This is the best stand-alone player for audiobooks. It is easy to use, but has one major flaw- no way to skip to the next or previous chapters. It has a jump to time feature which is fine if you actually know which minute and hour you are on (almost never). It also has a pretty useless forward 15 sec/ backward 15 sec feature.All of this make for a frustrating experience if the app crashes and you lose your place, causing you to re-open the book and guess the exact time where left off then skip around 15 seconds at a time until you hear something familiar. Still after all these flaws it is better than any other audiobook player out there.

Reviewing Pastime Version 1.0.2. As before, this audio player is ad free and easy to operate without looking at your device. It is now even better suited for the vision impaired.I recommend this player for easy operation by touch, including for sighted users who want to select and play audio books and shows without the need for attention to the screen, such as while driving. Instructions for use are given once using "Voiceover," so pay attention when you first use the program.I use it for podcasts. Show titles are shown on a scrolling menu in an extremely large font. Touch one and the title will be read aloud. There is a quiet sound with each tap for play or pause. As with the last version of Pastime, swiping left or right will go 15 seconds forward or back. The swipe direction now stays the same regardless of device orientation, so operation by touch is more consistent. Swipe and hold for fast forward and rewind.I have a number of suggestions for future versions.* The 15-second swipe is valuable to skip small portions of discussions or to review part of the show after interruptions. The Voiceover with each 15-second swipe talks over the show, making it hard to tell whether I have gone as far as desired. A different quiet blip for each direction would be preferable to the 15-second verbal message. I would retain the existing message for swipe-and-hold time changes.* We should be able to quickly repeat the 15-second swipe as before. I have always found it very useful to skip unwanted show introductions.* There is a pie graph of show progress, which would be useful to display while advancing or rewinding.* Please stop demanding I turn on my cellular data every time the app is used or the phone is unlocked. This window pops up in front of the player and blocks operation.* In the last version it was much easier to tell when a show had been played to the end. Perhaps a diagonal slash stamped across the screen at the end of the track, and on each of the completed shows on the menu, would be helpful in this version.* Currently the show menu scrolls smoothly. If the menu could snap from one show to the next, perhaps with a click and/or haptic feedback, we could count down the list and select a certain show more easily.* An option to turn off Voiceover in Settings would be welcome.You have my thanks for this excellent app.

My grandma has always been an avid reader. Unfortunately at 88 years old she can no longer see well enough to read without assistance. She started listening to audio books on the iPad two years ago and it completely revitalized her life. Unfortunately, however, she is not tech-savvy and she always pressed the wrong buttons and lost her place in the books. This app is perfect for her. Since it is fool-proof it saves her from listening to hours and hours of the wrong section of books.

The app is great overall for listening, but the most magical experience I've had was when my friend sent me a link to a podcast episode. When I clicked the link, it didn't take me to a webpage about the episode or the listing for the podcast in iTunes. I didn't have to look for the episode in a list or figure out how to listen to it. The link opened directly in Pastime, took me straight to the episode, and I was already listening. Such a joy!