest. You can also find the closest library that offers digital services and ask them if they offer cards to patrons who are not in their city for a fee. Many libraries can provide non-resident library cards if they charge a fee relating to what a resident pays in taxes.

If you don't want to or can't use the library for free audio books, there are still further options. If you want to listen to books that are in the public domain, which usually include lots of classics you've been meaning to read, check out Free Classic AudioBooks or LibriVox. It's completely possible to take advantage of the great entertainment offered by audio books without being caught in a subscription or costing yourself tons of money.