LibriVox Audio Books

Great readers especially since they’re all volunteers. Many sound extremely professional. Once in a while you will get a reader that’s not that good but for the most part I really enjoy listening. I’ve been using this app since it’s conception. I was really impressed with the selection of books, almost all the classics. Plus I found myself listening to authors/books that I didn’t even know existed. I suggest when you get a reader that you enjoy their voice and do a search for the reader’s name and you’re probably get some great suggestions for your next book. I love Elizabeth Klett and Karen Savage. They tend to read the classics. If you’re wanting something sweet with a happy ending I suggest “ The emancipation of aunt Crete”. If you need a few laughs you might want to start with “ My man Jeeves”. You can search for a book via the author, the genre or the reader. And you can save favorites and even download them. It’s only like $2.50 for no advertisement.I always get that because it helps cover the cost so they can make these free audiobooks. However that being said a few books I listened to had commercials in between the chapters. That is really frustrating!!! I don’t want to make a big deal about it because I haven’t ran across it that much. But I would like to know why that happens???

LibriVox used to be the perfect app for free audiobooks, and as a English graduate student, I still use it daily for reading. However, I’m greatly disappointed by the new app update, specifically the changes to the speed settings. You used to be able to change the speed and see how fast you were setting it, but now it’s just a sliding scale with no numbers. The old version also allowed you to go much faster than x2 speed, which honestly is necessary with some of the slower readers (I think the old version went to x2.5 or x3 speed). If they could improve the speed controls I’m sure I’m not the only one who would greatly appreciate it!

I’ve used Librivox for a number of years, through undergrad and grad school, and have found it tremendously helpful as an English major. The voices help liven up the texts and make difficult works much easier to follow. More recently, however, I’ve been disappointed by the addition of advertisements at the end of chapters and such. While they could be much more intrusive, it’s still a disruption to the experience and overall nuisance. Luckily, you can work around them by tapping on the next chapter, but having to do so feels unnecessary. I wish they would have just stuck to having a small visual ad at the bottom of the page. A small matter, which most people probably don’t care about, but enough to make me go to other audio reading providers sometimes. That said, Librivox is still my go-to reader, and it is very helpful overall.

I absolutely love this app, its selection of books, and its readers. However, the current update is a serious problem. The new version replaces the progress line for moving through a book with waveforms. It takes a very long time to go back or forward more than a few minutes. I listen to books when I go to sleep, and the book often continues to play for some time after I have fallen asleep. With the old version, it was easy to go back 15, 20 minutes or more, to pick up from where I fell asleep. The new version makes this a tedious process. please restore the progress line to the earlier version! Otherwise, this is an absolutely fabulous app, and I am very grateful to the people who make this possible.

Large library. Most of the recordings sound fine to me, and the organization of the app is impressive for a free download. Really, the only detraction for me is the ads, but they have to make money somehow.. That being said, they are relatively minimal and once you get your book going, its not bad at all. I am a person that will instantly uninstall if the ads are overwhelming and give a 1 star, so that should tell you my thought on the matter. Ill put a book on at work and maybe hear 1-2 ads per 8 hour shift. Will definitely be paying for the premium version, but not because I feel like I need to to enjoy the app. More because Libravox is a breath of fresh air, and I want to support.

I have consistently enjoyed Librivox’s titles that they offer, which are heavily sourced from books in the public domain. I tend to gravitate towards a smaller genre of theological writings which are available, (i.e., Teresa of Avila, G.K. Chesterton, etc) and even though at first listen some of those works may sound like a ‘dry’ recording…sometimes it actually pairs well with using the audiobook from a studying/learning standpoint. All in all, the free version of the app excels at what it is meant to do and I am eager to record one or two books myself in the near future to add to the excellent collection that is there now from dedicated volunteers.

I have used LibriVox for the past three years and am always consistently blown away by the skill of some of these amateur readers. I also have Audible, and with both combined I feel like there is always something interesting and new to experience. LibriVox's best feature is the wide, free use of public domain writings. The search for good readers is rewarding, albeit different than Audible. The difference is that with LibriVox it doesn't cost me a cent. Excellent. The mobile app is very straightforward, and in a way offers even more options than my subscription, in particular the playback speeds.

This review is for the app (LibriVox is one of the best things on the modern internet). Playback and downloading works well. Search algorithm finds what you want most of the time (though having separate entries for different readings of the same book makes things more complicated than they need to be). The only serious problem is ads. Not that they exist. They’re infrequent and generally tasteful. It’s the VOLUME. The ads don’t seem to be scaled to the same volume as the books. Rather, whenever an ad plays there’s a large spike in volume and I’m inevitably startled if I’m wearing headphones. It’s particularly troublesome if you’re listening to a book to help you sleep.

These public domain books are read by readers with vastly varying skills. Most of what I’ve heard is pretty amateurish, but there are some very good contributions. The jewel in crown, of course, is that the service makes so many great books available to audio readers. You just have to do a bit of searching to find a combination of good book/good reader. The app is moderately intuitive and a bit glitchy. Most disconcerting of all, though, is that payment to remove ads does...nothing. The ads are annoying, at best, and there seems no way to really communicate effectively with the apps designer. Ultimately, though, I’m an avid listener of books, and this gives me another tool in my audio book tool box.

I really love how this app has grown since I first started using it. I have a love for Germanic folklore especially core mythology books like the Eddas and the Sagas. When I first started using this app they had literally two audio books on Norse and Germanic myth. One was awesome, the other...not so much. But now there are quite a few more including readings of both Eddas as well as a few sagas and some are in more than one language. The readings are well done and easy to understand. I am super impressed with the progress of this project so far and I look forward to seeing how it continues to grow.

This app and its catalog deserves all the kudos it can get. The search functions are dynamic and accurate, the selection of books is mind-bogglingly large. And it only costs $2.50 to remove ads forever. All of the narrators have been quite good… superb even, given this is a labor of love. If I were to change anything it would be adding a night feature (turn the screen dark) and, well, completely changing the app’s icon… right now it looks like an angry cat in a Little Pony cartoon. But such things, like cats, are subjective.

If you want to listen to great literature from the past and don’t have the time to read, this is a wonderful application. You can pull up documents of historical and religious significance. You can listen while they are read to you and you were able to do another activity while you’re listening. I have especially enjoyed listening to William Bradford‘s record of Plymouth colony. I highly recommend it. You have no idea of the myriad obstacles the Pilgrims overcame until you’ve listened to it.

I’ve been using the app and I think it’s great so far it’s basically just audiobooks there’s not pictures it doesn’t even show the words you just listen but I think it’s great it’s basically just audiobooks except it’s free so if we do go on a road trip or something and we want an audiobook this is better cause it’s free but I don’t like about it how you can’t change the voice but amazing 5 stars I just wish we could change the voice amazing app 10/10 recommend!

Firstly, I LOVE this app! Thank you for making it possible for me to revisit old classic books and find new ones through your app. Lately, though, it’s been such a chore to open the app and continue with a book. If I don’t happen to finish a chapter before closing the app, it will take me back to the beginning of the chapter when I’m ready to start listening again. It’s very difficult sometimes to fast forward and find my place! This is a relatively new problem (over the last month, I’d say). Is there anyway to fix this? Is there a setting I inadvertently turned on? Thank you for a timely answer! I WILL change my rating to 5 stars when this is fixed!!

I am truly enjoying this app. For the past week I’ve been downloading books and listening to them when I go to bed. I honestly believe I am sleeping better since I started this. Perhaps it’s because our mother used to read to us before we went to sleep at night. As a child it made me feel safe and content. Whatever it is I am thankful that my sister told me about her experience with audiobooks which peeked my curiosity enough that I went looking for apps and found this one. Thank you.

If it were possible to have a love affair with an app, this would be the one. A veritable cornucopia of great works old and new. Invaluable resource for students old-young, for nearly every great work created before 1900, as well as a respectable number of 20th century works, is available for free. Volunteers have donated endless hours to create these audiobooks, many of them 100% free (thousands of more available for sale at excellent prices). If you've not tried Librivox, maybe it's time.👍👍

I absolutely love this app! It is simple to use and really nice for when you love reading but have too many things to do to just sit down and read. The one hiccup I’ve experienced is that I keep getting the notification that I need to connect to the internet in order to listen...but I’m already connected. So it’s kind of frustrating at times. But other than that, this app is flawless! Even with the problem, it is definitely one of my favorites!

If you can fit it in your budget, the yearly subscription is worth it. There are thousands of public domain books. It is less than $5! I use this app every day, old classic literature helps me relax and fall asleep. The app hardly ever crashes, and when it does, the wait for a fix is short. Many of the readers do an excellent job and are very consistent. I’ve been a user of some form of Librivox from 2012. I highly reccommend this app.

I absolutely love this app! I have arthritis, very bad, in my phone, so I need to use audiobooks. I do, however, have one huge complaint! I set a timer, so that I can slip off, to sleep, each night. I understand the need to advertise, and have seen many, included with the pictures of books. I don’t mind that at all! But now I find, that as I drop off to sleep, a VERY loud and intrusive, pop up, and wake me. So instead of using this app every night, I must use a library audiobook. Very disappointing!

I love this app because there is so much variety and it's all free. I love that it picks up where I left off and I can get there with one click of the resume button. I have only had 1 book out of the dozen I've downloaded that had ads and they were very short and in between chapters so it didn't bother the flow of the book. The content is so diverse. I am part of a smaller Christian denomination but they have multiple books written by pioneers of my church. Truly amazing. Keep up the good work.

I love this app and all the volunteers who make it so valuable. There are so many great books on here and many of the volunteer readers do a fantastic job even doing different voices for each of the books characters. Because I work for at least 10 hours a day mostly driving heavy equipment I have lots of time to listen to something but precious little time to read even though I love books. This app has made it possible for me to enjoy literature without sacrificing family time and other after work activities.

I used & loved this app for years. After not having an apple device for a while I just rediscovered it and I’m so excited (I think you can use it through their website as well though). It’s easier than overdrive because I don’t have to worry about having a time limit and I think it’s a bit more user friendly too. Also great selection for free, especially as I love the classic authors and have found some really unique and educational stuff too. Five stars all the way.

I LOVE this app! It’s awesome! It has SO many classic books and all for free! And from a ton of really GREAT readers to! Classic books are my favorite but they’re so hard to find now-a-days. And with this I can listen to them anytime anywhere! It’s awesome. And there are books by my favorite authors that o didn’t even know existed! For example did you know that the author of little woman (Louisa may Alcott) wrote a TON more amazing books! I totally recommend this app and make sure to listen to Louisa May Alcotts forgotten classics!

This app is very useful I have enjoyed hours of stories for a while. Many aspects of the app I enjoy but recently they added recorded advertisements which I think harms this app. They are really loud and jarring. I often listen to stories to sleep but the ads are unpredictable and at a different volume than the stories and invariably startle me. I really hope they change this aspect. It has been a really harmful update to this app and makes it less pleasant to use.

I’ve been using the LibriVox App to listen to various books for a few months now. One of the things I appreciate is the wide variety of books about historical events and or people. One of the things that I like is that once I find a subject that I like, I can then search for other books that are similar. Which is much much better than the App forcing me to look at books that the App thinks I might like. Thank You for this App.

Every single article,book, script, translated and read for every person seeking to know more, want more - who wants to awaken and remember all the information that we forgotten. All for free - use it use it use it !!!! it's here for you as it is for me - I hope this review attracts your attention enough to waken the explorer in you and listen to all this free information over and over until it empowers you and takes you to the top ! I will see you all there !

This app has so many great books! I like that you can download titles for offline listening and adjust the playback speed. (I slow it down a bit to aid comprehension.) Also, the ad-free version is under $3/year, which is a pretty sweet deal if you dislike looking at ads as much as I do. This is one of the only online reviews I have ever written, so you can be sure I like the app a lot :)

I have used this app for a very long time and it is by far my favorite app ever. Now it is not the best audio book app ever, but it is free. There are small not too frequent ads and some of the voices aren’t the best. But most of the voices are amazing ( my favorite is Annie Coleman) and that ads aren’t terribly long or anything. This app is great for falling asleep, driving, or doing some boring or long task. Also if you are in school and have to read a book for homework this app is great for that.

This is an excellent app and has been for many years. But now I am disappointed to hear ads at the end of some chapters. This is very, VERY annoying. I once could listen to an entire book chapter to chapter without interruption; now I must be ready to hit pause after each chapter in case an irritating ad starts playing. Please get rid of this! It is most unwelcome and if I had another free audiobooks app, I would use it instead of LibriVox.

As a recovering stroke victim, my hope is to recuperate mostly up to 100%. From giving lectures about history/archaeology anthropology to not being able to remember how to tie my own shoes. The hope is to regain my multi tasking and articulation of my speech. Also to regain mental focus in comprehending what I read. This audio along with a hard copy of the book perhaps I will be able to recover faster. This review is definitely a positive tool.

LIBRIVOX IS A GREAT HELP FOR THE WEARY SOUL i ❤️LIBRIVOX. i live alone instead of listening to music 🎵 or watching 📺 i listen to the classics which makes me sound smart. my local library 📚 is 20 miles away. i have lost my ...account & to download audible or other books 📚 📖 on tape on line is free for a month or two then audible starts sucking money 💵 💴 💰 out of your credit cards so THANK YOU 🙏 LIBRIVOX. i want to start 📖 recording for you guys. it’s a great service you’re rendering to the public THANKS 🙏 😊 THANK YOU ☺️ LIBRIVOX ❤️

The app no longer remembers my place on a track and that if I close the app midway through the track, when I open back the app to listen to the track it will begin the track from the very beginning. This is very frustrating and inconvenient as I have to manually find where I left off every time. I have tried signing out and signing back in, but the glitch persists. Please fix this issue as soon as possible

I discovered LibriVox years ago and listened to many books on my PC. Soon after I got my first iPhone, I downloaded the app. I recently joined Audible, and then I truly realized what a great deal LibriVox is. I love classic novels and LibriVox has loads of them. The recent addition of the occasional commercial does not bother me. Those kind advertisers are paying the bills so I can get my book fix! If you have not yet tried LibriVox, give it a listen. You will be glad you did.

We love LibriVox for long car rides. We've been happy with the number of titles from which we can choose, and appreciate that we can hear literary classics we may never have read--nor would have the time to read now. The voice quality varies, but we do get used to the accent, if the reader has one. And only once have we refused to listen to a story because of the reader. We love having an app because we can download ahead of time to avoid using data while on the road.

I loved this app, but I’m super disappointed in the political ad I heard on it yesterday dealing with abortion that blatantly LIES saying it’s harder than ever to get an abortion and asking for donations to fund abortions. ??? Whatever organization that is is just playing off the recent news and I assume LibriVox is just raking in the cash from that organization to play their ad. Hopefully ppl will actually educate themselves on what’s really going on politically and not buy into ads that lie like that to get donations to fund abortions, of all things. If you want to donate to a politically relevant real cause that actually HELPS ppl, donate to Ukraine’s relief causes. Hmm, why haven’t I heard any ads about that on LibriVox??

I love the service that this provides. What a great product, delivering public domain works of literature for free! Thank you to all of the volunteers who make this possible. I want to make one suggestion for the app though, and that is that the playback doesn’t show up on my lock screen. I need to unlock the phone and open the app to pause it. It would be nice if it could show on the lock screen like all of my other audio apps.

I love this app. I've listened to several classics already w a long list to go. It's easy, available to down load and remove chapters when completed. I even like it when the narrator changes out during the story. It's like the story teller of an epic adventure might switch out over days. In days past when folks gathered for a sessional fest the would be many bards over a weeklong gathering. I use LibriVox often and tell others about it. Thanks!

It’s amazing 😉 I mean I can read all my favorite books on audio plus they are all free the readers are AMAZING and there are no glitches for me it only takes about a minute to download your books 📚 I use it daily and it is something I will never forget about I went throw so many free trials and they where not even good books but I wanted something free so I cancelled all my trial and got this with amazing books for FREE get this app !!!!

When I play a book, it tends to stall after it finishes a chapter, so that I have to stop whatever I'm doing, go into the app and push the play button on the next chapter. Even then, it tends to be extremely slow starting, and I have to sit there with screen on til it starts, cuz if I just turn the screen off, the next chapter won't start. I know it's not my internet speed either, nothing else is slow!

I have recently looked through the collection LibriVox has, and I have been surprised and delighted. The classics and philosophic works that could cost as much as forty dollars each as an audiobook were on my phone in mere moments. The quality of the works I have listened to is excellent, the continuity of volunteers and rhythm is fantastic for staying in the story. I believe librivox to be invaluable to those of us who have greater curiosity than funds, and I appreciate their efforts.

I’m a homeschooling mom of two high schoolers. While I enjoy reading, I sometimes find it difficult to be prepared to discuss the many books they are using in their literature based humanities classes. I use this LibriVox app to keep up with their assigned reading and for my own enjoyment, too! The app works smoothly. It is easy to navigate. I use the sleep-timer often. THANK YOU to the dedicated volunteers who make this marvelous FREE LibriVox app possible.

Libravox has become such a blessing to my life. I listen to it while I make supper in the evenings, or when I’m getting ready in the morning or anytime I’m doing something with my hands but not my brain. I listen to spiritually uplifting books or to interesting and informative stories. I love reading, but I have almost no time in my life to read. Now I can still listen to stories even though I don’t have time to read. I absolutely love libravox.

I’m enjoying reading Dickens and other 9th century authors. Some of the single readers are excellent. I’m not enjoying the volunteers as much because their reading is sometimes excellent and sometimes not and I find the transitions between readers more difficult to deal with than the ads. Especially when it shifts from a good reader to one not so good.

Of all the “ebook” apps that are popping up like lilies in May, Librivox stands alone as a highly-polished gem! Although it has only books in the Public Domain, it is free, it has dedicated volunteers who read the book as you listen, and these volunteers—for the most part—are as professional as the readers on the paid apps. Imagine the magic of an Englishman—or woman—reading a Shakespearean sonnet as you walk on a country road! This app is worth every iota of my five-star rating! RR

The app is pretty good. There are issues with playback occasionally. Sometimes it just won’t resume. That’s not my biggest issue. My biggest issue is that they have chosen highly political and controversial advertising. For example, while my children and I were listening to book about a saint, it was interrupted to explain how the abortion giants Planned Parenthood are expanding their ability to murder the unborn. They are alienating a huge portion of their users in that regard. It’s unfortunate. I will resume using and promoting the app when they stop promoting the murder of the unborn.

This is a fantastic project. Invaluable. The audio advertisements are new and are jarring. I don't mind the visual advertisements because I understand that projects benefit from having money. But the audio ones seem out of place. I'm listening to some amazing piece from hundreds of years ago and then I get blasted with some loud commercial. It's really worth it to consider changing this.

LibriVox is phenomenal, and the readers do well. This review is specifically for the app. After entering a story, the app glitches and moves all content far to one side, so you cannot go back and look at chapter names, lengths, etc. without closing and re-opening. As of recently, the app stops playing when screen is off or app is moved to background. The vocal ads are deeply grating. The app just does not function well, to the point where it seriously disrupts the books themselves.

Sometimes this app works really great and then other times it doesn’t work. Last time I was listening to a book, it let me play it in the background, but as I tried to resume it, it was wouldn’t play it unless I kept the app open. And sometimes it shows up as downloaded but won’t play. I’ve even tried uninstalling the app or removing and adding the files to my library again. It works great and then just doesn’t for some reason.

I put my earbuds in while I work and listen to all kinds of fascinating dramas. The old Time radio dramas are my favorite. I love history and I feel like I’m stepping back in Time. I especially love hearing the old time ads. Those are adds that I’m actually not disgusted with. If you all can make the suspicion show complete, I’d really appreciate it. Great job. Great app.

I’m rating this based on the app itself. It’s glitchy and weird. I wish it was more intuitive and useful for saving books. It often loses where I’m at in a book and I often have to go fish for the same book over and over again. That said- this is a service I did not pay for, listening to books I did not pay for. I’m very thankful for all the volunteers and donors who made it possible, even if it’s a pain sometimes ;)