Free and Low-Cost Audio Books

I recommend audio books as a resource to my students, both for pleasure and as a learning tool. In my previous post "Have You Heard a Good Book Lately?" I explored where to find audio books for all ages. I'm writing today with a quick update on additional places to get audio books. The Libby app works with your library card to access audio books for free. It has a easy-to-use interface that allows you to sample, listen, read, and renew e-books and audio books. You can listen by streaming or conserve data by saving the file locally. Libby is available for Apple devices, Android, and Microsoft. Bookshare is another great service. Individuals can join for $1 per week. Students with qualifying disabilities, such as dyslexia or sight limitations, can join for free. Bookshare's library holds nearly 700,000 titles including textbooks. In addition to audio books, the service offers accommodations like e-books with large font and highlighted text. Yet another resource is Learning Ally. An annual membership costs $135 and provides access to 80,000 audio books. Most popular books that have a waiting list at the library and books that are assigned for school reading are available through this service.

Happy reading!