Free audiobooks

Reading is an activity that is certainly good for both the mind and the spirit. Unfortunately, however, the hectic life we ​​lead today is taking away more and more time and – alas – the space to devote to books becomes increasingly scarce. So, how to do it? How can we manage to face the daily grind without completely sacrificing our needs for culture?

A possible compromise that can unite daily commitments and books could be represented by audiobooks. Have you ever heard of it? These are audio files (usually in MP3 format) that contain aloud readings of various literary works, from the great classics of world literature to contemporary novels.

These readings can be performed by volunteers, authors or professional actors and can be distributed for free or for a fee. On the Internet you can find plenty of them, also in Italian of course. What do you say if I report someone? Or rather, how about if I point out some of the best sites that offer free audiobooks? In my opinion, there are many that might interest you.

Index

• LiberLiber
• LibriVox
• Babel project
• Audio Book
• BooksLive
• Audible
• Storytel
• Podcasts and other useful resources

LiberLiber

Among the best-stocked free audiobook sites is LiberLiber. If you remember correctly, I have already talked about it on several occasions, it is an Italian service managed by a non-profit organization of social utility that provides free access to great classics of world literature. Well, in addition to e-books you must know that it also hosts many books in audio format (MP3) that can be downloaded at no cost without any registration.

All you have to do to proceed with the download of the works is to connect to the section of the site dedicated to audiobooks and select the name of an author (eg Alighieri Dante ). On the page that opens, find the work you want to download in the form of an audiobook (they are those with the wording [audiobook] next to the title) and click on the links relating to the various chapters of the latter.

If clicking on the link of an audiobook automatically starts its playback and the file is not downloaded to the PC, get around the obstacle by right-clicking on the link and select the item Save link as / Save object as from the menu that opens.

Would you like to browse the list of works available on LibriVox based on their title and not the author’s name? No problem. Visit this other page of the site and you will find yourself in front of the list of downloadable books in audio format.

LibriVox

Another online reference point for those looking for free audiobooks is LibriVox which is not for profit and survives thanks to the work of volunteers, who read, aloud, some of the greatest classics of world literature and put their recordings to available to the public. The site has an international scope, so it includes works in various languages, and of course among these there is also Italian.

To download an audiobook from LibriVox, scroll through the pages of the site containing the various works (just use the numbers below) and click on the Download button located next to the cover of the book you are interested in. No registration is required to complete the operation. The downloaded files are all in MP3 format.

You can browse the list of audiobooks available on the site both by author name (default) and by date of addition, by setting the Release date option in the drop-down menu located at the top right. To access the complete catalog of works and view not only those in Italian, go to the Language tab and select the language you prefer from those available (English, French, Spanish, etc.).

LibriVox is also available as an app for smartphones and tablets. You can find it directly on the Android and iPhone / iPad stores. The download is of course free.

Babel project

If in addition to the classics of literature you are also interested in the works of emerging authors, I suggest you take a look at the Progetto Babele website which makes available to the public, totally free of charge, the audio versions of dozens of stories belonging to various genres. . Again, the files are all in MP3 format.

To download a work from Progetto Babele, linked to the home page of the site, find a story that might interest you and click on the speaker icon located next to its title. In the window that opens, right-click on the Click here link with the right button to download the MP3 format file and select the item Save link as or Save object as from the menu that opens.

The audio books are grouped according to the genre they belong to scrolling the list you can find works of fiction, science fiction stories, thrillers and so on. Under the title of each work there is a brief reference to its plot which you can expand by clicking on the Continue link.

Audio Book

LibroAudio is another site that I highly recommend you add to your favorites. It hosts the recordings of great classics of children’s literature, such as “Treasure Island”, “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Robinson Crosue”, all narrated by the same person (who makes himself known under the pseudonym of Ginzo Robiginz ).

The operation of the site is so intuitive that there would be no need for any explanation. In the right sidebar there are listed all the works available for listening (and for downloading): to download one, first click on its title and then on the item relating to the chapter to download.

The download is done in MP3 format. The files have no DRM, so they can be copied and played freely on any device.

BooksLive

Are you interested in free audiobooks of fairy tales? Then I suggest you take advantage of the promotion necklace Tales of LibriVivi that lets you download the two popular fairy tales, “Puss in Boots” and “Little Red Riding Hood” audio-book, putting a “like” his Facebook page and subscribing to his newsletter.

The exact steps to take are as follows: connect to the LibriVivi site, click on the Facebook Like button located in the center of the page, type your name, surname and email address in the adjacent form and click on the Confirm button. You will receive an email with the link to download the audiobooks inside.

Then log into your e-mail box, open the message received from LibriVivi and click on the link Click here to download the books. The fairy tales are in MP3 format and are provided in a single archive in ZIP format weighing about 60MB.

Audible

Even if it is not a free service, in a post dedicated to audiobooks I cannot fail to mention Audible. If you have never heard of it, Audible is an Amazon service dedicated entirely to audiobooks: it hosts 2,000 audiobooks in Italian and 10,000 titles in other languages ​​narrated by professional actors, some of which are also very well known.

We are talking about one of the best services of its kind but, unfortunately, as already mentioned above, it is not free: it costs 9.99 euros per month. The good news is that new subscribers can try it for free for 30 days with no renewal obligation. This means that the subscription can be canceled at any time without being charged to your credit card (which in any case must be provided during registration).

Audible can be used directly from your computer or, even better, as an application for Android, iPhone / iPad or Windows 10. Try it and I’m sure you won’t regret it!

Storytel

Another paid solution that I highly recommend you try is Storytel: it is a service that offers a catalog consisting of 7,000 audiobooks in Italian, constantly expanding and 120,000 audiobooks in English and 12,000 in Spanish, as well as 150,000 eBooks in English. , to listen and read even offline, through convenient applications for Android (also on HUAWEI AppGallery ) and iPhone and iPad (with support for Apple Watch, to listen to audiobooks directly from the smartwatch). The Unlimited subscription costs 9.99 euros/month or 89.99 euros/year but offers a free 14-day trial period with no renewal obligation.

In addition, students can get a 50% discount on the Unlimited subscription by requesting verification of the Student ID via SheerID after registering with Storytel: after verification, they get a 50% discount on the subscription, which goes from 9, 99 euros/month to 4.99 euros/month. Read more here.

Also noteworthy is the availability of the Unlimited + plan which costs € 14.99 / month after the first 14 days of free trial and includes two Unlimited accounts and two Kids accounts. By activating it, in fact, each user included in the subscription can access their account and listen/read books on Storytel at the same time having a personal private library. A total of four devices can be used simultaneously: two with access to the entire selection of Storytel and two with Kids Mode, therefore with access only to the Kids category. Read more here.

The works available on the service belong to the most disparate genres (thrillers, economics, classics and much more) and are narrated by some of the most important names in the world of dubbing and theater. If you want to know more and, above all, you want to try Storytel, connect to its official website and click on the Try it free for 14 days button. Then fill out the form that is proposed to you with your email address and the password you intend to use for your account, put the checkmark next to I accept the Registration Conditions & Privacy Policy, choose whether or not to receive promotional communications ( by checking the relevant box) and presses the button continue. Alternatively, if you want to do this first, press the Facebook button and log in with your social account data.

Subsequently, enter your credit or debit card details (no charges will be made before the expiry of the 14-day trial, with the possibility of deactivating the automatic renewal when you want), put the checkmark next to the item I accept the Conditions Unlimited add-ons and press the Activate subscription button to confirm the creation of your account and the activation of the trial.

At this point, install the Storytel application on Android or iOS / iPadOS, start it and log in to the account created above. Then locate the audiobook of your interest by browsing the recommended contents, categories or rankings in the app menu and press on the cover of the work you want to listen to.

Finally, press the heart button to save the selected audiobook in your library and press Listen to start playing it and, if necessary, set a timer to stop playing automatically, add a bookmark, change the speed playback and download the offline audiobook.

For more information on how Storytel works and all the features of the service, consult the tutorial I dedicated to the latter.

Podcasts and other useful resources

Finally, I would like to point out a couple of podcasts to which you can subscribe for free to receive new audiobooks directly on your smartphone or on your PC. They work with iTunes or any other application that supports podcasts.

• Ad aloud– the podcast of a popular radio broadcast of Radio Rai 3 in which twelve of the most famous novels of world literature are read “aloud”. Download from here.
• Audio Tales for Children– fairy tales, more or less famous, read aloud. It also includes timeless classics such as “Cinderella”, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Tom Thumb”. Download from here.
• Words of stories– another podcast in Italian dedicated to fairy tales for the little ones. Download from here.

Also remember to take a “spin” on Google Play Books and iBooks Store, the Google and Apple book stores, where free audiobooks are also published from time to time (even if most of them are paid ).

 

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