Looking for a way to get audiobooks to listen to. Preferably in a format compatible with Apple Books app.
That’s my go to for sure. But what do you play them on? I am trying to find an app that will play my downloaded audio books and won’t lose my place or restart the file every day when I want to continue
I used Smart Audiobook Player to listen to an audiobook recently and it worked great.
Big ups to Smart Audiobook Player, definitely worth the $2 to upgrade as well. Not required, and you get a 30 day trial, but well worth it.
Voice is a decent FOSS audiobook player, you can find it in the FOSS repo managers (Droidify, Neo-Store, etc.)
Can’t recommend this app enough. Pauses when you get map updates, easy to navigate, clean UI.
I tried maybe 5 audiobook apps and Smart Audiobook Player was the one I stuck with
This one for sure. Listened to the entirety of The Dark Tower series on this, over the course of months. Literally not a single issue or hiccup the entire time. 127 hours worth.
Audiobookbay and smart audiobook player is my setup too. I probably got it from a similar thread. My only annoyance is using audiobookbay’s search can be annoying sometimes, but altogether I love both.
I wish it had a search function, but other than that it’s deffo been my audiobook player of choice for as.long as.i remember
I’ve listened to thousands of hours of audio books and this is my go to player for sure. I tried a couple other ones again recently and ended up coming back to this one. Simple and easy to use. It does have a problem moving books occasionally if they are in the root directory and not a sub folder. I just make sure my books are in sub folders when i get them.
The last time I used it, Voice worked pretty well.
audiobookshelf, though you need to self host it
I started on smart audiobook player but I now host an audiobookshelf docker container which is great, it’s like Plex for audiobooks.
Same for me. Smart audiobook was great on one device, audiobookshelf even better since being into selfhosting.
Plex+Plexamp works great for audiobooks
For some reason the regular Plex player would restart tracks on me after being out of the app for a long time. But Plexamp seems to have that one under control.
Oh, also, while we’re talking audiobooks, check out Graphic Audio versions of your various books. They do a great job
What device are trying to play them on?
Just my phone, I have an Android
Have you heard of this one? Supposedly, it’s pretty good. https://github.com/PaulWoitaschek/Voice
I recommend Smart AudioBook Player. Has loads of features with decent library management
If it’s just one large file I just play it on a podcast app (in my case Podcast Addict) and if it’s multiple I stich them together with ffmpeg before sending it to my phone.
I use apple’s Books app. If your audiobook is properly formatted, the app can remember your position, show chapters and cover etc…
Probably not the answer you’re looking for, but your local library likely has thousands of audiobooks available for free through an app.
Libby is the service my library uses. The state capital gives everyone a free library card also, so I get access to a much wider library than i would otherwise. Bullshit the restrictions publishers require, like forcing the library to buy a license for each “copy” of a book it loans, but libraries are still fighting the good fight more than anywhere else I know.
My wife listens to all of her audiobooks via the library’s online service. She listens to them daily and she hasn’t bought or pirated any in at least a decade.
I have sailed the seven seas since the 1990’s and IMHO, if you are in the US, the library system is the best answer for books and audio books.
Yes I have Libby. It’s awesome but waiting for months before some audiobooks get available and only have it for 14 days is frustrating.
Piracy and libraries can mix. Once you have your file, use calibre or similar to strip out the DRM and then return the book immediately.
Raises the borrowings in the library’s records, showing use, lets someone else borrow the book, and now you don’t have to return your DRM-free copy.
Unfortunately, audiobooks are played right within the Libby App, so u can’t extract the audio. It works with e-books, but not audiobooks.
Record it maybe? Not sure if that can work. But maybe you can let it play overnight, recorded in Audacity line-in or something?
Dang I didn’t think of that.
Could definitely play it on a computer and link the sound to a recording device, although then you lose all the metadata like chapter info and get some loss. But as a personal copy, that’s arguably fine.
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The best way I have found is through MyAnonamouse, it’s a private tracker though, so you will have to go through their application process
As a note, their application process is super easy, free, and they do it every weekend. Not paid or super exclusive, just makes sure you read the rules basically
MAM is by far the best. MAM coupled with audiobookshelf is an Audible replacement.
Check out Smart Audiobook Player in the Gplay store. The free version is fab and the paid ads some bells and whistles.
That looks great. Seems it would work well if you don’t want the server options that come with audiobookshelf.
This is my setup. Its stellar.
What are you listening to? I’m just about finished with Rebecca Yarros - Fourth Wing.
I’m heavy into 40k so I’m reading HH series. Its 60+ books lol. But I also do co-reads with a buddy of mine and were currently reading through the three body problem series. Its fantastic it you like SciFi
Just looked up fourth wing and it sounds dope.
Nice! I’ll have to check it out. Scifi and fantasy are 90% of what I read/listen to, lol.
+1 for MAM, both their community and collection is excellent.
MAM
Not sure where to get them but this is the app you want to play them: https://www.audiobookshelf.org/
Mobilism has been a go to for me. Someone recommended it here a while back. Its far from perfect but I only grab an audio book maybe a few times a year so it works for me.
mobilism is pretty good, they’re more for epubs but they have a solid amount of mp3, m4a and m4b audiobooks. Not sure which format apple books prefers but they’re worth a look
What I would love to find, and haven’t been able to, is a large collection of BBC radio dramas. They do at least one every day, but then they go down the memory hole, sometimes forever. Back in the AudioGalaxy days, I was able to get so many, but I’ve lost them all since. I don’t know who, if anyone, is collecting them now or how to get them.
I hope that at least the BBC still have them, even if they’re not always available to stream.
Given the BBC’s history of getting rid of stuff, it’d be nice to archive stuff so it never gets lost.
audiobookbay
Despite, knowing where I am currently, may I suggest Audible? Once you’ve stripped the DRM you can then put it into whatever format you want. There’s a Windows application called OpenAudible, I that’s what it’s called, that I use to strip the DRM and then transcode it into MP4.
It’s not free, I know, but they seem to have almost any audiobook you might want.
