Kobo Books vs LibriVox

Kobo Books is a digital platform for buying and listening to audiobooks, with apps for iOS and Android and playback on select Kobo eReaders with Bluetooth. The mobile app lets listeners pause, fast-forward, rewind, and resume playback. Downloaded audiobooks can be played on a smartphone or tablet without an internet connection, and Bluetooth headphones or speakers can be used with the app. Kobo Plus Listen costs $7.99 a month after a 14-day free trial, plus applicable taxes. Kobo Plus Read & Listen costs $9.99 a month after the trial, plus applicable taxes. These subscriptions include audiobooks, or eBooks and audiobooks in the latter plan, but neither includes every title. Subscription credits also apply only to eligible audiobooks. Audiobooks cannot be played in the Kobo Desktop app or on a laptop or desktop computer. On iOS, audiobook purchases must be made through Kobo.com because the app does not support in-app purchases. Kobo Plus members can open up to 15 books offline in an eReader or app during a 30-day period before reconnecting and syncing. Kobo is based in Toronto and was founded in December 2009.

LibriVox is a free audiobook library built from volunteer recordings of public-domain books. Listeners can browse by author, title, genre or subject, and language, then play or download individual audio files, download a book ZIP, subscribe to RSS or use BitTorrent. Catalog pages provide 64 kbps and 128 kbps MP3 files, and most books also have an M4B option. Its podcast presents one book at a time in three audio installments per week. Recordings are accepted in all languages; volunteers need no prior experience or audition, just a voice, a computer and free recording software. The catalog API offers audiobook, track and author endpoints for apps that refresh catalog data. It returns 50 records by default, up to 500 per request, with offset batches for larger pulls. Recordings are donated to the public domain, though status can vary by country. LibriVox began in 2005 and is available on Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows. The catalog can include older works with language or ideas some readers find offensive or antiquated.