Podcast audio books were a thing at one point! You could download free, serialized audiobooks, usually read by the author! They were called podiobooks (and was a website of the same name) and I really miss that time. Some of my favorite authors and books come from that time.
I still have the creative common copies of a bunch of them and can share if anyone wants. Not all were CC, but you could freely share.
xkcd #2834: Book Podcasts ( imgs.xkcd.com )
xkcd.com/2834...