Downpour Audiobooks pricing is from purchasing individual books in the desired formats available or by enrolling in a $12.99 monthly subscription plan.

Downpour Audio Books Pricing 

The history of audiobooks extends back to 1932 when a recording studio was established for the American Foundation for the Blind which recorded audio on vinyl records. As the technology evolved, audiobooks increased in popularity with the availability of cassettes and CDs, allowing people to take their reading in the car on long trips and daily commutes. 

Over the last 20 years, cell phones have become an increasing part of everyday life, taking the convenience of the computer on the go and allowing internet accessibility from nearly anywhere in the world. This ushered in a new age of streaming that has launched video streaming services, such as Netflix, music streaming services, podcasts, and audiobook providers, such as Scribd, Amazon’s Audible, and Downpour Audiobooks, to a new level. Today, the best audiobook services have taken smart devices by storm and audiobooks can be streamed straight from the device in someone’s pocket.

What is Downpour Audiobooks and how does it work? 

Downpour Audiobooks is an audiobook store and player that is compatible with PC, and Mac and has apps available for many popular mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad, Kindle, Nook, Android, and Windows phones and tablets. Users can download audiobooks new releases and listen to them at their leisure, leaving a digital bookmark in the places where they left off.

Downpour Audiobooks gives its users the option of purchasing individual books from a wide variety of bestsellers in the desired formats available or by enrolling in a $12.99 monthly subscription plan. The subscription includes 1 monthly credit that can be used to cash in for a book from the library. Additional credits can be easily purchased and the service also offers audiobook rentals, which is not common among competitors that offer similar features. 

Content downloaded from Downpour Audiobooks and be accessed among different devices. If the material is downloaded into the library from the downpour app on a smartphone, the subscriber can go to downpour.com to log in to their account and access the same content for the versatility of listening wherever they may find themselves.

While not all sunshine and rainbows, Downpour Audiobooks reviews do have a handful of negative mentions on the subscription service that warn against the lack of a free-trial option and some books costing more than one credit.

Audiobooks can be useful tools for students as they allow the listener to develop a different type of comprehension than comes from reading alone and have also been shown to increase vocabulary. Audiobooks also open the doors for students to expand their reading base beyond their capable reading level to engage with topics of particular interest.

What is DRM free? 

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a copyright protection for digital media. For audiobook files that are DRM protected, the files will only be playable on the application or platform that the media is purchased from and are not able to be transferred among devices. While much of Downpour’s content is DRM free and allows for usage across platforms, select products on Downpour are required by publishers to have DRM-protected files.

Benefits of DRM free

DRM-free audiobooks come with many benefits, such as the ability to share downloaded content across multiple devices. The freedom to do this is preferred for people who used several devices in different areas of their lives. 

Those who would normally listen to audiobooks in the background of an internet browser while they work can have the same accessibility from their smartphone to take their reading with them and continue their materials. 

Alternative to Downpour Audiobook 

Audiobooks are useful tools for those looking to add the convenience of reading to a hectic schedule or life on the go, but the options are limited to what is offered in the audiobook library. And while audiobooks are preferred to assist in reading comprehension for students, there is a component that can increase reading comprehension and retention even further that audiobooks don’t offer.

Speechify

An alternative to audiobook apps is text-to-speech software, such as Speechify. Speechify is the #1 rated text-to-speech app that will read any text including PDFs, textbooks, and much more.

While audiobooks can read your favorite books aloud to the listener, Speechify can read anything aloud and highlight the reading as it goes along, helping launch comprehension and retention of materials to the next level. Any book sitting on the shelf at home can be transferred into audio with the help of Speechify. 

Many audiobook listeners prefer audiobooks as a way to jump the hurdle that can be caused by reading disabilities such as ADHD or dyslexia. Speechify also assists those who are struggling with reading problems or learning disabilities by reading text aloud and highlighting the text as it goes. 

Speechify is compatible with Chrome, Android, and iOS, allowing its accessibility to nearly anyone with any device. The mobile app can be downloaded from the google play app store. The software will read everything from highlighted text from the screen of a computer to pictures from the pages of a book on the shelf. 

From any smart device with a camera, pictures can be taken directly from the Speechify app. These pictures can be cropped to remove any noise that makes its way into the photo, then the text from the photos can be read aloud. By spending 30 seconds taking photos of the pages of a book, an hour of audio content can be generated. 

PDFs can also be turned into audio content by sharing the files with the Speechify app. Once the file is shared, the document can be opened in the app to select the specific pages or text desired. The app makes it easy to crop out the noise that is found in the headers and footers of documents. Once these crops have been made, the Speechify app lets you apply the settings to all pages in a document to keep the reading selections fluid throughout a single document.

For smart devices with the Speechify App installed, anything that is copied to the clipboard can be read with the app. Simply copy the content of text messages, emails, or word documents and open the Speechify app. Speechify will recognize the text that is sitting in the clipboard and offer it as an option to be read aloud. This feature is also a useful tool for proofreading emails or google documents to allow for errors to be audibly noted and corrected. 

Speechify offers many benefits as an alternative to an audiobook player, such as never needing to purchase extra credits to listen to more content.

FAQs

Who owns downpour audiobooks?

Downpour Audiobooks was brought to the audiobook market in 2012, but the parent company, Blackstone Audio, was founded by Craig & Michelle Black in 1987. 

How do you purchase audiobooks on Audible?

Audible audiobooks can be purchased flat out for the advertised price using a credit card. Alternatively, Audible offers a monthly subscription plan that offers 1 audible credit per month for a flat monthly fee. The credit can be used to purchase a book from the available library. 

Other available services, such as Speechify, allow the user to turn any hard copy book they own into an audiobook that will read the words along with the audio. The best part? Speechify is free. 

Are audiobooks cheaper on Audible?

Audible and Audiobooks.com both offer offline listening and the same monthly subscription fee. Where Audible takes the cake with a better returns policy and audio quality, exclusive audible original titles, and a yearly subscription discount. However, Audiobooks.com offers access to audiobook clubs.

Downpour offers a slightly less costly monthly subscription and offers the ability to rent fiction and non-fiction audiobooks, but a more limited library, and Downpour doesn’t offer a sleep-timer function like Audible. Many text-to-speech softwares than can be used as audiobook alternatives, such as Speechify, are free. 

What is the average length of an audiobook?

The average length of an audiobook is approximately 10 hours.

How do you contact Downpour customer support?

Downpour has a Contact Page where you can send them a message if you have questions.