How do I get (free) audiobooks?

An audiobook or audiobook is a recorded recording of a book. Someone reads the book, which is being recorded, and listeners play that recording. Audiobooks are sometimes still sold on CD in bookshops, but they are often available as a digital audio file, for example MP3. Using a smartphone, tablet or other playback equipment, you can listen to audiobooks anywhere.

Audiobooks are gaining popularity and are available in more and more ways. In this article we will discuss some of them.

There are several services where you take out a (monthly) subscription to obtain audiobooks. The Storytel and Bookchoice services offer audiobooks in Dutch.

storytel

On Storytel, users listen to as many audiobooks as they want for a fixed monthly fee. This is done by means of streaming (playing over the internet), but it is also possible to store the books on a device. The service works with its own Dutch-language app for mobile devices. The storytelapp is suitable for both Android and iOS. The service charges a fixed amount of 11.99 euros per month (price February 2021). The first 14 days are free.

book choice

Bookchoice is an audiobook and ebook service. Every month Bookchoice selects 8 bestsellers or newly released books for its users. The books come from different genres. Users choose whether to download a book as an e-book or as an audiobook. An book choiceaccount can be used via the website or via an app for e-reader, smartphone or tablet. Costs: 3.99 euros per month (price February 2021).

At De Bibliotheek you can borrow audiobooks via the Online Library app. A small number of audiobooks are available for free for everyone to use. To do this, you must first download the app and create an account. Library members can borrow all audiobooks.

Like paper books, audio books are also available at bookstores. For example with library or The Slegte, where you can choose whether you want to receive an audiobook on CD or as an audio file. Such an audiobook usually costs between 10 and 20 euros. Web stores such as the App Store and Google Play Store also sell audiobooks, but they are usually in English.

The online audiobook store Listening.nl has more than six thousand Dutch audiobooks. Think of classics by Roald Dahl and Tolkien, but also new books and complete courses. An audiobook costs here between 1 and 20 euros. You buy the books as sound files that you can listen to in any media player, or via the Listening App.

There are also free audiobooks to be found here and there. These are often old books whose copyright has expired, but sometimes you can also find real classics or modern books. A free audiobook is a good way to find out if this kind of ‘reading’ is for you at all.

There are some free audiobooks on YouTube. Use the search function and type ‘audiobook’, ‘audiobook’, ‘free audiobook’ or ‘audiobook Dutch’ to find free books. You cannot download the audio files from YouTube, so they can only be listened to through the YouTube website or app.

For those who search well, there are also free audio books on Spotify. Take for example the playlist ‘Annie MG Schmidt‘, with some children’s stories. Or the playlist ‘audiobookswith fairy tales. Or just type ‘audiobook’ in the search bar and see what you find. The audiobooks are often cut into short pieces, so whoever has a free Spotify account can sometimes get advertisements in between.

LibriVox collects audiobooks in many languages. About 280 books are available in Dutch, recorded by volunteers. These are mostly old books. Think of the books by Charles Dickens and Jules Verne. Does this sound interesting? How to use the site:

• The following hyperlink will take you to the Dutch/Flemish books that the website contains: www.librivox.org
• Click on a title you want to listen to.
• Click the play button for the section/chapter you want to listen to. A media player opens and the story begins.
• Click on the three dots > To download if you want to put the files on the computer for later listening.