Audiobooks on YouTube
YouTube launched in 2005 and it didn’t take long to become an online phenomenon. The video-sharing platform is second only to Google Search in terms of visitors. In 2019, before the pandemic and before more people started creating online content, YouTube users uploaded roughly 500 hours of content every minute.
In essence, YouTube is a never-ending video library with content on almost any topic. However, not many people realize that YouTube doesn’t cater only to people who want to watch videos. Anyone can upload pure audio content and let it run over a single image for hours. Let’s discuss some of the best full audiobooks you can find on the platform.
Where are the audiobook channels on YouTube?
Many YouTube channels give users the opportunity to listen to quality audiobooks. Public Domain Audiobooks, Audio Books, and Greatest Audio Books are three of the most popular choices.
Naturally, dedicated channels aren’t the only solution to listening to a full audiobook on YouTube. Many users upload various public domain audiobooks and other works on their channels. Some even create playlists, and people can listen to full audiobooks for days.
Here are some playlists you may like:
- Jane Austen Audiobooks
- C.S. Lewis Audiobooks
- Classic Audiobooks
- Jane Austen Audiobooks
- Agatha Christie Audiobooks
Some people may even add individual audiobooks like Dracula by Bram Stoker or the Tales of Space and Time by H.G. Wells.
More often than not, it’s easier to find full-length audiobooks on non-dedicated YouTube channels. Content creators and users of all types may upload audiobooks to share interesting stories despite generally focusing on other content.
Is it legal to listen to audiobooks on YouTube?
This is one of the biggest questions surrounding YouTube audiobooks. The important thing to understand is that YouTube constantly takes down many audiobooks. That’s because many full audiobooks are copyrighted.
When audiobooks violate the terms of service, the platform does whatever it can to take them down. Fortunately for YouTube users, there are enough public domain books narrated by voice authors or channel owners.
For instance, listening to The Art of War by Sun Tzu or a narration of a Charles Dickens or Arthur Conan Doyle novel is one thing. Those are public domain works now and legal to share however people want. However, an audiobook version of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki has every chance to be copyrighted material, such as you would find on audiobooks.com or Audible.
Fortunately, public domain works contain great books, from non-fiction to science fiction and sci-fi books. Provided you find a version with quality narration, public domain books make for some of the best audiobooks on YouTube.
What else can you watch on YouTube?
The good news about YouTube channels is that they have a lot of content. After all, it’s the most popular video-sharing platform by some distance. Many people use YouTube to watch full-length documentaries, self-help videos, tutorials, podcasts, George Orwell short stories, interviews, etc.
Podcasts are among the most popular type of YouTube videos. You can also always hit play on a YouTube video and minimize the window. You can listen to full videos with ease, audiobooks, and unabridged versions of the best audiobooks.
Speechify – Listen to your own writing
Speechify uses text to speech software to take digital text and turn it into audio content. It uses natural-sounding voices generated by powerful machine learning and AI algorithms to achieve realistic tone and accurate pronunciation.
At its core, Speechify is an assistive technology tool developed for people with dyslexia or ADHD and other auditory learners. You can use it to listen to news articles, emails, documents, study materials, or even your own short stories.
You can listen to them in real time or download the audio in multiple file formats for later use.
Try Speechify on almost any platform, including Android, iOS, and macOS, and see how easy it is to use.
FAQ
What are some good audiobooks on YouTube?
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, and many full audiobooks are popular among YouTube users.
