Whether you’re going on a long car journey or flight, looking for a bed-time story for your children or if you simply struggle to read, an audio book is a great solution. Today, there are lots of sites that offer audio book downloads, but not all of them are brilliant. We sorted through the dross to pick out some of our favourites.

Silksoundbooks lets you download a fantastic selection of audio books, read by star performers such as Andrew Sachs, Greta Scacci, Jane Horrocks and many more. Browse the selection by author, genre or performer to find the perfect audio book for your car, a flight or bedtime, listening to samples before downloading to your iPod or MP3 player for just £7.95 each. www.silksoundbooks.com

Audible has a large share of the online audio book market, with over 10,000 titles in over 100 categories on offer, covering a wide range of genres from biographies, bestsellers, classics, comedy shows, radio dramas and self development programmes. Download books in minutes to listen anywhere and at any time. Subscriptions start at £9.49 and there is no committment, enabling you to cancel at any time. www.audible.co.uk

Simply Listen offers a large selection of audio books in categories covering everything from Art & Drama, TV & Film and Comedy to Self Help, Crime & Thriller and Children’s books. There’s nothing more annoying than downloading a quintessentially English book being read in an American accent, so it’s great to be able to hear an audio sample here before you buy. There’s no monthly subscription and no extra software to install, which makes life easier too. www.simplylisten.com

Books Should Be Free makes classic copyright- free books across a wide-range of genres and languages available for audio download in an engaging online environment. Download books such as Grimm’s Fairy Tales or The Scarlett Pimpernel to listen on MP3 or iPod players and find out more about authors and books via Wikipedia links next to each entry. www.booksshouldbefree.com

audioVille provides audio books covering a range fiction, education, comedy, non-fiction, documentaries and guides as well as a range of BBC dramas and historical series. Everyone who makes a purchase receives their own virtual library, where all the items you buy are stored. Titles are available to buy in MP3 or encoded WMA format, but it's worth noting that WMAs will not play on iPods unless you burn them to CD, then rip them back in. www.audioville.co.uk

LibriVox is an American site, which enlists volunteers from members of the public to record chapters of books in the public domain. It then releases the audio files back onto the net with the goal of making all public domain books available as free audio books. It get points for the nice, public-spirited idea, but different sections of books are read by different people, often with no qualifications other than an audible voice, and this can make readings sound quite clunky compared with other audio book sites. librivox.org

Emily Jenkinson

16 February 2011