Thing 12

For Books, Books, Books, I picked the Audiobooks App to try. Everything is in the public domain and therefore free to listen to.The App works well, streaming the audio smoothly. The files download eventually, so you can listen to them offline.  I listened to a bit of Black Beauty and found it clear and enjoyable listening. I then started listening to Alice in Wonderland and it had a whole cast of narrators which is really quite impressive for a free audio book. Free audio books are also available in different languages, so I got a book in Spanish in hopes of refining my comprehension. There is also an offering of recent podcasts so I now have one from NPR to enjoy later.

 The app has automatic bookmarking and a sleep timer. You can pick from a list of  titles, authors, genres, narrators, languages, and even a "Surprise Me" category. The player has the usual controls, rewind, fast forward, play, etc. It tells you what part you are on and how many minutes left. I did have a problem with the downloading of a book. I changed my mind after it started and then was not able to stop it in progress. The delete function says delete "heard" podcasts, so I wonder if I will be able to get rid of it without listening to it. I will let you know when it gets done downloading!

I have downloaded a lot of audio books through OverDrive from the public library and although the selection is better and the titles are newer, I think the quality of  listening with this App is excellent and very easy to accomplish. There are some ads running across the bottom of the App but I did not find it a problem. It really is amazing what you can get for free.