[dUnKle]

Can anyone recommend any quality audiobooks that I can get hold of (either free or pay for) that are worthy of a listen

I dont want anything too highbrow or classical just something engrossing to listen to

Is there a complete Sherlock Holmes collection available (somethinG i ahevalways fancied reading)

To give you some idea of my tastes, the most common authors on my shelves are

Stephen King
Tom Clancy
Lee Child
James Patterson
Andy Mcnad
Colin Dexter
Bernard Cornwell
James Herbert

[sharger]

I don't know if it fits your bill.... but A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr is excellent. Its weird how much I thought I knew about my Country.... but didn't!!!

[nheather]

I listen to a lot of audiobooks in my car, though mostly science fiction and fantasy so can't help with your suggestions.

The reader makes a huge difference. For example Stephen Fry reads very well, but I don't know what he does other than Harry Potter.

The 'His Dark Materials' are also read well using different voices for the characters so quite play like.

I really like the Terry Pratchett books - some are read by Nigel Planer, some by Tony Robinson, and some by Stephen Briggs. Each is excellent in the own way and bring the story to life with lots of different accents - the only problem is that the different readers interpret the same character in different ways - which seems odd as you move from book to book.

But some have been terrible, with very flat monologue - I listened to Angels and Demons and that was very much like that.

So my advice is find a genre you like and then find an unabridged book with a good reader. I can't stress enough how much difference the reader makes.

Try your local library - they usually have a good selction to borrow for a few quid each and then pop them on your iPod.

Cheers,

Nigel

[dUnKle]

Never even thought about library
cheers

[rickinyorkshire]

The only Audio Books I have are the 'Dark Tower' series by Stephen King. One of them (I think waste lands) is actually read by him, make of that what you will. But the guy who reads the others (not sure of names) is quite brilliant. All 7 books lasted me a through my final year at uni on public transport

[mrmcdean]

You have to try Scott Sigler. Ive never really listened to any audiobooks prior to his stuff. I was looking around Itunes podcasts and came accross this guy. Hes written quite a few books that hes put out on podcasts so they are free to download (or you could buy the audiobook from Itunes ?? - you can send him a donation etc if you go to his website Scott Sigler: Bestselling Horror Author and Failed Pimp )

I started of with Infected then went to his follow up Contagious but have now listened to 4 or 5 all within a couple of months.

Its kind of a mixed genre - horror/action with a helping of real world science in there to give it a grounding in reality. He's even covered futuristic American football in The Rookie which I enjoyed despite my lack of knowledge of the game.

I appreciate that its all down to personal taste but if your looking for new stuff and Stephen King is on your shelf then Scott Siglers stuff has to be worth a go.

Other than that just look through the podcasts on Itunes as there are plenty of audio books available for free.

Hopefully you'll enjoy.

[mda1974]

Have a look on Audible.co.uk

They have a huge range you can download and often offer a free trial of their subscription service.

I signed up and got two free books before I canceled

[mda1974]

Found this link for a free trial.

As far as a book goes, I'm not a big reader but did really enjoy Angels & Demons and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

[Chadford]

Another option you may consider is the 'BBC Radio Ripper'...

BBC Radio Ripper - Rip music from BBC radio (about £20)

I've been using this app for about three years now. It allows you to rip BBC listen again radio shows to MP3 very quickly (from the BBC iPlayer web site).
I do this mainly to burn discs for the misses so that she can listen to them in the car on her way to work and back.
Generally I spend a bit of time on a Sunday morning ripping shows in my study whilst watching Hollyoaks .

For you I guess maybe...

Radio 4. Book of the Week.
Radio 4. Saturday Play.
Radio 4. Book at Bedtime
Radio 4. Classic Serial
etc.etc.
Loads of stuff on Radio 7.

I really can't recommend this more - I've downloaded 100s of hours (probably 1000s) of quality radio productions from the BBC.

[rickinyorkshire]

Originally Posted by mda1974

Found this link for a free trial.

As far as a book goes, I'm not a big reader but did really enjoy Angels & Demons and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

It still asks for payment details and a payment of £8

[imightbewrong]

Originally Posted by rickinyorkshire

The only Audio Books I have are the 'Dark Tower' series by Stephen King. One of them (I think waste lands) is actually read by him, make of that what you will. But the guy who reads the others (not sure of names) is quite brilliant. All 7 books lasted me a through my final year at uni on public transport

Yep - I recommmend this - took me through a year of commuting into London. Although the set I had didn't have any stephen king narration. It was all one guy except the first and last (I think). The orignial narator did 1-6, then had a motorbike accident, so someone else did the last one, and then the first was slightly re-written, and the same guy did a new version of that.

Anyway - I've only listened to this series, although I have Simon Schama's (sp?) books (narrated by him) which I haven't listend to yet.

[krish]

Have enjoyed Jeff Lindsay's Dexter audiobooks
Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) (basis of the TV series)
Dearly Devoted Dexter (2005)
Dexter in the Dark (2007)

probably due out next
Dexter by Design (2009); Dexter is Delicious (~2010)

[Knyght_byte]

if you like Stargate, the audio book read by michael shanks isnt bad.

i wouldnt mind getting Rats, Lair and Domain on audiobook, trying to think who'd be best to read them tho....would love to see them made in to modern decent films, I reckon they'd do quite well if they went for an 18 rating and didnt pander to the kiddie factor.

[fizl]

For the terry pratchett ones, I would avoid the tony robinson ones simply as they are abridged versions of the book.

For something dark, try perfume - story of a murderer. Bernard Cornwells the winter king is good as a talking book, as are the harry potter books.

Have you thought about looking for podcasts?

shaz

[nheather]

For the terry pratchett ones, I would avoid the tony robinson ones simply as they are abridged versions of the book.

That will explain why I haven't heard any by him - just planer and briggs.

I do find it slightly odd when listening to a series of books that the way the two portrey the characters can be quite different - Carrot and Angua in the City Watch are good examples.

Cheers,

Nigel

[krish]

Non-fiction freebie ...

Free: The Future of a Radical Price
by Chris Anderson (editor-in-chief of Wired)

Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It's Time to Manage for Abundance, Not Scarcity
---> www.wired.com/images/multimedia/free/FREE_Audiobook_unabridged.zip (285 MB)

Review: Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson | Books | The Observer
Amazon.com: Free: The Future of a Radical Price (9781401322908): Chris Anderson: Books

[PoochJD]

HI,

This may seem really obvious, but have you not checked-out iTunes's audiobook selection?!


Pooch

[dUnKle]

I have got hold of a few but they appear to be in MP3 format
One in particular consists of each chapter of the book as seperate mp3 files

Is there anyway of getting these into an "audiobook" format so they appear as an audiobook in itunes and play that way

[phairplay]

Originally Posted by dUnKle

I have got hold of a few but they appear to be in MP3 format
One in particular consists of each chapter of the book as seperate mp3 files

Is there anyway of getting these into an "audiobook" format so they appear as an audiobook in itunes and play that way

what i do is

load them into ITUNES then select them all for edit. Go to options and change type from MUSIC to AUDIOBOOK. put a tick in remember postion of track and then save They will then be moved into the audiobook section of ITUNES

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by phairplay

what i do is

load them into ITUNES then select them all for edit. Go to options and change type from MUSIC to AUDIOBOOK. put a tick in remember postion of track and then save They will then be moved into the audiobook section of ITUNES

that simple ? cheers

[rickinyorkshire]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

HI,

This may seem really obvious, but have you not checked-out iTunes's audiobook selection?!


Pooch

Nope because I do not and will not ever use iTunes again after it decided to organise my music folders on my PC to it's own taste, which took me a few days to rectify!

[nheather]

I have got hold of a few but they appear to be in MP3 format
One in particular consists of each chapter of the book as seperate mp3 files

This is a utility which I googled and used - can't remember what it is but it was pretty easy to find.

Must admit that I didn't use it that much as to be honest, I prefer to have lots of MP3s - the more the merrier - my favourite is when you get around 130 4-minute files. The reason, is that I often fall asleep when listeneing to the stories (not when driving I should add) and it is much easier to get back to last known position with lots of small MP3's then trying to wind through a single huge (1.5GB) audiobook file.

Also I've had the iPod crash on me from time to time and then you lose the AudioBook position - nightmare trying to find the right position in a single track that is 30 hours long.

Cheers,

Nigel

[dUnKle]

Ah

So its not so simle ?

Was wanting some form of smart playlist - something that will allow me to always hold my currently being listened to chapter plus the next hour or so and that automatically updates, so that a completed listened to chapter is replaced by an unlistened to one (thus saving space on my iphone)

Is this possible ?

[nheather]

Not that I'm aware of.

With the multiple MP3 approach you can just move them to the iPod as you need them - but that has to be done manually.

Cheers,

Nigel

[ufitsy]

Good discounts just available at the BBC

Audio at BBC Shop

[phairplay]

Originally Posted by dUnKle

Ah

So its not so simle ?

Was wanting some form of smart playlist - something that will allow me to always hold my currently being listened to chapter plus the next hour or so and that automatically updates, so that a completed listened to chapter is replaced by an unlistened to one (thus saving space on my iphone)

Is this possible ?

No that can't be done sorry

Originally Posted by nheather

Also I've had the iPod crash on me from time to time and then you lose the AudioBook position - nightmare trying to find the right position in a single track that is 30 hours long.

Cheers,

Nigel

if you edit it and put a tick into remember the postion (something like that) you won't have a problem again if you ipod crashes. Mines crashed twice this week and it's still remembers where i was.

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by phairplay

No that can't be done sorry

if you edit it and put a tick into remember the postion (something like that) you won't have a problem again if you ipod crashes. Mines crashed twice this week and it's still remembers where i was.

cheers

[dUnKle]

Have treated self to a few on CD from ebay and like - however being Tom Clancy they are on LOADS of discs

Want to get them into MP3 format and onto PC

How ?

[allanbach]

Started listening to audiobooks - first one from iTunes - I am Legend (the book that the Will Smith film is based on). Not the same as the film but a good story. Narrator good - I feel this is as (if not more) important than the book. iTunes is good to get a couple of minutes preview to see if you can cope with the reader...

[JackFord]

Currently listening to American Psycho. At first I didn't like the reader but he has grown on me. I'd recommend it.

Also, This should be in the much petitioned for Books and Literature forum