Whether you are looking for audiobook files for a long commute, road trip or to spice up a workout, you can find free downloads online. Audiobooks can be expensive to purchase, particularly if you do it regularly. Finding free audiobook downloads online gives you entertainment and more money in your pocket.

    Step 1: Read the classics.Books in the public domain occur frequently as free downloads. Several websites have public domain works available. In some cases, volunteers do the audio so the quality of reading may be less than in commercial works, but the catalogs are broad and the price is right-free.

    Step 2: Sign up for a free trial.With the growth of the audiobook industry, websites offering subscriptions or audiobooks for sale are growing too, and many offer free trials or free audiobooks. Sign up and try out the service; you may find it works for you and at the least, you get a free book or subscription time. Audiobooks from these sources tend to be current works and read more professionally than many volunteer produced ones.

    Step 3: Look for promotional materials.Some publishing companies give away audiobooks in order to attract new customers to a particular author or genre. The works are likely to be non-mainstream and the authors unknown but sometimes, you can find a gem.

    Step 4: Contact your local library.Your library may have a subscription to sources like OverDrive or netLibrary. If you have a free account with your local library, you can download audiobooks from the site your library has an account with. Audiobook choices tend to be similar to those you'd find on a commercial site so if your library has access, this is a great way to get books to listen to.

    Step 5: Search through available podcasts.Again, many of the podcast audiobooks produced are those in the public domain, but some authors are doing installments of their own books.

    Tips & Warnings

    Always check to see if your MP3 player is compatible with the downloads available. Although this is less of a concern than if you are buying the audiobook, it still takes time to find and download a free audiobook and it's frustrating if it doesn't work. For example, OverDrive and netLibrary audiobooks work with many MP3 players but did not start out compatible with iPods.

    If your library doesn't offer audiobook downloads, check with other local libraries, universities and school libraries for potential

    如果你上下班路途長耗時多，或喜歡自駕車旅游，或喜歡在健身的同時聽一點有趣的東西解解悶，那你也許需要在網上找一些有聲書籍。不管出于何目的，免費當然就是最好的了。因為有聲讀物是很貴的，尤其是經常要下載的時候，如果老得付費，誰受得了呢？如果有免費的東西，不但玩起來開心，口袋里的錢還能多活一陣子。在此奉獻幾個渠道，不妨試試：

    一、找一些經典書目。一些公共網站上的有聲書籍往往是免費的，有幾個網站就有這么一些免費有聲圖書。有些情況下，免費有聲讀物是由一些志愿者自己錄制的，質量雖不如商業性作品好，但書目很多，而且完全免費。

    二、試用期注冊。隨著有聲讀物這個行業的發展，提供訂閱或銷售有聲讀物的網站也越來越多。為了吸引讀者，很多網站都推出免費試聽或免費贈送有聲書籍等服務。這時候不妨注冊一下，你可能會覺得不錯的，而且至少你能得到一本免費有聲書籍或一段時間的免費訂閱服務。通過這種渠道得到的有聲書籍一般都是最新作品，而且是由專業人士朗讀的，往往要比那些志愿者自己制作的好很多。

    三、搜索促銷資料。有些出版商為了吸引新客戶，也會拋出一些免費有聲書籍，以讓讀者熟悉某個作者或某個類別的書籍。不過所拋出的這些書籍很可能是非主流作品，作者一般沒什么名氣，但有時候也會撿到一兩件寶貝。

    四、聯系當地的圖書館。圖書館一般都會有多個訂閱源，如OverDrive或netLibrary等。如果你在當地的圖書館有一個免費帳號，就可以利用圖書館的帳號在其訂閱源上下載有聲書籍。這條渠道上的有聲讀物和你平時自己找到的一些商業性網站很相似，因此，如果你的圖書館有登錄通道，就是弄些書籍來聽聽的絕好辦法。

    五、搜一搜播客。播客上的有聲書籍一般都是公共網站上的東西，但有的作者喜歡分期分批制作他們自己的作品。

    一點技巧和忠告：

    別忘了要檢查一下打算下載的有聲讀物和你的MP3是否兼容。當然，比起你花錢買到不兼容的作品，下載到不兼容的作品也不算什么，可畢竟浪費時間，辛辛苦苦下載了，卻不能播放，確實令人沮喪。例如，OverDrive及netLibrary上的有聲讀物和很多MP3播放器都是兼容的，但和iPod就不是隨時都兼容的。

    如果當地圖書館并不提供有聲讀物下載服務，你還可以去其他社區圖書館、大學圖書館和中學圖書館找一找，說不定這些地方也能有一些免費下載的東西。