Everyone loves free stuff. If it’s free, it’s for me!
Speaking as a bibliophile and impulsive shopper, these sites have certainly helped me access great literature while staying under budget.
This website offers free, or extremely discounted, eBooks and audio books for download. It does not require an account or email address, instead, the files download directly to the computer. Librophile also offers the availability to stream audiobooks from their website.
The website menu offers to view the available free books or those that require payment. Most books under the “Pay” tab are mostly recent publications. Librophile also has an app available for download. They app layout nearly mirrors the website, keeping the interface simple and user friendly.
However, if you’re looking for class books or supplements to your reading list, Librophile is a great site to access and download classic literature.
Similar to Librophile, this site offers eBooks to read and download. The site even provides the option to send to Kindle. OpenLibrary does not require an account to read or download the eBooks, downloading the files directly to the computer.
In addition to reading and downloading, users can also borrow books online. The user can borrow five titles for two weeks to be accessed on their browser, as a PDF or an ePub file.
In order to borrow books you do have to create an account and not all titles will be available at all times as they may be checked out.
Most available to borrow are recent publications, while most for download are classics.
The site also offers the option to “add a book,” but the user must have an account to do so.
Overall, OpenLibrary is working for the availability of literature and learning materials to anyone with a computer. The site shows stats at the bottom for the websites recent additions of books, pages, new members and more. This site is definitely worth checking out.
Unlike its two predecessors, LibriVox solely offers access to audiobooks. This site pledges devotion to “make all books in the
public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.” The site is non-profit and non-commercial and powered by volunteers.
The site offers options to listen and download from the audiobook catalog, or read for an audiobook as a volunteer. Clicking the “volunteer” option provides full instructions and resources for volunteers wishing to participate. Clicking the “catalog” option brings the user to a list of titles by author. From there, the user can choose a title and download the .zip file directly to the computer without signing up for an account.
The bottom of the homepage offers a list of most-recent and most-popular downloads along with website statistics and news about recent projects.
The only downfall to the site is that it’s completely volunteer-based. While this is a wonderful example of crowd-sourcing, it means that
the listener could be read each chapter by a different narrator.
Other than personal preference, it would be a shame to ignore such a simple and wonderful resource. Next time you have reading due for class, download an audiobook and listen through the material at the gym, in the car or before you go to sleep.
There are plenty of resources for free audiobooks and even eBooks, but these three websites are completely legal and easy to use. Whether you’re looking to save money on books, or looking for some light reading on a budget, check out the links above.
And don’t be afraid to send some recommendations our way!
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- Free Public Domain Audiobook Site Gets Update (mediabistro.com)
- Over 7,000 Free Audio Books: Librivox and its New Look! (archive.org)
- Ebook Publishing Platforms (successful-ebook-publishing.com)
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