How many audiobooks can fit into a Kindle e-reader?

As you know, with the introduction of the 2nd-generation Kindle Oasis 2 in late 2017, Kindle e-readers can play audiobooks again. It’s done via headphones or speakers connected via Bluetooth.

Many users plan to fill their new Kindles with hundreds of books. Who knows which one would I like to pick up during my summer holidays?

While Kindle’s limited internal memory (compared to a tablet) is not a problem when you download ebook files, it brings a big question mark the moment you start thinking about Audible audiobooks.

Many users assume an audiobook file is not heavy. It requires much less space than video. It’s more like music.

Really? Let’s see. A music album that consists of ten songs takes 40-50 MB of space. This space should accommodate one, two, or even more audiobooks, right?

Not quite. The reason is simple. Audiobooks are extremely long. An average length of an audiobook is 10 hours.

Each hour of Audible audiobook requires approximately 28-30 MB of space when you download it in high quality. For the standard quality, it’s 14-15 MB per hour.

Let’s have a look at an example. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a medium-size novel that has 320 pages (approximately 90,000 words). Its Kindle edition takes 3 MB.

Listening length of an Audible version of The Handmaid’s Tale is 10 hours and 26 minutes. Assuming that we choose standard quality, it is approximately 150 MB.

In other words, one audiobook takes space of a few music albums, not the other way round.

File sizes of the above-mentioned The Handmaid’s Tale are:

• Kindle edition – 3 MB
• Audible edition – 150 MB

8th-generation Kindle or Kindle Paperwhite have 4 GB of internal memory, out of which 3 GB are available for the user. Therefore, these devices will fit approximately:

• 1,000 Kindle ebooks
• 20 Audible audiobooks

2nd-generation Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s first e-reader to support audiobooks, after a long break since the 2011 Kindle Touch.

The Oasis comes in two storage versions: 8 GB or 32 GB. The latter one, after you take out system files, has approximately 27 GB of internal memory for the user.

If you pick up the bigger storage, you will be able to keep on your Oasis:

• 9,000 Kindle ebooks
• 180 Audible audiobooks

If you have discovered that audiobooks are your thing, and would like to keep on your device as many of them as possible, consider getting a Fire tablet.

Each Amazon Fire model comes with a microSD card slot. Thanks to that, you will be able to extend memory by up to 256 GB. It means over 17,000 hours of listening!

Image: Amazon.

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