FREE/BARGAIN — Audiobooks

[sufue]

Mine too....

Originally Posted by ApK

Mine and my son's as well.
And we were able to apply both to one account, which was nice.

[soondai]

no love for me yet.

was the email from Audible or Amazon?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by soondai

no love for me yet.

was the email from Audible or Amazon?

Ours were from Audible. Specifically from newsletters@audible.com with the subject: Your Amazon.com Gift Card from Audible and Speedpass+

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ApK

Ours were from Audible. Specifically from newsletters@audible.com with the subject: Your Amazon.com Gift Card from Audible and Speedpass+

The title/description of the message is helpful; I may have missed the message, and now I can go back and do a search for it.

[GtrsRGr8]

Let's pretend that you are flat broke (not a hypothetical situation for some of us ); have grabbed already all of the free audiobooks, that you have any interest in, from all of the familiar sources (LearnOutLoud, et al.); and have listened to every audiobook that you have, at least two or three times. What are you to do? What are you to do?

I remember several years ago that the subject of the Noisetrade.com website came up, somewhere in this forum, as being a source for free music, and I think that there was a little bit of discussion about it. I don't think that I have seen anything, at my usual haunts on MobileRead, about them since then, although mentions of them may have been peppered here and there among the other posts. And, I don't remember the particular area that I'm about to tell you about being brought up at all.

I, at least, had forgotten--if I ever knew it at all--that NoiseTrade is a source for free audiobooks also. I still had in the back of my head that they are a source of free music, the music being from up-and-comers and other musicians hoping to "make it big" in the business. But, of free audiobooks, no.

The audiobooks area, frankly, is easy to miss. Noisetrade offers two major categories: "music," and "books" (if I have time today, I'll make a post on some thread about their ebook offerings); those headings are at the top of NoiseTrade's homepage. The audiobooks area falls under the "music" heading. Unless you select "music," you will miss their audiobooks. In fact, it's easy to miss them, anyway, because they're mentioned at the bottom of the list of "music."

Don't expect there to be any current bestsellers among their audiobooks, of course. The selection is a mixed bag, but for the most part, there are full-length audiobooks, excerpts, chapters, previews, and possibly abridgments. However, there are treasures among the selection. Even a dyed-in-the-wool nonfictionista such as myself recognizes the name "Ted Dekker." Well, I don't know that there is a work (complete work, at least) of fiction by him, anywhere in the selection, but in just quickly skimming over NoiseTrade's audiobook offerings, I saw an audiobook authored by him on how to write fiction! Priceless. And I saw a promising non-fiction work, by another author, the list price of which is $17.99. Again, it's free on this site!

At first glance, it appears that NoiseTrade divides the audiobooks into just two sections: "What's Trending," and "What's New." Well, it took me a while to discover this, but once you get to the audiobooks area and mouse-over the "Books" heading, you will see a good list of different audiobook subjects. And, if you have in mind something specific, NoiseTrade does, of course, have a search feature (it is rudimentary, however).

If my count is correct, there are currently 218 items in the "audiobooks" section at NoiseTrade.

One final note: while the ebooks at Noisetrade are technically free, there is a request for a tip for the creator, at checkout, for probably every item in both "music" and "books." Of course, tipping is a kind thing to do, because some of the creators are "starving artists" at this point in their careers. Probably not Ted Dekker, though, of course.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Let's pretend that you are flat broke (not a hypothetical situation for some of us ); have grabbed already all of the free audiobooks, that you have any interest in, from all of the familiar sources (LearnOutLoud, et al.); and have listened to every audiobook that you have, at least two or three times. What are you to do? What are you to do?

I realize this is a hypothetical question, but I'll make a recommendation anyway. I'm assuming that the audio offerings for your OverDrive library/ies are limited. Start a jar for loose change/odd amounts etc. until you've scraped together the $50 required for a paid card to either the Brooklyn Public Library or the Free Library of Philadelphia and for a year you'll be able to access as many audiobooks as you can squeeze in and books you want to listen to, not just ones you've got because they're free or cheap. At that, the price of WhisperSync deals can add up to the required sum fairly rapidly, although I realize you have to listen to something in the meantime!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

I realize this is a hypothetical question, but I'll make a recommendation anyway. I'm assuming that the audio offerings for your OverDrive library/ies are limited. Start a jar for loose change/odd amounts etc. until you've scraped together the $50 required for a paid card to either the Brooklyn Public Library or the Free Library of Philadelphia and for a year you'll be able to access as many audiobooks as you can squeeze in and books you want to listen to, not just ones you've got because they're free or cheap. At that, the price of WhisperSync deals can add up to the required sum fairly rapidly, although I realize you have to listen to something in the meantime!

For audiobooks, the Brooklyn Public Library is a lot better than the Free Library of Philadelphia. I've been extremely disappointed lately with the meager number of Overdrive audiobook acquisitions at FLP; I only renewed my FLP membership because of Hoopla for the occasional audiobook and Freading for e-books. Even for e-books, FLP Overdrive hasn't been great recently; there've been extremely long waiting lists.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by issybird

I realize this is a hypothetical question, but I'll make a recommendation anyway. I'm assuming that the audio offerings for your OverDrive library/ies are limited. Start a jar for loose change/odd amounts etc. until you've scraped together the $50 required for a paid card to either the Brooklyn Public Library or the Free Library of Philadelphia and for a year you'll be able to access as many audiobooks as you can squeeze in and books you want to listen to, not just ones you've got because they're free or cheap. At that, the price of WhisperSync deals can add up to the required sum fairly rapidly, although I realize you have to listen to something in the meantime!

Originally Posted by Catlady

For audiobooks, the Brooklyn Public Library is a lot better than the Free Library of Philadelphia. I've been extremely disappointed lately with the meager number of Overdrive audiobook acquisitions at FLP; I only renewed my FLP membership because of Hoopla for the occasional audiobook and Freading for e-books. Even for e-books, FLP Overdrive hasn't been great recently; there've been extremely long waiting lists.

Thanks for the information, advice, and recommendations from each of you.

I am very frugal, and a treasure hunter in heart. So, when I found out that there were free audiobooks at NoiseTrade, I was elated--I could start digging and see what kind of treasures that I could find!

However, I don't get audiobooks (or ebooks) just because they are cheap or free. The audiobooks have to have good or better quality in narration and content, but especially in content. Also, they must be on subjects that I'm interested in. But it's not difficult to find those, because I have a very eclectic taste in non-fiction subjects.

I am a library-builder in subjects that I am passionate about and/or are relevant to my profession. I largely do that so that I will have ready access to needed materials when I'm doing research for a project, or just want to know some more about a subject that I've gotten interested in.

I've thought many times, in fact once or twice when I was writing my initial post, above, that I ought to consider (again) borrowing from libraries. Having a wide-ranging interest in subjects, I have no trouble finding something available that I'm interested in. But for some reason I like to own things rather than borrow things. Also, I often want to go back and re-listen to an audiobook, so I find it more convenient just to own, rather than borrow. Nevertheless, the mention that you made of having cards for libraries with large holdings has piqued my interest. I may see, if possible, what they have in their catalogs.

For the benefit of others, there is somewhere on MobileRead a list of libraries, scattered across the United States, that 1) have large holdings, and 2) will issue library cards to non-residents (for a price, of course). I'll try to find it, or someone reading this may know where the list is and be willing to post the location.

[Jenga5238]

[QUOTE=GtrsRGr8;3692072]Let's pretend that you are flat broke (not a hypothetical situation for some of us ); have grabbed already all of the free audiobooks, that you have any interest in, from all of the familiar sources (LearnOutLoud, et al.); and have listened to every audiobook that you have, at least two or three times. What are you to do? What are you to do?


I've had a lot of luck lately with my local library's electronic offerings. We've got a pretty good audiobook library for a rural area in the middle of nowhere. I've adjusted my audible wishlist and removed any books I can get access to in my CloudLibrary reader. Sometimes the audiobooks have "skips" in them, but it's not awful at all. The app is a lot better than it was a few years ago too.

[GtrsRGr8]

[QUOTE=Jenga5238;3692407]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Let's pretend that you are flat broke (not a hypothetical situation for some of us ); have grabbed already all of the free audiobooks, that you have any interest in, from all of the familiar sources (LearnOutLoud, et al.); and have listened to every audiobook that you have, at least two or three times. What are you to do? What are you to do?


I've had a lot of luck lately with my local library's electronic offerings. We've got a pretty good audiobook library for a rural area in the middle of nowhere. I've adjusted my audible wishlist and removed any books I can get access to in my CloudLibrary reader. Sometimes the audiobooks have "skips" in them, but it's not awful at all. The app is a lot better than it was a few years ago too.

Thanks.

Are your local library's electronic offerings through Overdrive? I'm not familiar with the CloudLibrary reader; I'll have to do some research on it.

Some of us who are not in the middle of nowhere don't have good funding for our library system (two libraries), either. It's shameful.

[tubemonkey]

Audible UK -- Daily Deal -- exp 11 May

• £2.99 -- Dead Man's Footsteps (book 4) -- Peter James --> detective

[tubemonkey]

Daily Deals -- exp 11 May

• Audible -----> $3.95 -- Macbeth -- AJ Hartley, et al --> historical
  
• Downpour --> $2.95 -- Solar Storms (book 0.1) -- Nicholas Sansbury Smith --> sci-fi
  
• eStories ----> $4.99 -- Echoes in Death (book 44) -- JD Robb --> detective

[skinmaan]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Daily Deals -- exp 11 May

• Audible -----> $3.95 -- Macbeth -- AJ Hartley, et al --> historical
  
• Downpour --> $2.95 -- Solar Storms (book 0.1) -- Nicholas Sansbury Smith --> sci-fi
  
• eStories ----> $4.99 -- Echoes in Death (book 44) -- JD Robb --> detective

Welcome back - you've been missed.

[tubemonkey]

Sync Audio -- Weekly Offers -- FAQs & Help -- exp 17 May @ 7 AM ET

Week 3 -- For Week 3 of SYNC 2018, we’re offering a pair of audiobooks in which boys are running for their lives. Some teen listeners will identify with one or another of these young people while others, through listening, can discover empathy for circumstances in which they have never found themselves.

FREE -- Johnny Get Your Gun -- John Ball/ D Graham --> 5.0 hrs --> contemp

Virgil Tibbs Series (book 3 of 7)

Johnny Get Your Gun (also known as Death for a Playmate) is the third in the Virgil Tibbs mystery series that began with In the Heat of the Night. In this story, a nine-year-old boy, lonely after a family move, shoots an older child who stole something from him, thus igniting the militant blacks and racist whites of 1960s Pasadena into a black-white conflict involving riots, brutalities, a chase through Disneyland, and a heart-warming as well as heart-breaking scene toward the end of the book that takes place in a baseball park of the California Angels. Here you will find childhood gone awry, racism that ought to shock but in context does not (we know it too well), and political conflicts that add fuel to the fire.

FREE -- On Two Feet and Wings -- Abbas Kazerooni/ A Kazerooni --> 4.6 hrs --> memoir

US and Canada Only

He is in a foreign country, he is alone, and he is just a boy.… Abbas Kazerooni is not yet 10, but he’s suddenly forced to leave his parents, his friends - his entire world - and flee Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war is at its bloodiest, and the Ayatollahs who rule Iran have reduced the recruitment age for the army. If Abbas doesn’t escape, it’s almost certain that he will be drafted and die fighting for a regime that has stripped his family of all they have.

On his own in the strange, often frightening city of Istanbul, Abbas grows up fast - with little more than his wits to guide him. He must conquer difficult things: how to live on his own, how to navigate a foreign city and culture when he doesn’t speak the language, and, most importantly, how to judge who is a friend and who is an enemy. Facing the unexpected as well as the everyday challenges of life on his own, Abbas walks a tightrope of survival - yearning to please the demanding father he has left behind, yet relishing his new found independence.

His quick thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and the kindness of strangers allow him to make the best of his dire situation in surprising ways. Does he have what it takes to not only survive against these challenging odds but achieve his parents’ ultimate dream for him: a visa to England, and the safety it represents?

This compelling true story of one young boy’s courage provides a powerful child’s-eye view of war, political tumult, and survival.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by skinmaan

Welcome back - you've been missed.

Thanks, I appreciate the thought