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If you desire free audio books, then LibriVox should be the first website you visit.  This is an absolutely free service run by volunteers.  You simply go to the webiste, download an audio book, and play it.

How does this work?  Well, LibriVox volunteers record readings of books that are in the public domain.  Many books have a different reader per chapter.  These are not professional readers, but lovers of literature who have an interest in sharing these great works with the world.  Since these books are in the public domain, there is no fee for the website, the readers, or the consumers.

You can use the audio books on different devices, including your IPod.    You can either take the book as one download, or you can split it up into a podcast style format.   The quality of the recordings is quite good.   They are easy to download, easy to use, and are well made.

This is a perfect website for college and high school students.  If you need to read Moby Dick for a mid-term and you just can’t get through the book, then try listening to the audio book as you work out or drive.  You still get a great experience and you get all the information.   There are also links on the LibriVox website that take you to the e-text, the Wikipedia page for the author and the novel, and many times there is also a link to annotations and notes on the text.

If you’re a lover of literature, this is also a great website.  We’re all busy these days and most of us are jammed into cars, on subways, or busses for our daily commute.  You could use that time to catch up on a classic novel.  If you’re like me, you hear about a book and wonder what it’s all about but you don’t always have a few hours to read it.  So, you use your spare time in a better way and listen to it. 

Sometimes, the length of a novel can be intimidating.  Take War and Peace for instance.  This is a lengthy novel that will take you some time to get through.  If you have a commute you have to do anyway, why not use the time to listen to the novel for free?

I’ll post the link to website here.  Go to the site and check it out.  It’s a free service that is doing wonders for the world of readers.  I applaud them!