“One of the reasons I get them from the library is I rarely listen to a book twice. “I love to get audiobooks from the library to listen to during the endless time spent alone in my studio,” says Carol MacConnell, a 65-year-old professional artist from Cincinnati. Instead, consumers looking to cut costs can download audiobooks from their local libraries, for free. But for avid book listeners, paying for a subscription-or to download titles one at a time-can become an expensive habit. Download fees vary depending on the title. Spotify’s audiobooks display a lock icon on the play button signaling that they need to be purchased, the company says. Recently, even Spotify, the music streaming giant, launched its own audiobook service.

There are plenty of sites like Audible, Scribd, and that charge users to download titles. They can be a nice addition to your daily walk or make long workdays go by a bit more quickly. With inflation at a 40-year record-high, the best place to cut costs is discretionary spending, such as restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Among the money-saving tips Consumer Reports got from readers and financial professionals is to download free audiobooks, which can make an arduous commute or a boring stretch of highway on your summer road trip more tolerable.

Listen to audiobooks online free