How to Download Audible Books to Mac Computer

By Ivan Scott Updated on 2024-05-21 / Update for Audiobook Tips

The advent of audiobooks has made it possible for people to read books in a more convenient way. Audible, the largest producer and seller of audiobooks, has attracted a growing number of people. Users can purchase and download Audible audiobooks to their devices for offline listening. But some users are wondering: Can I download Audible books to my Mac computer?

The answer is yes. If you don't know how to do that, then read on to learn three ways in this post to download Audible books to Mac. You'll also learn how to convert Audible audiobooks to MP3 format locally on your Mac computer. In that way, you can transfer and listen to the converted Audible books anywhere and anytime offline.

download audible books to mac

Part 1. How to Download Audible Books to Mac from Audible Website

As there is no Audible app for Mac, you can choose and purchase millions of audiobooks from Audible.com. Once purchased, you can download them to your Mac for offline listening. Here is a detailed tutorial on how to buy and download audiobooks from Audible to Mac.

1.1 How to Buy Audible Books

Step 1. Open any web browser on your Mac and go to Audible.com.

Step 2. Sign in with your email and password. If you haven't had an account, you can create a new one or get Audible's free trial.

sign in to audible

Step 3. Click on the 'Browse' option and then choose the book you want to download.

Step 4. Click on the title of the book and then click 'Add to cart', 'Buy for $X.XX' or 'Buy with 1 credit'.

View also: How to Get Free Audible Credits

add books to cart

Step 5. Go to your shopping cart and you can find the book you added. Click 'Proceed to Checkout'.

proceed to checkout

Step 6. Choose your payment method and then click 'Complete purchase'.

complete audible books purchase

View also: How to Buy Audible Audiobooks without Subscription

1.2 How to Download Purchased Audible Books to Mac

Step 1. Navigate to Audible.com and then click the 'Library' option at the top.

Step 2. In the 'Titles' tab, you can find your purchased Audible books.

Step 3. Find and click on the title of the book. Click the 'Download' button to download audiobooks from Audible.

download purchased audible books on mac

Step 4. You can choose a folder to store the downloaded AAX Audible books.

Note: If you use a MacOS 10.14 Mojave or older, you can use iTunes to open the downloaded AAX Audible files and you can find them in the Audiobooks section of iTunes.

Step 1. After downloading Audible books, you can open iTunes and click 'Account' > 'Authorizations' > 'Authorize This Computer'.

authorize this computer on itunes

Step 2. Click on the 'Yes' button in the pop-up message. Then authorize your computer.

Step 3. Enter your Audible account and click 'Active in iTunes'.

Step 4. Click 'Audiobooks' to find and listen to your downloaded audiobooks.

listen to audible audiobooks on itunes

Or, if you use a MacOS 10.15 Catalina or above, you can add the downloaded Audible audiobooks to Apple Books and find them in the Audiobooks section.

View also: How to Download Audiobooks on Apple Books

Step 1. Open the Apple Books app from your Mac computer.

Step 2. Tap 'File' > 'Add to Library...' on the top menu bar.

add downloaded audible books to apple books on mac

Step 3. Go to the 'Downloads' folder on your Mac computer and locate the downloaded Audible books.

Step 4. Highlight the books you want to import and hit 'Add'.

Step 5. Then the books will be added into Apple Books and you will see them in the 'Downloads' or 'Audiobooks' section.

Part 2. How to Download Audible Books to MP3 on Mac

It's convenient to purchase and download Audible books to Mac via Audible website. However, the downloaded audiobooks are encrypted in AAX format. This prevents users to listen to these audiobooks on other unauthorized audio players. So, it's impossible to listen to your favorite Audible books on any MP3 player or other devices.

But don't worry, you can use AudFree Audio Converter on Mac computer. It's a professional tool to download and convert Audible AA/AAX to MP3, FLAC, AAC, and more popular formats. This AudFree Audible Converter will keep the original sound quality and work at a 30X speed. You can use it to get lossless Audible books and play them on any device you want.

Key Features of AudFree Audible Converter

audfree audible converter
  • Batch convert Audible books to MP3 on Mac at a speed of 30X
  • Split audiobooks by chapters, by time, or by your desire
  • Download Audible books for offline listening on any device
  • Keep 100% lossless quality, support multiple audio formats

How to Convert Audible Audiobooks to Plain Audio Formats on Mac

Now, download AudFree Audio Converter for Mac on your computer by clicking on the 'Download' button above. Then install and open the program.

Step 1Import AA/AAX Audible audiobooks
add audible books to audfree
To import the AA/AAX audiobooks to AudFree Auditior, you can click on the 'Add' button to import downloaded Audible books from iTunes.
Step 2Customize output format for Audible on Mac
choose the parameters for audible books on mac
Click on the 'format' tab to open and customize the output parameters. You can choose the output format for Audible to MP3 because it's the most popular format. You can also proceed to personalize other parameters like codec, sample rate and more.
Step 3Convert and download Audible books to Mac
download audible books to mac via audfree audio converter
Click the 'Convert' button and AudFree Auditior will start to convert Audible AAX to MP3. Once converted, you can locate the converted audiobooks from the 'History' folder. You can transfer them from your Mac computer to any device for playback without restrictions.

Part 3. How to Download Audible Books on Mac for Free

In this section, we will show you an alternative way to download Audible books to Mac for free. OpenAudible is another Audible converter and downloader that enables you to convert Audible books to MP3s. It's free to use but it can't keep the original audio quality. Below is how you can use OpenAudible to download Audible on Mac.

download audible to mac via openaudible

Step 1. Download and install the OpenAudible software on your Mac computer.

Step 2. Open this converter and click 'Controls' / 'Actions' > 'Connect to Audible' to log in to your Audible account.

Step 3. Then you can choose the Audible books that you want to download.

Step 4. Choose the output audio format and then click 'OK'.

Step 5. After the conversion, you can check and listen to Audible offline on your Mac.

Part 4. Final Thoughts

You are now learning how to download Audible books to Mac via three ways. The best part is that you can use AudFree Audio Converter to convert Audible books to MP3 and other audio formats. In this way, you can save and listen to Audible on Mac forever or move and enjoy audiobooks offline anywhere. Moreover, this tool supports other audio parameters like bit rate, etc. and it can automatically split large audiobook files to small parts.

Ivan Scott

Ivan Scott

Staff Editor

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Ivan Scott, an audiobook enthusiast with a passion for writing. He keeps up with information and tech skills related to iTunes and Audible audiobooks, and shares them with readers.