For years I had a 1 hour commute. I used the original Books on Tape which allowed you to _borrow_ a book on tape cassettes. But once they got bought out, the lending aspect of their business went away, and I stopped being a customer. But by then, Audible started carrying more and more unabridged books, and their prices were quite reasonable, IF you were willing to commit to membership. Basically less than $15 per book at the most expensive. And then, of course, I started commuting to my home office and I ended up with way more audio books than I have time to read.
Now I have to come to this thread every day to remind me that I really, really, don't need to buy any more books "on spec". Really. I have >1800 books in Calibre, and I doubt more than about 40% have actually been read.