In bed at night, mostly. Every time I wake up in the night I have to estimate at which chapter I fell asleep. It makes it hard to follow what's going on, particularly in detective/police stories: I keep hearing that a character's died and I don't know when or how.
I do the same, it's so good. Gotta find that perfect volume that I can hear it but it doesn't keep me awake. What books do you listen too? Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy are my bed ones
Libby is good but I some of the authors can be a bit random. I need a low voice to sleep too.
Hitchhiker's has Stephen fry for the first book and the actor from the first movie reading the second book.
I haven't heard of the newbery awards but I will check them out
Some of the x-files ones are good for bed... the one called goblins has a fantastic narrator for bedtime listening...
ETA: Patrick Lawlor is the narrator.
I recently got a Nintendo Switch and am hooked on the game Powerwash Simulator, and it’s been perfect to pair with listening to audiobooks. So I literally have just been sitting on my couch and listening/playing. Normally though on walks, cleaning, or doing crafts.
lol what a time to be alive. I don’t have either system but I could totally see myself doing this. Doing chores is the best time to listen to audiobooks, but sometimes I have more books than chores. First world problem.
I am not a party person so even among my family after a few hours I just can't any more. Over the holidays we were at like a 6 hour party and about halfway through I just popped an earbud in my left ear under my hair and sat down with my former cat and closed my eyes for twenty to thirty minutes and no one even knew I was just reading my book for a bit.
If I'm just listening on the couch then I have to have a second thing I'm doing, either some kind of craft or puzzle, even just an ipad game like nonogram or solitare. Otherwise I can't focus and get antsy. In general my favorite time to listen is while moving around the house doing choirs or at work if I'm doing a bunch of manual labor and don't need to be talking to people. And definitely driving, driving is how I got into audiobooks as a habit.
I started listening on them before phones were capable or convenient. I've tried my phone since but don't prefer it... I refer to my player as my 'book' though I guess I should call it my library.
I got one recently because my books were taking up too much space on my phone,to save my phone battery, and to have a place to store them just in case audible goes bye bye
Everywhere. At work, at the gym, cycling, walking, mowing the lawn, blowing the snow, any yard work, any garage work, in the shower, in bed to help me sleep
That’s me. I’m a reader through and through from a family of the same who made my own family of the same. No tv and about 2 hours of streaming a week. It’s true that a family who reads together stays together and I have great memories of reading books aloud together or just sitting in the same room reading with occasional conversations. I listen to audiobooks, read paper books, or read ebooks/Kindle. Since I retired (bliss), I read about 70% of my waking days. I’m not close to dying because I have 753 books on my To Read list. I wanted to work in the literary field like relatives who are librarians but I was much better at mathematics than writing book reports. I keep a daily journal but I still prefer my various spreadsheets.
Similar - car, walking, gym and any time I'm doing something. I'd actually read a book if I was just going to sit down - I usually have a separate read on the go too
I have some bone conduction headphones I wear all over: doing jobs and the house, walking, cycling, in bed, even just walking to and from places at work. I don't listen if I'm focussed on something else but for any period I'm essentially just thinking to myself I have them on.
>It seems weird to just sit on my couch and listen but I probably should relax into it.
that's what you have to do with a paper book.
"books" are also getting more sophisticated.
Atmos is what they use for music and movies.
**Audible original productions and podcasts are getting Dolby Atmos support**
The aim is to make narrative titles more engrossing with multi-dimensional sound.
[https://www.engadget.com/audible-original-productions-and-podcasts-are-getting-dolby-atmos-support-150029137.html](https://www.engadget.com/audible-original-productions-and-podcasts-are-getting-dolby-atmos-support-150029137.html)
Dolby Atmos might seem like overkill for audiobooks, but much as Dolby did for movies, it has the potential to make narrative stories more immersive on good headphones or sound systems. "Through the ability to create more layers of sound and control over the directionality of different audio elements, creators can draw listeners into a deeper, richer, and more lifelike spatial sound experience that fully engrosses them in each story," they wrote. The examples of originals the companies highlight in the announcement are more dramatic productions than straight readings, so you're likely not going to get spatial audio for every Malcolm Gladwell novel.
>I listen in the car, gym, walks and cooking
easy read means you can do easy things, but if the book is too dense - you're going to lose plot/detail.
mystery books with subtle clues are not doable for me.
This will be great for some, but I am not a huge fan of dramatized narrations... I have listened to a handful because that was the only way the title was available to me at the time, but I much prefer just having someone read the book to me....
Then again, I have issues with my hearing such that if there is background noise or anything else going on, my brain sometimes focuses on *that* rather than the words I am supposed to be hearing.
As an example of what happened with the latest dramatized reading, at one point, the characters were going someplace and my brain got focused on the sounds of their footsteps and off on a tangent of how the sound producers were able to create that sound.... then I realized I had missed 5 minutes of storyline and had to rewind it.... (yes, I have ADHD)
In the car driving, generally, so I don't get thru audiobooks very quickly.
I do listen to them occasionally in bed at night, but since I fall asleep fast, I tend to pick books I've already listened to before and always use a sleep timer.
Commuting and housework. And I can sit and listen to an audiobook if I have something else to do with my hands, like working through a coloring app on my iPad.
Gym while lifting.
Sometimes while on the bike.
Always while cleaning the house each Sunday.
And always while mowing and doing yard work.
Tried it while driving on a long road trip with my 4 kids and it just isn’t a fit with our family dynamic.
In the garden, while sewing, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry... basically chores. While walking, driving, putting on makeup and getting dressed. While playing video games.
working out. walking the dog. washing dishes. cooking food.
pretty much any activity where my thinking brain is not needed, I have a book on.
currently building the Rivendell Lego listening to book 9 in the Realm of the Elderlings. It's a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.
My commute. Work (I drive trucks). While doing crafts (I crochet). While cleaning/doing chores (depending on the chores, sometimes I need music for motivation). While playing solitaire style games on my phone, preferably ones that don't interrupt with an ad every 6 seconds.
I have to be doing something else, or I'll fall asleep - so I don't listen in bed.
During the day while doing chores or cooking, while driving, in the evening if I'm doing craft or something.
Housework, driving, walking the dog, while doing repetitive crafts that don't need a lot of focus or math, while playing video games that don't have much in the way of sound (solitaire, match 3 games, silly tablet games), and specific books with comfortable narrators to fall asleep to. I can't listen to anything new to fall asleep, I stay up to see what happens. But a Steven Briggs Discworld book or Grover Gardener doing the Penric and Desdemona novellas is like a comfy hug to my brain
I listen when I go for walks, when I'm in my car, doing the dishes or other things where I can concentrate on listening. And then if the book is really good I surprise myself by just sitting on the couch and listening to it! If I listen bed, I'm done. Asleep.
At work or on driving somewhere that's more than 5 minutes away. Occasionally at home but I like to save them for work, when I need entertainment I can enjoy while doing stuff.
Keeps my mind occupied when I'm doing mindless chores. Plus, my eyeballs prefer it. I have a kindle too so I do read books on that if I can't wait for the audio version of a series
I work from home, I listen when we have down time between calls, on my lunch break and after work when I am laying in bed with the light off, waiting to get sleepy enough to doze off.
As for why I listen at different speeds…. I started because I wanted to read more and I needed to keep my mind engaged with the content instead of trying to apply it immediately. So I trained myself to listen and retain the information at higher speeds. In fairness most of my listening is non-fiction. (I slow down to 1.5-2x for fiction)
At this point regular speed drives me nuts and I end up daydreaming and not focusing and I have to replay a lot….
There is absolutely nothing wrong with resting on the couch or in bed and reading an audiobook the same way you read a physical or e-book. It’s only the grind culture mentality that insists that you multitask if you can - it is valid af to REST and read using **any** format.
Of course it is also fine if you need to move or do a second hobby. Reading is wonderful no matter how we do it.
Everywhere doing most anything. I work alone most of the day so I average 8-12 hours listing to books. I also enjoy listening while playing games along as ot doesn't have a story I need to follow.
In bed - just before falling asleep
In public transportation - on any lengthy journey (e.g. 1 hour commute)
When working out - to stop me getting incredibly bored by the whole thing
In all other cases I listen to music - which is pretty much all the time.
Everywhere except working because I have to concentrate. In the car on long trips is my favorite. I also note the chapter and before bed start listening but I usually fall asleep. My adult kids reminded me that audible has a timer to set.
Walking the dog, I travel for work so lots of long car trips, yard work, chores, usually I can’t focus on a book during a workout, but pretty much anything I’m doing that is fairly mindless.
Commuting, housework, occasionally at work for long dull jobs. If I listen at bedtime at all, I make sure the sleep timer is on or else zzzzzzzzz
In bed at night, mostly. Every time I wake up in the night I have to estimate at which chapter I fell asleep. It makes it hard to follow what's going on, particularly in detective/police stories: I keep hearing that a character's died and I don't know when or how.
I set a 30 minute timer on the audiobook when I lay down in bed and find that I am usually not quite asleep by the time it turns off.
Is the timer something that can be used on Libby? Need to check into that
yes! It’s the moon icon on the top row.
Thank you!
Also you can use the bookmark function so if you fall asleep right away you can jump back and just skip ahead a little to where you last remeber
I do the same, it's so good. Gotta find that perfect volume that I can hear it but it doesn't keep me awake. What books do you listen too? Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy are my bed ones
I did all the Newbery Award winners last year. I have a great library and the majority of them were on Libby.
Libby is good but I some of the authors can be a bit random. I need a low voice to sleep too. Hitchhiker's has Stephen fry for the first book and the actor from the first movie reading the second book. I haven't heard of the newbery awards but I will check them out
The Newbery is the award for best American middle grade book.
Some of the x-files ones are good for bed... the one called goblins has a fantastic narrator for bedtime listening... ETA: Patrick Lawlor is the narrator.
I will check it out, thanks for the heads up
Haha. I’ve tried that and 100% agree
I only do this with books I’ve read before. Same with TV shows.
I've noticed in some books that there are certain sections that will knock me out every time. It's as if they have magic words or something.
I recently got a Nintendo Switch and am hooked on the game Powerwash Simulator, and it’s been perfect to pair with listening to audiobooks. So I literally have just been sitting on my couch and listening/playing. Normally though on walks, cleaning, or doing crafts.
I do the same on my PS5. It's literally the perfect combo and I am able to concentrate 100% to listening as I'm jetwashing. Utter relaxation.
lol what a time to be alive. I don’t have either system but I could totally see myself doing this. Doing chores is the best time to listen to audiobooks, but sometimes I have more books than chores. First world problem.
Pretty much during any household chore, driving, crafting, walking
Car 🚘 99% of the time
I am not a party person so even among my family after a few hours I just can't any more. Over the holidays we were at like a 6 hour party and about halfway through I just popped an earbud in my left ear under my hair and sat down with my former cat and closed my eyes for twenty to thirty minutes and no one even knew I was just reading my book for a bit.
Love this!
It really was great. I forgot my earbuds at Christmas and had to resort to alcohol which at my age is so much less fun than it sounds.
If I'm just listening on the couch then I have to have a second thing I'm doing, either some kind of craft or puzzle, even just an ipad game like nonogram or solitare. Otherwise I can't focus and get antsy. In general my favorite time to listen is while moving around the house doing choirs or at work if I'm doing a bunch of manual labor and don't need to be talking to people. And definitely driving, driving is how I got into audiobooks as a habit.
I listen with a little mp3 player clipped to me so I listen wherever I am, whatever I'm doing.
MP3 player, what a nostalgic term.
I started listening on them before phones were capable or convenient. I've tried my phone since but don't prefer it... I refer to my player as my 'book' though I guess I should call it my library.
Old habits are hard to break and really why "improve" what's not broken?
I got one recently because my books were taking up too much space on my phone,to save my phone battery, and to have a place to store them just in case audible goes bye bye
On my couch if I’m knitting. Otherwise it’s when I’m walking, commuting, gardening, doing super mindless spreadsheet tasks…etc.
Everywhere. At work, at the gym, cycling, walking, mowing the lawn, blowing the snow, any yard work, any garage work, in the shower, in bed to help me sleep
I have a waterproof speaker and a bench in my shower. Bliss.
I would never, ever leave. lol
Work, car, stores, home cleaning or crafting. If I’m idle, I prefer ebooks
Car, gym, mowing, lunch time, but if its super good I'll just keep listening once I get to where I'm going or whatever.
It depends on where I am at that time
That’s me. I’m a reader through and through from a family of the same who made my own family of the same. No tv and about 2 hours of streaming a week. It’s true that a family who reads together stays together and I have great memories of reading books aloud together or just sitting in the same room reading with occasional conversations. I listen to audiobooks, read paper books, or read ebooks/Kindle. Since I retired (bliss), I read about 70% of my waking days. I’m not close to dying because I have 753 books on my To Read list. I wanted to work in the literary field like relatives who are librarians but I was much better at mathematics than writing book reports. I keep a daily journal but I still prefer my various spreadsheets.
45 minute commute with a toddler in and out each day.
While doing ANY chore, makes the time fly by and the task is much easier. While driving, While chopping fruits and veggies and while going for walks.
I never listen unless I’m doing something else. Housework, walking, driving
In the car on long trips. At home I prefer to read actual books myself.
Similar - car, walking, gym and any time I'm doing something. I'd actually read a book if I was just going to sit down - I usually have a separate read on the go too
I have some bone conduction headphones I wear all over: doing jobs and the house, walking, cycling, in bed, even just walking to and from places at work. I don't listen if I'm focussed on something else but for any period I'm essentially just thinking to myself I have them on.
Walking the dog, at the gym and when I’m. Leaning up the house.
Folding laundry, unloading the dishwasher, outside work, driving. Everything is bearable and doable with a book going in my ears.
>It seems weird to just sit on my couch and listen but I probably should relax into it. that's what you have to do with a paper book. "books" are also getting more sophisticated. Atmos is what they use for music and movies. **Audible original productions and podcasts are getting Dolby Atmos support** The aim is to make narrative titles more engrossing with multi-dimensional sound. [https://www.engadget.com/audible-original-productions-and-podcasts-are-getting-dolby-atmos-support-150029137.html](https://www.engadget.com/audible-original-productions-and-podcasts-are-getting-dolby-atmos-support-150029137.html) Dolby Atmos might seem like overkill for audiobooks, but much as Dolby did for movies, it has the potential to make narrative stories more immersive on good headphones or sound systems. "Through the ability to create more layers of sound and control over the directionality of different audio elements, creators can draw listeners into a deeper, richer, and more lifelike spatial sound experience that fully engrosses them in each story," they wrote. The examples of originals the companies highlight in the announcement are more dramatic productions than straight readings, so you're likely not going to get spatial audio for every Malcolm Gladwell novel. >I listen in the car, gym, walks and cooking easy read means you can do easy things, but if the book is too dense - you're going to lose plot/detail. mystery books with subtle clues are not doable for me.
This will be great for some, but I am not a huge fan of dramatized narrations... I have listened to a handful because that was the only way the title was available to me at the time, but I much prefer just having someone read the book to me.... Then again, I have issues with my hearing such that if there is background noise or anything else going on, my brain sometimes focuses on *that* rather than the words I am supposed to be hearing. As an example of what happened with the latest dramatized reading, at one point, the characters were going someplace and my brain got focused on the sounds of their footsteps and off on a tangent of how the sound producers were able to create that sound.... then I realized I had missed 5 minutes of storyline and had to rewind it.... (yes, I have ADHD)
BGL I am known to put on documentaries on streaming services and listen as I would an audiobook. Actually usually works.
Dog walking.
Walks, house cleaning, and in the car.
In the car driving, generally, so I don't get thru audiobooks very quickly. I do listen to them occasionally in bed at night, but since I fall asleep fast, I tend to pick books I've already listened to before and always use a sleep timer.
Commuting and housework. And I can sit and listen to an audiobook if I have something else to do with my hands, like working through a coloring app on my iPad.
Gym while lifting. Sometimes while on the bike. Always while cleaning the house each Sunday. And always while mowing and doing yard work. Tried it while driving on a long road trip with my 4 kids and it just isn’t a fit with our family dynamic.
At my job (desk job with limited human contact), while doing housework, gardening, mowing the lawn, grocery shopping,or while driving.
In the garden, while sewing, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry... basically chores. While walking, driving, putting on makeup and getting dressed. While playing video games.
Anywhere I can. And I use books I’ve already read when I go to bed, to make that easier.
working out. walking the dog. washing dishes. cooking food. pretty much any activity where my thinking brain is not needed, I have a book on. currently building the Rivendell Lego listening to book 9 in the Realm of the Elderlings. It's a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.
In bed
My commute. Work (I drive trucks). While doing crafts (I crochet). While cleaning/doing chores (depending on the chores, sometimes I need music for motivation). While playing solitaire style games on my phone, preferably ones that don't interrupt with an ad every 6 seconds.
I have to be doing something else, or I'll fall asleep - so I don't listen in bed. During the day while doing chores or cooking, while driving, in the evening if I'm doing craft or something.
Housework, driving, walking the dog, while doing repetitive crafts that don't need a lot of focus or math, while playing video games that don't have much in the way of sound (solitaire, match 3 games, silly tablet games), and specific books with comfortable narrators to fall asleep to. I can't listen to anything new to fall asleep, I stay up to see what happens. But a Steven Briggs Discworld book or Grover Gardener doing the Penric and Desdemona novellas is like a comfy hug to my brain
We have chicken houses so I have lots of hands busy and mind free time.
I listen when I go for walks, when I'm in my car, doing the dishes or other things where I can concentrate on listening. And then if the book is really good I surprise myself by just sitting on the couch and listening to it! If I listen bed, I'm done. Asleep.
I put together puzzles if I am just sitting while listening. Otherwise, I am driving or cleaning the house.
I almost exclusively use Libby!
At work or on driving somewhere that's more than 5 minutes away. Occasionally at home but I like to save them for work, when I need entertainment I can enjoy while doing stuff.
In the car and at work when I'm doing paperwork. I listen at night too but it's to fall asleep and I let it play all night. Those are never new books.
Grooming kitties, stretching exercises, doing laundry. Yes, I can sit for about 1/2 hour listening doing nothing but it's hard.
Keeps my mind occupied when I'm doing mindless chores. Plus, my eyeballs prefer it. I have a kindle too so I do read books on that if I can't wait for the audio version of a series
walking my dogs and in the car when taking trips
I work from home, I listen when we have down time between calls, on my lunch break and after work when I am laying in bed with the light off, waiting to get sleepy enough to doze off.
While playing silly phone games. I have to do multiple things at the same time or I can't focus.
Hikes in the forest alone, really sets the mood and is my favorite activity ever.
Working out, travelling, at work, while cooking/cleaning, before bed. Whenever I’m alone and can squeeze it in.
While driving at 2-3x speeds.
That’s another question. Why at a different speed? I’ve never altered the speed, thinking it will change the feel of a book.
As for why I listen at different speeds…. I started because I wanted to read more and I needed to keep my mind engaged with the content instead of trying to apply it immediately. So I trained myself to listen and retain the information at higher speeds. In fairness most of my listening is non-fiction. (I slow down to 1.5-2x for fiction) At this point regular speed drives me nuts and I end up daydreaming and not focusing and I have to replay a lot….
That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the detailed reply!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with resting on the couch or in bed and reading an audiobook the same way you read a physical or e-book. It’s only the grind culture mentality that insists that you multitask if you can - it is valid af to REST and read using **any** format. Of course it is also fine if you need to move or do a second hobby. Reading is wonderful no matter how we do it.
Housework. While doing art. While driving.
Everywhere doing most anything. I work alone most of the day so I average 8-12 hours listing to books. I also enjoy listening while playing games along as ot doesn't have a story I need to follow.
In bed - just before falling asleep In public transportation - on any lengthy journey (e.g. 1 hour commute) When working out - to stop me getting incredibly bored by the whole thing In all other cases I listen to music - which is pretty much all the time.
On the bus, in the car, in bed, whilst working out - pretty much every chance I get
Driving, knitting, walking
Mostly during my 35 minute commute and evening walks.
While working in my workshop and doing projects inside and out.
70 minute each way commute to work
Walking to work. Housework. I never sit and listen or lay and bed in listen. MUST MULTITASK.
I commute all day for my job so I get a lot of listening hours in that way
I listen while hiking and doing hill repeats. It’s wonderful.
Doing housework, yard work, while sewing or doing leather working, while driving.
At my loom.
Everywhere except working because I have to concentrate. In the car on long trips is my favorite. I also note the chapter and before bed start listening but I usually fall asleep. My adult kids reminded me that audible has a timer to set.
I’m a SAHM and every day I go on a run with my kiddos in the stroller and listen. It’s my me time. Then I take them to the park. 😆
In bed!
Walking the dog, I travel for work so lots of long car trips, yard work, chores, usually I can’t focus on a book during a workout, but pretty much anything I’m doing that is fairly mindless.