People can gain access to audio books in several ways. A portable library can be downloaded to compact disks and the books of fiction, non-fiction choices can be re-read without the reader incurring any further charges. People can carry thousands of books around on a personal digital assistant with the help of a memory card stick to store the files on. A audio book club membership is preferred by many because of the low costs associated with it.

People have found great pleasure in lending these types of books to friends. Audio books can be sent through email systems if the transfer data rate per day quota is not exceeded that is set by the internet service provider and the service that hosts the email system. There are many audio books that require additional computer applications to be installed on a home or handheld computer system before audio books can be transferred in this manner. Audio books have allowed people to learn about life, living and places in the world that they want to visit or must transact business with during the course of a normal workday. Audio books give parents the opportunity to read stories to their children at night, and during the day if they want to without having to worry about late fees or rushing to the library to return a book before it is overdue.