Reddit reviews The Lord of the Rings (BBC Dramatization)

My suggestion is to get the BBC audio drama with Ian Holm. https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-BBC-Dramatization/dp/0553456539

This is more fantasy, but the BBC radio play adaptation of Lord of the Rings is great for really long trips. Much more faithful to the books than the Peter Jackson films.

The BBC production is, in my opinion, the best audio treatment of LOTR out there. It's a radio drama rather than the unabridged book, but the narrator takes most of Tolkien's most descriptive passages wholesale in between dialogue. It's 13 hours long, and I don't feel like anything was rushed or glossed over.

I've tried a couple of unabridged audiobooks but my memory of them is that they always come out very dry (having someone read a 2k+ page book like LOTR to you is a very different experience from reading it yourself) or they feel a little whimsical (the hobbits read as whiny gits and Gandalf as wacky old magician), which seems to be the common approach to fantasy before Peter Jackson's movie. By contrast, the BBC cast seems to fully grasp the gravity of the story Tolkien was telling unusually well for 1981.

Also, Ian Holm voices Frodo!

I don't know where you might find them digitally, but the box set is on Amazon for just shy of $50.

As you get more into audiobooks, you may start to find that you seek out works by particular narrators. David Case (RIP) is one of my favorites. He does a lot of classics. I've listened to him do David Copperfield, Moby Dick and some P.G. Wodehouse works. All of them were great. His ability to do multiple voices really draw me into his reading.

Audiofile magazine is a great place to look at reviews of different audiobooks. You can get quite a bit of web content from them for free without being a subscriber.

If you think you might like to try some radio dramas, I'd recommend checking out some of the works by the ZBS Foundation. They've done some amazing work dating back to the 1970's. Their Jack Flanders works are some of my favorite, though I also love Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe. (Their online catalog seems to be a little borked at the moment, but I'm sure they'll get it straightened out.)

Other great radio dramas:

• Lord of the Rings (be sure to get the BBC version, and not the NPR version which is not nearly as good.)
  
• Star Wars - these were produced for NPR and they're awesome. They include voices of some of the actors from the original films. Unforturnately they get progressively worse (Star Wars >> Empire >> Return of the Jedi) but they are all very listenable.
  
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - These are musts. Even if you've already read the books. Especially if you've already read the books.
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia - Much as I hate to admit it, this is a great audio production. It's made by Focus on the Family so you may want to think twice before paying for it first hand. But it's actually quite good and worth listening to.
  
  Also, check out some of the Old Time Radio shows at the Internet Archive. They are free for download and some of them are really great. Suspense and X Minus One are great ones to start with.

BBC Dramatization of the lord of the Rings is fun to listen to. Its also on youtube

The BBC broadcast of Lord of the Rings from 1981. I've found it at my local library on CD, so you might be able to, too. http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-BBC-Dramatization/dp/0553456539

https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-BBC-Dramatization/dp/0553456539

Something like this or maybe like this?

Rather than audiobooks, you might look for radio dramas, as these tend to have more voice actors and sound effects. Star Wars, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Solaris ... the BBC has produced dramas for the most popular sci-fi/fantasy

edit: I forgot to mention The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy