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Amazon is trying hard with Audiobooks, but they seem to be extremely expensive to me, maybe that’s their way of making a lot more money than kindle format. I s

Amazon is trying hard with Audiobooks, but they seem to be extremely expensive to me, maybe that’s their way of making a lot more money than kindle format. I spend my listening time just trying to catch up with podcasts. What audio book formats are there, and services. Dare I say it are there any open source ones? There are many podcast players, are the many audiobook players? Is there anything really useful in an audiobook player? I guess going through chapters, maybe linking into the actual text.

xupybd 2y ago
With a subscription I basically have more access to audiobooks than I can consume
stevenwoo 2y ago
Free as in paid by our taxes - my local public library system in Santa Clara County has a decent selection via the Libby and Hoopla apps. I'm not sure why they have two apps, but maybe it's to give us more selection - there are differences in what is available in each (more older books, and current TV shows/movies in Hoopla, magazines and new releases in Libby), From what I've read, the library system pays a fee for each item borrowed via Hoopla, and there is very little overlap so I assume there is some exclusive licensing for some reason. VLC can go to chapters in book format audio files and lets you make bookmarks and change playback speed and lets you transfer files from your PC to mobile device pretty easily.
constantcrying 2y ago
>Is there anything really useful in an audiobook player? Over a regular music player, absolutely. Most podcast players treat a podcast as a single file. Audiobooks aren't single file and they become almost unusable without a dedicated player.
- cyberpunk 2y ago
  I can’t believe (well; okay I actually can) than in 2025 I still can’t save a bookmark in apples “books” app when listening to an audiobook… You fall asleep with it on? Better hope you remember the timestamp…
  - constantcrying 2y ago
    Good audiobook players have an auto stop feature, where you can slightly move your phone to continue playing. At most I have to go back 15 minutes with that feature, so even bookmarks are unnecessary.
    - cyberpunk 2y ago
      Yep, I use “bound” on iOS which also does that. I still want bookmarks in apple books though. I guess it’s just too hard to persist a timestamp somewhere…
    - stavros 2y ago
      True, but those players have bookmarks, and I just realised how useful they are for this use case. I fall asleep quickly and I don't like having to scroll back and forth afterwards.
  - jowea 2y ago
    Audible (Amazon) is good with this, just set a sleep timer, then when you wake up look at the play log and you can go back to when you set the sleep timer + X minutes.
subpixel 2y ago
Audiobooks are preposterously expensive. I used the library and (although the BBC is pulling the plug on it outside the UK) BBC Sounds, both of which have audiobooks as well as audio plays.

xupybd 2y ago

With a subscription I basically have more access to audiobooks than I can consume

stevenwoo 2y ago

Free as in paid by our taxes - my local public library system in Santa Clara County has a decent selection via the Libby and Hoopla apps. I'm not sure why they have two apps, but maybe it's to give us more selection - there are differences in what is available in each (more older books, and current TV shows/movies in Hoopla, magazines and new releases in Libby), From what I've read, the library system pays a fee for each item borrowed via Hoopla, and there is very little overlap so I assume there is some exclusive licensing for some reason. VLC can go to chapters in book format audio files and lets you make bookmarks and change playback speed and lets you transfer files from your PC to mobile device pretty easily.

constantcrying 2y ago

>Is there anything really useful in an audiobook player? Over a regular music player, absolutely. Most podcast players treat a podcast as a single file. Audiobooks aren't single file and they become almost unusable without a dedicated player.

cyberpunk 2y ago
I can’t believe (well; okay I actually can) than in 2025 I still can’t save a bookmark in apples “books” app when listening to an audiobook… You fall asleep with it on? Better hope you remember the timestamp…
- constantcrying 2y ago
  Good audiobook players have an auto stop feature, where you can slightly move your phone to continue playing. At most I have to go back 15 minutes with that feature, so even bookmarks are unnecessary.
  - cyberpunk 2y ago
    Yep, I use “bound” on iOS which also does that. I still want bookmarks in apple books though. I guess it’s just too hard to persist a timestamp somewhere…
  - stavros 2y ago
    True, but those players have bookmarks, and I just realised how useful they are for this use case. I fall asleep quickly and I don't like having to scroll back and forth afterwards.
- jowea 2y ago
  Audible (Amazon) is good with this, just set a sleep timer, then when you wake up look at the play log and you can go back to when you set the sleep timer + X minutes.

subpixel 2y ago

Audiobooks are preposterously expensive. I used the library and (although the BBC is pulling the plug on it outside the UK) BBC Sounds, both of which have audiobooks as well as audio plays.