Listening to Audiobooks on Hibooks App

I used to read books a lot, especially while growing up.

But recently, I have found it a struggle to concentrate on books. I guess my brain was rewired thanks to social media or Netflix or the Internet as a whole? Who knows! I know I’m not the only one, because I’ve discussed this phenomenon with some friends. What a tragedy.

But then, my boss mentioned that she managed to finish all three books of the Crazy Rich Asians series. How? I wondered, because I know that she and I had both had issues with finishing even a quarter of a certain book of short stories recently. The secret? Audio books!

But she got her audio books fix through the National Library, which I’m no longer a member of since I’m not a citizen and stopped forking over the annual membership fee years ago when I got my kindle. So I decided to scout around for other audio book sources.

Audible was my first choice but it doesn’t seem to be available in Singapore. Google then showed me AudioBooks.com and I used my trial listen on A Simple Favor. It was a fascinating read listen, even though overall I would have to say it had a subpar plot. I loved how they switched voices for the three main characters who each had chapters with their POV. But I thought 14 usd per audiobook was a bit much, so I unfortunately couldn’t stay on.

Then one day, I found out about Hibooks app, through an ad in Instagram, I think? It functions like Netflix in that you can listen to as many audiobooks as you want for a monthly fee of 9.99 usd (13+ sgd). I thought this was more doable, so I gave it a shot.

Description from iTunes:

Listen to the hottest new releases, or your well-loved favorites. Enjoy 50k audiobooks in 30+ categories from bestelling authors.

Download hibooks and:
– Listen to as many audiobooks as you want
– Discover your next favorite with our curated collections
– Stream or download to listen anytime
– Enjoy a simple plan with no strings attached
– Create your own library
– Control your narration speed

THE AUDIOBOOKS OUR USERS ARE LISTENING TO:
– The Outsider by Stephen King
– Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
– The Outsider by Stephen King
– A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
– Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
– Fear by Bob Woodward
– Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by
– 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
– Origin by Dan Brown
– Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

and so many more…

NOT SURE WHAT TO LISTEN TO NEXT?
Check out our expertly-curated collections or our ‘book of the day’, and discover your new favorite audiobook. Recent collections include:

– Popular Young Adult
– J. R. R. Tolkien
– Mindfulness
– Night at the Movies
– Survival Stories
– Danielle Steel
– Horror
– Books on NPR
and many more

Downloading hibooks means you’ll never have to worry about book credits again. Download the app and listen to exactly what you want. It costs just $9.99 USD a month — the price of a single paperback!

Terms of your subscription:

Your hibooks membership will automatically renew within a 24-hour period of each term and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings. You may cancel at any time.

– Hibooks membership is $9.99 USD per month for access to over 50,000 premium audiobooks.
– Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence.
– Any unused portion of the free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription within the trial period.
– Terms & Conditions: https://www.hibooks.com/terms
– Privacy policy: https://www.hibooks.com/terms

I stumbled on Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody, which I decided to listen to because it was read by the author herself. I fell in love with her speaking voice! It made listening to the book more fun, definitely. You can listen to a scrap of it below.

 

Since I signed up, I’ve finished several books already, including a few that I hadn’t finished reading on my kindle – Robert Galbraith’s Career of Evil, Charles Duhig’s The Power of Habit, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. I like that I can multitask – listen to a book while doing some other activity that doesn’t require reading, like chores or scrolling through Instagram.

I also like listening to it right before I fall asleep. Sometimes I do forget to turn it off before nodding off, though, and then I wake up to find that I had finished the audiobook and need to figure out where I actually left off. This is a con, I suppose. Maybe they can add a Netflix-like “are you still there?” prompt.

Other cons – well, I am annoyed with the music that they play when you start the app. Why can’t they just jump right to the content? Also, I have encountered some connectivity issues, but it wasn’t that frequent.

Overall, I would still recommend it. You can download Hi Books app on iTunes. I can’t seem to find an Android link for it, I think it’s an Apple exclusive.

They have a trial period of 3 days so you can check it out first to see if it’s your thing. But after that short period you will get automatically charged by iTunes, so make sure to quickly make up your mind and cancel if it’s not for you before that short period is up!

P. S. I have seen the movie version of A Simple Favor and I must say, I’m adding it to my list of movies better than the books! I don’t recommend the book, actually, it’s better to skip it and watch the movie, which was a surprising mix of comedy and thriller. Coincidentally, it stars Anna Kendrick alongside Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians). Below is the trailer.

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