Falling asleep to an audiobook

April 27, 2015 9:18 AM

I've read myself to sleep all my life, and have been using various e-readers for over ten years (currently using FBreader on a Nexus 5). Books and e-readers have manual page-turning, so picking up from where I fell asleep is trivial. Is there an audio reader app that can use manual paging?

My vision is declining so I'd like to shift to listening instead of visual reading, but all the audio readers I've tried just carry on without caring that I've dropped off, so it's hard to pick up where I actually stopped listening. Some e-readers can be set to sleep after a given time, but that's not what I need because the time it takes to fall asleep varies hugely. I'd probably be OK with a good text-to-speech app, but I haven't found one that has manual paging.

I'm also looking for some kind of earphone or slim speaker that I could use lying on my side in bed, with the side of my head on a pillow, so any suggestion along those lines would be great.

posted by anadem to Technology (9 answers total)

Best answer: If you use the MP3/CD option with audio books then you could set your MP3 player to not play the next "song" automatically. That way you would have to hit play for each new chapter. It's not quite "every page" but especially with books that have short chapters, it might be good enough.

Audible.com and most public libraries have "burn to CD" options for their audio books. I think you might be able to burn to a USB drive instead, but maybe I'm wrong. If you get a clock-radio that can play MP3s of a CD then you could use that for your listening.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:24 AM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

For the earphone thing, I used to use just use one earbud in the ear that was opposite the pillow (I would wrap the other one up and tie it together). It sounds weird but you get used to it. Now I use my phone and put it under the pillow.
posted by dawkins_7 at 9:45 AM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: For the headphone thing, I adore my Sleep-phones. The first set I bought were not super-long-lived but they made some changes in the new ones and they seem to be much sturdier.
posted by tchemgrrl at 9:50 AM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Can't speak to the technology, but I love my SleepPhones which sound like they may do what you need.
posted by TravellingCari at 10:12 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep I also love my SleepPhones (bluetooth version).
posted by radioamy at 10:24 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

I haven't tried SleepPhones, but I frequently use a Sangean PS-300 pillow speaker and I've been happy with it.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 11:25 AM on April 27, 2015

Best answer: For Android: try Smart Audio Book Player or Ambling Book Player, then use the sleep timer function.

I fall asleep listening to audiobooks semi-regularly and the sleep timer is a huge help. Just set it for 10 or 20 minutes, and if you haven't fallen asleep before it stops, you just have to shake your phone to reset the timer for another 10/20 minute countdown. Even if you can't quite remember the moment you've fallen asleep you only have a short section of book to click back through the next time you want to listen to it.
posted by nerdcore at 12:41 PM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Another option for earphones is cutting an ear-sized hole in a piece of fairly dense foam, and using that on top of your pillow. I used to use SleepPhones, but my hearing got bad enough that they can't be loud enough without disturbing the other person in the bed.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 3:08 PM on April 27, 2015

Weird alternative: Use a Kindle Fire, which can use text-to-speech to READ the book, so it's NOT an audio book, it's your regular eBook, albeit read to you. No need to "page" your audio book.
posted by kschang at 10:06 AM on April 28, 2015