I listen to audiobooks because they enable me to expand my reading. When traveling or exercising they are companions; I often listen during the night when sleep is elusive -- excellent soporifics, setting a timer provides fine tuning and it's simple to return to an earlier section or chapter. I subscribe to audible.com, which provides plans with lower cost/book. Best audiobook for me has been The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy; best series is Patrick O'Brian's stories of Captain Jack Aubrey's command of British naval vessels during the days of sails and sea battles. Captain Aubrey's companion on these adventures is ship's surgeon Steven Maturin, an accomplished physician who also plays music with Jack. Superb adventures with sharp character portrayals.
Another advantage of audible-books is one can also read another book with little confusion of plots. Not all books make facile listening. More literary texts with complicated nuances of story are better read conventionally. For example, I am now reading Joyce Carol Oates latest novel, Night. Sleep.Death. The Stars, as a Kindle book because I enjoy her writing style and at times want to immediately re-read a section. Non-fiction books are excellent audio books. Audible.com often provides a PDF document to accompany a book if there are illustrations; one recent example is Walter Isaacson's biography of Leonardo da Vinci.
