Download or Stream
For every audiobook on our site, you can choose to either listen to the audio by streaming it online directly from within a browser, or by downloading it into another app. While streaming it from your browser is the simplest and quickest way to start listening, for most users we recommend downloading the audiobook instead.
Why Downloading is Often Better than Streaming
- you can download the files when you’re connected to a good WIFI signal, then listen later no matter where you are, or how bad your connection is
- audiobook playback apps automatically remember your position in the book, so you’ll never have to figure out where you were when you left off listening
- downloading the audiobook first makes it easy to listen while driving, or doing other activities
About our Audiobook Formats
Each of our audiobooks is available for download in three formats: as a podcast, as an M4B file, or as a collection of MP3 files.
Which format should I choose?
If you’re not sure what format to try, we recommend you first try downloading and listening to our audiobooks as a podcast.
Recommended Format: Podcast
What is a Podcast?
A podcast is a convenient format that allows users to subscribe to an online audio program with regular episodes. Our audiobooks are not really podcasts in the normal sense of the word, but making them available in this format has several advantages:
Why a Podcast?
- podcasts allow you to download audio chapters ahead of time, and listen later
- podcast audio episodes automatically remember your last position
- many phones have built-in podcast apps that require no configuration to get started
- all phones and computers have widely-used podcast apps that can be downloaded for free
How to use our Audiobook Podcasts
The easiest way to get started with one of our audiobooks using podcasts is to simply click on a podcast link from the page on our site containing the book you would like to listen to. In many cases, your phone or device will already have a podcast-capable app installed, and it will send you straight to the correct app. For instance, on iOS devices (like iPhone and iPad), clicking one of our podcast links should immediately open up the built-in iOS Podcasts App.
If clicking one of our podcast links doesn’t work the first time, you might need to download a podcast app. Search your device’s app store for “Podcasts” and choose one that is both widely used and free. Once installed, try our podcast link again. If the link still doesn’t work, try copying the URL of the podcast link from your browser and pasting it directly it into your podcast app.
Common (and free) podcast apps
- Apple Podcasts
- Google Podcasts
- RadioPublic
- CastBox
- Stitcher
- BeyondPod
- Overcast
- ListenApp
M4B
Our audiobooks are also available in the M4B format, which is a widely used audio file type specifically intended for audiobooks. If you have a program that allows you to listen to M4B files, you might want to download our books in this format. The Apple iTunes app is capable of playing M4B files, and you can also play them on an iOS device (iPhone or iPad) using the Apple Books app. There are likely many other apps that can play this format as well.
MP3
MP3 is a very common audio file type that is compatible with just about any music or audio app. If you would like MP3s of our audiobooks, we provide the option to download all of the chapters as MP3 files, zipped up in one folder for simplicity. But please note: when listening to an MP3, most apps will not automatically remember your place. For this reason, downloading as a podcast or using the M4B format is recommended when possible.
Text-to-Speech Apps
For any of our books that do not yet have an audiobook, we do offer a plain-text download format specifically designed for use with a text-to-speech app, like “Voice Dream.” For more details, see here.
Get More Help
If you’re still confused, are having any sort of technical problem with our audiobooks, or have a suggestion how we could improve the help on this page, please contact us! We’d love to hear from you and we’ll do our best to make sure you’re able to listen to and enjoy the incredible books on this site in a way that works for you.