Have you ever wanted to dive into the world of audiobooks but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re an avid audiobook user but are wondering what the best app is for you. 

With your Anythink library card, you can check out free audiobooks from three different platforms:

• Blackstone Unlimited – The tiny but exciting “new kid on the street” 
• Hoopla – The ever-reliable, well-known platform
• Libby – The mega-popular current social media darling 

Each platform works a bit differently and, while the services they offer are similar, they aren’t identical. Learn more about the benefits of each audiobook platform plus how they work with your library card.

All about Blackstone Unlimited

Blackstone Unlimited is one of the newest audiobook platforms and is the most open platform for library customers and the library itself. All the titles on this platform are owned by Blackstone Publishing. Because of this there are no limits on customer checkouts and there are no holds because all titles are instantly available. Blackstone only charges the library a flat fee to allow customer access.

Their collection includes many classics, as well as some contemporary favorites like Jeneva Rose, M.C. Beaton, and Karin Slaughter. The collection is smaller and is primarily in English, with just a few language learning audiobooks and Spanish language titles. Still, as Blackstone Publishing acquires more titles, the collection will continue to grow. In our experience, the platform is best for a first search! 

Hopefully you’ll discover you enjoy their publishing vibe and editorial philosophy, which focuses on solid genre choices. 

All about Hoopla

Hoopla is similar to Blackstone because titles are always available with no holds. Hoopla has a much larger collection, though, with recent popular titles, a lot of classics, and many independently published books. Hoopla has some titles that aren’t available on Libby and offers ebooks, audiobooks, movies and TV show episodes, comics, and more. Hoopla also has a robust Spanish language collection with almost 9,000 audiobook titles. It also offers many titles in German and French and has some titles in a variety of other languages.

Hoopla works quite differently on the library side of things. For every item borrowed Hoopla charges the library a modest fee whether the item is used or not. Because of this, nearly every library will limit the number of monthly checkouts allowed.

With a little patience you can bypass your monthly checkout limit with Hoopla's Bonus Borrows program which lets customers borrow from a curated collection of items at the end of each month without charging the library.

All about Libby

Libby has the most up-to-date audiobook collection with the newest or most popular books. This holds true for non-English language titles as well since Libby offers some titles in a wide variety of languages. Recently, as more Spanish titles are requested, that collection has grown, as well as some titles in German.

Libby offers the greatest variety of audiobooks because of the way libraries access Libby’s collection. Each title is leased individually, so the library never truly owns Libby titles. Many titles expire after a certain period of time (usually between one to two years) or after a specific number of checkouts – whichever comes first.

Despite this, Libby leases typically cost several times more for libraries than the same materials cost for individuals to buy on other platforms. Many times it isn’t very cost effective for the library to buy a $120 audiobook that may expire before it is ever checked out.

At Anythink, we still love to get customer requests for Libby items, because then we know that at least one person wants that book! Customer requests for items help us customize our collection to match our community’s interests. 

How to get started

From regular audiobook users to readers taking the leap from physical copies for the first time, you can use your Anythink library card to explore free audiobook platforms and start checking out items today! Go to the Stream & Download page for more specific directions on how to start listening to audiobooks on Blackstone Unlimited, Hoopla and Libby.