this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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Audiobook Hosting (self.selfhosted)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by hutchmcnugget to c/selfhosted
 

I want to get away from audible to save money and for privacy. I would like to keep buying audiobooks if possible and host them on my server to stream to my android phone.

I have an unraid plex server at home. Suggestions for hosting and streaming solutions?

Update: I ended up going with audiobookshelf. I love it so far and it does everything I need. More importantly (for me anyway) it's not reliant on a $17/mo audible subscription. Please reach out over DM if you find this post in the future and have trouble getting audiobookshelf to work on unraid!

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[–] leraje 42 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's really good too.

[–] Protegee9850 1 points 1 year ago

And iOS app too! It’s awesome.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Audiobookshelf works great and is very easy to setup using Docker. I get most of my audiobooks through Downpour. They have a subscription that gives credits to redeem for audiobooks similar to Audible, but they are drm-free. I download the audiobooks and move them to my NAS that has Audiobookshelf running on it. Audiobookshelf has a web client and apps for Android and iOS (TestFlight beta).

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Audiobookshelf all the way.

[–] hutchmcnugget 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the responses! Sounds like audiobookshelf is the way to go.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Audiobookshelf is da bomb! You are going to have a great time while installing it, using it and sharing it with friends and family.

If you need help just send me a DM.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not what you're asking for and others have provided a lot of options... but if you still want to support authors and get DRM-free audio books, check out https://libro.fm. It works like Audibe credits and easy to pause and resume membership (more cost effective than buying books retail and you can buy extra credits). They also support a local brick and mortar book store of your choice with your purchase.

[–] hutchmcnugget 2 points 1 year ago

I'm just looking at this now, supporting a local bookstore is pretty cool

[–] mrclark 7 points 1 year ago

Like everybody else here said...audiobookshelf is da bomb. I had an audible subscription for a while and found myself without the time to really listen to enough audiobooks to make it worthwhile so I cancelled. I know I could still access the audiobooks I purchased but I'm always concerned with these companies suddenly having a disagreement with a publisher and nuking a whole pile of media I paid for so I figured out how to download my purchased audiobooks locally to be listened to via audiobookshelf. Worked great.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like you may have already settled on audiobookshelf, but Plex can easily be used to host all of your audiobooks. You just use a music library.

Someone wrote a great walkthrough here.

[–] hutchmcnugget 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll probably try both! Thanks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If you’re on iOS, Prologue is the best mobile audiobook experience: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/prologue/id1459223267

Audiobookshelf is also very good (and free).

[–] FermatsLastAccount 4 points 1 year ago

I'd also reccomend audiobookshelf. I'm running it using Docker on a VPS.

It has an option for ebooks too, but I don't like the ebook interface, so I use Kavita for those.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Everyone loves audiobookshelf, but since you mentioned Plex, I thought I'd let you know that you can use Plex to host your audiobooks too.

Here's a guide:

https://github.com/seanap/Plex-Audiobook-Guide

I use Prologue for IOS to listen to them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Just wanted to kention that plex does not detect chaptee marks in m4b files and will not keep your progress if you switch to some other media.

Those are the 2 reasons I personally switched to Audiobookshelf. Which coincidentally is also a lot better at managing audiobook metadata since plex mostly treats audiobooks as music.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a plex setup too, using Prologue.

I never listen to audiobooks using Plex, and prologue manages listening state just fine for me.

[–] ZeroNamesLeft 1 points 1 year ago

I use an iphone, and this is my set up too. Does android have a prologue app?

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tagging along on this question, is there a reasonably simple way to rip audible books to a non-proprietary/drm format?

[–] justcallmelarry 2 points 1 year ago

In @nerdias comment in this thread about setting up plex for audiobooks, there is also a section with a link about de-drm’ing your audible books.

I havent troed it out myself, just stumbled upon it while checking out the thread, but I thought I’d point it out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Audiobookshelf user here. Definitely is the best solution at this moment.

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