What device do you use for listening to audiobooks? Do you want to find a best player? When audiobook was first developed in 1930s, it is mainly used on tapes, CDs, After 1980s, many book retailers start to promote this kind of media. Today, we can listen to audiobooks via various devices such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, smart TVs, game consoles, streaming boxes, portable speakers and much on. But the best device for listening to audiobooks is MP3 player undoubtedly for its advantages like portability, long endurance, big capacity.
In terms of MP3 players, iPod is the pioneer with most popularity. And a lot of other brands like Sandisk followed closely with different models. This makes it hard to decide which one to buy in the music crowded media player industry. To help you select an best audiobook player, we will offer the top tips and recommendations in this post. Please continue to read.
View also: How to Convert Audible AA/AAX to MP3
The answer to what is the best audiobook MP3 player can be subjective because it has many things to do with everyone's preferences. For instance, a visual impaired old man may prefer a player with lossless audio quality while a young man may prefer a wide screen player which looks cool. For a child, a player with smaller size will fix him much better. Before buying, following factors are worth considering:
The scenario that you'd most likely listen to audiobooks is on the go such as walking, jogging, running or doing exercise. Unless you use the MP3 device at home, classroom or office, you should make sure to pick up one with light weight and compact size.
As a gadget for listening audio files, we may not need to watch the screen all the time. But a big screen will help you operate the device and control the playback in a much easier way. Devices with small screens are cheaper but that doesn't mean they are with low quality. There can be best MP3 players out there with small displays.
Differs from a standard song which is only several MB in capacity, an unabridged audiobook can have as long as several hours length and several GB capacity. In order to load multiple audiobooks completely, you should make sure to have at least 4GB internal capacity. It would be better if your device supports external SD card.
Nowadays many audiobook sources come with proprietary formats and DRM protection. iTunes audiobook is in M4B format and usually they are only available for iPod Touch, iPad Pro, iPhone. Audible is in AA or AAX format, and you need to make sure you have an Audible compatible MP3 players too if you are considering to buy audiobooks from Amazon. An MP3 player with wide compatibility of file formats MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, AMR, WMA, FLAC,OGG will save you the annoyance of transcoding fles.
Although it is difficult to hear the difference between 320Kbps and 1411Kbps songs on MP3 player, a well developed player should be able to avoid any harsh sound effect or noise and make listening a much better experience. This is especially important for a senior or blind person who has high audio sensitivity or an audiophile who has big requirement for HiFi audiobooks.
When you are outside listening audiobooks, a long endurance MP3 device with 10~15 hours endurance will ensure you to concentrate on the things you are doing without interruption.
The Bluetooth feature with help you stream music from your MP3 players to other Bluetooth compatible devices easily in a party or share songs with friends. A Wifi capability will let you download songs directly online without relying on the computers.
Many audiobooks are so long that you can't finish listening at a time. With the booking marking features, you can easily navigate to the last part you left off and continue the listening without starting from scratch.
Now you have learned what matters to a best MP3 player for audiobook. You can take a look at all the hot-selling MP3 gadgets in the market to pick up the one meets your needs best. For your convenience, following is a list of the top 6 best audiobook MP3 players in 2018:
Apple has been leading the MP3 market since its release of iPod. In the past, many models such as iPod Classic/Shuffle/Nano and iPod Touch are developed. Though most of the models were discontinued, iPod Touch still flourish with a large base of users all over the world. With a large storage of 128GB, a long endurance of 40 hours of audio playback, wide touch screen, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, it is the best overall MP3 player. The only drawback is that it is kind of expensive at $114.99.
If you'd like to get a high quality MP3 player without running out of budget, then that is it. It has an internal storage of 8GB with SD card extension support up to 32GB. Also, it comes with a large OLED display, making it easy to navigate and tweak any settings. You won't have any problems playing Audible audiobooks with it. The best part of it is that it is at an affordable price $31.95 on the promotion. It doesn't have Bluetooth or Wifi feature though.
Creative Zen is a series of MP3 Players developed by the Creative Technology Limited in Singapore. It is very small in size only 60 grams but it has powerful features. The capacity is 32GB. You can even insert a SD card to extend the memory. Creative Zen has a long lasting battery which guarantees 25 hours of continuous audio play. It supports all kinds of files like AAC, WAV, WMA, MP3 and audiobooks from Audible, Overdrive etc. The best feature of it is the bookmarking, making it most convenient ever to enjoy audiobooks. But it doesn't support Wifi or Bluetooth.
This is another high performance device with fashionable design, large capacity, wide audio format compatibility and FM radio support. It supports to save up to 16GB files with its internal memory. If you want to transfer more files to it, you just need to insert a SD card with up to 128GB size. On its main screen, you will see 6 touch buttons similar to iPod, making it easiest to control and navigate to any music or audiobooks. What makes it stupendous is that it supports HIFI lossless sound quality. It should be good for any blind people.
This is best small, light weight MP3 player come from Song. It has crystal clear sound, easy-to-use interface. It has 8GB memory which is big enough to put many audiobooks to it. The battery life is extremely long. You can listen to up to 50 hours tunes or radios. The downside is that it has a plastic covering which is not very robust.
This is another portable player with 3GB memory. If you want to have more files, you can insert another up to 32GB memory card. It has a very similar look like Apple Watch and the weight is small only 22.5 grams. Unlike other gadgets, it has a hook which enables you to hook the device tightly without worrying losing it when you are running, jogging or walking. Also, it is very proper for children who enjoy listening to audiobooks. The disadvantage is that it looks plain.
View also: How to Convert Audible AA/AAX to MP3
The top list above should cover all the best audiobook MP3 players in the market in 2018. To select one meets your needs best, you not only need to consider the parameters of the devices we talked about, but also think about your own preferences and where you buy your audiobooks.
From my point of view, if you'd enjoy iTunes M4B audiobooks, obviously the Apple iPod Touch will be a best bet. And if you choose Audible audiobooks, the players we talked above are all Audible compatible. The only thing you need to do is to use the Audible Manager for Windows to help you do the transferring. For more tutorials, you can visit: How to Put iTunes Audiobooks on iPod or How to Play Audible Audiobooks on MP3 Player.
Finally, I'd like to share a bonus tips here. Though you can use the Audible Manager to transfer audiobooks, there are a lot of MP3 players are not compatible with Audible. And nowadays there is no other players supports iTunes M4B files except iPod, iPad or iPhone. This is all because of the DRM protection.
If you'd like to transfer such audiobooks to your own MP3 device, you can also use a third party audiobook converting tool to help you.
DRmare Audiobook for Mac/Windows is special developed for users to enjoy audiobooks in a easier way with powerful features which we talked above. It use the cutting-edge technology which guarantee the best quality and performance. The trial version is totally free. Are you interested in it? If so, why not download it to try it out by yourself for free?
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