Books on tape? What’s the modern version?

[Anonymous]

My mom loves listening to “books on tape” when she’s in the car. Apparently they are on CDs. For Christmas, I’d like to get her some kind of membership or service where she can listen to all sorts of books in the car. Her vehicle has Bluetooth so I’m assuming she could play books through herr phone or something? And then maybe she can “check out”’or purchase books that way? Or does she actually have to keep buying or borrowing CDs? Can someone fill me in on what the modern version of books on tape is? Is there a good app service? Does library of Congress offer such a service? DC libraries? Thanks

[Anonymous]

What about Audible.com?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. I’ll check it out. Never heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Agree on audible

[Anonymous]

Audible

[Anonymous]

If she has a library card, she can borrow audiobooks through Overdrive or Libby from her local library.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips, PPs. I’m going to post another thread trying to understand audible. Their gift subscriptions say that you get one credit a month. I hope that doesn’t mean you are limited to reading (or listening) to one book a month. That seems crazy. My mom Probably listens to 5 books a month. Does anyone on here have an audible membership who can explain how it works? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I’ll def look into Overdrive and Libby. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she has a library card, she can borrow audiobooks through Overdrive or Libby from her local library.

My son is dyslexic so we do all audiobooks and we use a mix of these services. You could install Libby on her phone and set it up for her (you just need her library card) and also download the audible app. Then when she buys audiobooks on Amazon they’ll download to Audible. You can also send her audible books as gifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she has a library card, she can borrow audiobooks through Overdrive or Libby from her local library.

My son is dyslexic so we do all audiobooks and we use a mix of these services. You could install Libby on her phone and set it up for her (you just need her library card) and also download the audible app. Then when she buys audiobooks on Amazon they’ll download to Audible. You can also send her audible books as gifts.

Thanks so much. It sounds like you understand audible pretty well. So for the monthly membership where she would get one “credit” a month do you think that means she would be borrowing or checking that book out but you don’t ultimately keep/own it? And do you think that monthly credit would allow her to listen to multiple books a month...but she just can’t have more than one book “checked out” at the same time! And when you say we could buy and send her audible books as gifts does she then “own” those books (in audio format) or is the “gift” still basically a renting situation? Thanks for the crowdsourced knowledge!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she has a library card, she can borrow audiobooks through Overdrive or Libby from her local library.

My son is dyslexic so we do all audiobooks and we use a mix of these services. You could install Libby on her phone and set it up for her (you just need her library card) and also download the audible app. Then when she buys audiobooks on Amazon they’ll download to Audible. You can also send her audible books as gifts.

Thanks so much. It sounds like you understand audible pretty well. So for the monthly membership where she would get one “credit” a month do you think that means she would be borrowing or checking that book out but you don’t ultimately keep/own it? And do you think that monthly credit would allow her to listen to multiple books a month...but she just can’t have more than one book “checked out” at the same time! And when you say we could buy and send her audible books as gifts does she then “own” those books (in audio format) or is the “gift” still basically a renting situation? Thanks for the crowdsourced knowledge!

Hmm. I must understand it less well that I think! I didn’t know there was an audible situation where you didn’t own the book - we have just bought the books as we need them. My son only buys a book every couple of months since he can get them for free from Libby. I buy books for my dad, though, and send them to his audible/amazon account as a gift...he has those to keep. Good luck, OP! This is a lovely thing to do for your mom.

[Anonymous]

With audible you own the book. Here is a rundown of services https://www.google.com/amp/s/lifehacker.com/five-best-audiobook-services-1688572545/amp

[Anonymous]

Thanks again everyone. I’m starting to get it. It’s a brave new world!

[Anonymous]

The life hack article is exactly what I needed. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

In case you still need some clarification, yes, with Audible you get one credit each month for one book. You can then purchase more books and the Audible subscription means you get a discount on purchasing those other audio books at a lower rate.

We did Audible for my dad last Christmas. He had stopped reading because of some memory problems from an accident but his doctor suggested more activities to keep his brain busy. He's loved his subscription and I'm going to renew it this year for him. He mostly listens via his Echo device.