Cheapest way to get audio books for long drive

[highwayg]

Going on a few long road trips this summer. I was thinking we might try audio books on cd. Any suggestions on how to get them free or cheap? Any suggestions for titles or series you have enjoyed? Me, dh, dd13 and ds10.

 

[brymolmom]

The library = free.

Or I guess buy them used on amazon for cheap.

Have you all read Harry Potter? I think that would be a good series for the whole family.

 

[3boymthr]

I second the Library. If they don't have them you could try e-bay or craigslist or even yard sales. Our local church held a yard sale the other day and there were a ton of audiobooks.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

BTDT, got lots of suggestions:

These days, we get all of ours from the library. Even our small town library has a decent selection for kids, though it's best to reserve what you want or get it as soon as you see they have it in. Check-out time is 4 wks and you can renew up to 2x (for total 12 wks). You can even renew online. The only caveat is that if someone has it reserved, you can't renew. Late fees are 50 cents per item per day.

But for the best selection, we go to the next town over, where we also have checkout privileges. They have 10x the selection (or more! fantastic library system). Everything else applies - 4 wks, 2 renewals, online renewals. But late fees are 15 cents per day.

Both libraries can arrange an interlibrary loan for books they don't have (ie, The Pushcart War). You aren't guaranteed a cd copy (PC is only available on cassette for instance).


Another option is to get them at Cracker Barrel. You pay about $30 when you pick one up, and you can return at any CB. When you return, they keep about $3 for each week you had it. That's pretty cheap for rentals. My numbers are probably off b/c it's been years since we rented there, but we had dinner there last night and they still do books on cd. Kids' books are hard but not impossible to find there. You would do better with YA probably.

http://www.crackerbarrel.com/travel/books-on-audio/ (sample books shown)

You can try ebay, which is good for things that have been outgrown and also good for the free ones that came in Wendy's kids meals for years. They typically sell for 50 cents or $1 (titles like Magic Treehouse, Geronimo Stilton, etc).

When we lived overseas and I drove the kids 1 hr each way to school, we joined Audible. Your first audiobook is free, membership for 1 free book per mo was about $7 (may have gone up), and you got at least 30% off everything else in the Audible store. You download a special program to your pc, download your book in the correct format (for us, pc) and then burn it onto a cd. This only works if your car can play MP3, but most cars can these days. You can also download directly to an ipod and plug it into the car jack.

http://www.audible.com/

As for books - your kids are only a little younger than mine. Current faves for them right now are things like
~the Rick Riordan books (Percy Jackson, etc)
~The Secret Series
~The Mysterious Benedict Society books
~Paolini's Inheritance Cycle (warning: that one is adult fantasy and has a lot of violence ala LOTR).
~ The Hobbit (at 12 and 14 they don't seem to be as interested in the long passages of LOTR)
~ Dragon Rider (this could take your entire trip - my download filled 12 cds)

When they were a bit younger, we listened to the following many times:
~ the How To Train your Dragon series (read by David Tennant and hilarious though full of fart jokes and other tween stuff) (only the first few books are available in the US through Amazon, but they are sooooo good)
~ My Weird School series
~ The Hundred and One Dalmations
~ Snow Treasure

Good luck and have a great drive.

 

[laurafergie]

librivox.org is free.

They are books in the public domain that are read by volunteers. I used to download all the time when my kids were younger and the readers are quite good, I always thought. These books are ones that you would think of as Classics. ex..Tom Sawyer, Little Women, etc

 

[wiigirl]

The library = free.

Or I guess buy them used on amazon for cheap.

Have you all read Harry Potter? I think that would be a good series for the whole family.

I usually buy them on Amazon.

 

[writersblock42]

I love audio books. At the library they have these things called playbacks and then they also have CDs. You can burn them to your computer and then download them to your mp3 players or phone or whatever device you have. Be careful when you do that though because my mp3 player messed the order all up because it put all the track ones after each other for each cd and then all the tracks 2s and so forth.

 

[platamama]

On my iPhone I have the Overdrive app, I can look up my library on it and borrow audiobooks (or ebooks) using my library card number, and download audiobooks via wifi. No CDs to lug around, just an adaptor cable for the iPhone to the car radio (which you may not need if you have a newer car).

The Chronicles of Narnia are always a classic. The Hunger Games trilogy could make for interesting discussions (don't know if your younger child is ready for that one though, you know best). Kate DiCamillo has some nice books (Tales of Desperaux, The Magician's Elephant, Winn-Dixie, etc.). Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mysteries.

 

[NotUrsula]

If you're a Disney fan (and you are here, right?), I suggest the Kingdom Keepers series. YA somewhat supernatural mysteries set at Disney World.

Another good choice for preteens and teens is the Maximum Ride series. It is about a group of teens who were genetically enhanced in medical experiments -- they ran away and are trying to live on their own without being recaptured by the researchers.

 

[cookingqueen]

We love audiobooks, great way to pass the time in the car! We do get them from ITunes for the ipod or we get them from the library.

Some of our favorites have been Harry Potter, The 39 Clues (love these), anything by Rick Riordan.....(Percy Jackson series is great!)

My son has been working his way through the Eragon series and loves it- he is 9 but very advanced in his reading selections- and it fantasy, but with violence in it- all relates to the story though.

 

[trinchick]

Another vote for the library!

My book recommendation: To Kill a Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek. This is hands down the BEST audio book I've ever listened to (I listen to about one a week). Of course, TKAM is an outstanding book in its own right, but Sissy Spacek's reading makes it extraordinary. She's got that slight twang and innocence, which are perfect for this story.

Another great audiobook is Huckleberry Finn, read by Dick Hill. He adds a lot of life to the characters.