Not All Audiobook and eBook Apps are Created Equal.
Before I get to my discussion, it is important to note that apps are created by 3rd party developers. Apple provides documentation and coding information, and individuals or companies then create their content. Apple must approve an app before it is for sale through the iTunes store.
Rather than list the hundreds of titles, I will lump the single-title audiobooks offered as apps into one category. Each app offers a single downloadable audiobook, usually a public domain title, for a low price. Several of these are free. Honestly, I would not pay to download a public domain title. Project Gutenberg has free downloadable audio book versions of hundreds of these books. In other words, if it’s free, give it a try. You can always delete it. But don’t pay for something that should be free.
Other audiobook applications that include sets of public domain titles that they term “classics” are available for $0.99-1.99 and allow the user to download titles to the device for playback. As these are public domain titles, why pay?
eBook apps are a similar story. Beware the apps that want you to pay for public domain content. The two best eBook apps, in my opinion, are the Kindle app and the Barnes and Noble app. Both are free and both allow you to browse their eBook stores. Frequently, titles are offered for free as promotions and public domain titles are free. Both apps work very well on iPod touch and iPhone.
Kindle for iPhone
B&N eReader
The bottom line is this: The best apps are free and don’t pay for content that is already in the public domain and therefore free. Questions? Ask away! Discuss this article in our Audiobook Forum.
Audio Books Download Store
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The above article does not cover all the offerings for audiobook apps. Blackstone Audio has launched new and classic titles in an all-in-one iTunes app. It is a one title per app model. The player is very intuitive and feature rich. The other nice part about the software (app) is that it includes enhanced content which is not found on other audiobook apps. You can see all of the offerings to date on blackstoneaudioapps.com. Please give it a look and provide your comments.
Hi, jay,
I just looked at your app and it is very interesting. As you can see, I did not cover all of the audiobook apps available in the iTunes store. There are certainly a lot of them! Thank you for calling my attention to yours. I still don’t believe that people should have to pay for content that is in the public domain, such as A Christmas Carol, but I like the look of some of the features of your apps!
Best of Luck!