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

    如果你上下班路途长耗时多，或喜欢自驾车旅游，或喜欢在健身的同时听一点有趣的东西解解闷，那你也许需要在网上找一些有声书籍。不管出于何目的，免费当然就是最好的了。因为有声读物是很贵的，尤其是经常要下载的时候，如果老得付费，谁受得了呢？如果有免费的东西，不但玩起来开心，口袋里的钱还能多活一阵子。在此奉献几个渠道，不妨试试：

    一、找一些经典书目。一些公共网站上的有声书籍往往是免费的，有几个网站就有这么一些免费有声图书。有些情况下，免费有声读物是由一些志愿者自己录制的，质量虽不如商业性作品好，但书目很多，而且完全免费。

    二、试用期注册。随着有声读物这个行业的发展，提供订阅或销售有声读物的网站也越来越多。为了吸引读者，很多网站都推出免费试听或免费赠送有声书籍等服务。这时候不妨注册一下，你可能会觉得不错的，而且至少你能得到一本免费有声书籍或一段时间的免费订阅服务。通过这种渠道得到的有声书籍一般都是最新作品，而且是由专业人士朗读的，往往要比那些志愿者自己制作的好很多。

    三、搜索促销资料。有些出版商为了吸引新客户，也会抛出一些免费有声书籍，以让读者熟悉某个作者或某个类别的书籍。不过所抛出的这些书籍很可能是非主流作品，作者一般没什么名气，但有时候也会捡到一两件宝贝。

    四、联系当地的图书馆。图书馆一般都会有多个订阅源，如OverDrive或netLibrary等。如果你在当地的图书馆有一个免费帐号，就可以利用图书馆的帐号在其订阅源上下载有声书籍。这条渠道上的有声读物和你平时自己找到的一些商业性网站很相似，因此，如果你的图书馆有登录通道，就是弄些书籍来听听的绝好办法。

    五、搜一搜播客。播客上的有声书籍一般都是公共网站上的东西，但有的作者喜欢分期分批制作他们自己的作品。

    一点技巧和忠告：

    别忘了要检查一下打算下载的有声读物和你的MP3是否兼容。当然，比起你花钱买到不兼容的作品，下载到不兼容的作品也不算什么，可毕竟浪费时间，辛辛苦苦下载了，却不能播放，确实令人沮丧。例如，OverDrive及netLibrary上的有声读物和很多MP3播放器都是兼容的，但和iPod就不是随时都兼容的。

    如果当地图书馆并不提供有声读物下载服务，你还可以去其他社区图书馆、大学图书馆和中学图书馆找一找，说不定这些地方也能有一些免费下载的东西。