Top 5 Websites For Audiobooks

As the world conforms to digitalization, more and more readers are also turning to audiobooks for their reading needs. And that isn’t without reason – audiobooks give sensory as well as mental information, allow multitasking, lead to better sleep, etc. Books in auditory format have also accessed readers who previously didn’t like reading. Thus, the global market for books has expanding and evolving. However, with this extension in the user base for audiobooks comes an important question – where do you procure these audiobooks? What sites make use of the best narrators? Which ones are economical? And which ones are credible? Here’s are top 5 websites for audiobooks.

Audible

Audible is perhaps the most popular (and for good reason) audiobook and podcast website in the world. Amazon, who owns it, started this company over twenty five years ago, making it a pioneer in the audiobook movement. Spoken word is given high value here – many of the best and award winning narrators are found here. Readers can buy books individually or on a subscription basis – either way, once bought, they can have the audiobook forever, much like an actual book. With over 200000 titles on their rack spanning almost any genre you can think of, this one’s a must visit if you want to get into audiobooks.

Storytel

Storytel is a Swedish audiobook streaming app that has garnered a lot of attention in the past few years. It’s a relatively recent venture – Jonas Tellander and Jon Haukkson founded the company in only 2006. But don’t let its relative newness fool you – this is a robust company with over 250000 books for your reading pleasure. Over a million users have placed their trust in this website, and have signed up for its subscription. The pandemic boosted the growth of Storytel, with a new readership base opening up for them.

Scribd

Scribd is another American audiobook company, with over a million titles to their name. Founded in 2007 by Trip Adler, Jared Friedman and Tikhon Bernstam in California, it offers e-books as well as audiobooks on a subscription basis. It hosts audiobooks from the very best of publishers including Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Lonely Planet and more. Scribd originally started out as an e-book service but expanded in 2014 to include audiobooks as well. In fact. It was the first company, as Wire notes, to offer unlimited access to audiobooks. With 80 million subscribers that call it the ‘Netflix of book’, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Kobo Inc

Kobo is a Canada based company that offers a huge amount of e-book as well as audiobook collections. What’s the name all about, you ask? It’s an anagram of Book. And rightly so, because Kobo offers access to 6 million e-books and audiobooks across the world. In addition, it is available on a multitude of devices including phones, tablets, laptops etc, making it all the more convenient. It also offers prizes to emerging authors and hence sponsors fresh quality content. Perhaps one of the best e-book and audiobook streaming sites across the world, this one is definitely worth subscribing to.

Libby

This website is slightly different, because here you do not buy books, you rent them. Local libraries have access to select titles and audiobooks that may not be available on the websites of these big giants. So, to get access to audiobooks in local languages or available only locally, Libby was brought into being. With just a library card, you can borrow these audiobooks (or books) for free! It’s an absolutely essential audiobook app especially since many people don’t have access to libraries right now. Plus it’s way more reasonably priced than a subscription service.

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