A lot of public libraries carry audiobooks. I usually listen to audiobooks only n the car — at home, I prefer to read.
Before a long road trip, I go to the library, check out a few, and rip them to my MP3 player. Audiobooks are great for road trips — they help me fight off boredom and keep me alert and focused much better than music does. And since audiobooks don’t require the sound quality of music, you can fit days’ worth of audiobooks even on a modest little 512MB or 1 or 2 GB MP3 player.
I’ve had a few conversations with a few different folks about the ethics of doing this. Arguably, what I’m doing is illegal copying. But the while point of a public library is to make information available to the public for free, and by acting as I do rather than taking the CDs with me, I get the discs back to the library and into another patron’s hands sooner, and with less risk that I’ll damage the discs.
I need to find out if my university library — where I have alumni privileges — has audiobooks. If so, I can just take the CDs into a study carrel and rip to MP3 without even checking the discs out.
Actually, most libraries have some downloadable books. Check out the website.
I, too, enjoy audio books on long trips. We try to do a lot of driving at night, and I'm the designated driver then, so listening to books does keep me much more alert than music.
John Cleese was outstanding reading "The Screwtape Letters". We listened to "The Two Towers" on audiotape several years ago on one of our trips, but I can't remember who read it.
My library now has a link on their webpage where you can download audio books for free to your MP3 player. :) So I don’t think what you’re doing is wrong because the libraries provide the service.