I've listened to both Harry Potter versions. They're both great. I think the Fry ones are more popular in the UK and her various nations, where the Dale versions are more popular in the US. I'm a big fan of audiobooks because I listen to them to go to sleep. I wouldn't listen to a book I really care about, but that's very few books per year. I've only had one bad audiobook experience, with A Game of Thrones. That guy is the worst.
I tried Obama's "Dreams of My Father" while commuting. Couldn't get into it. I'll give it another try (with another book) some day. I don't disavow the medium, just think it's a different experience. Pretty sure Clovis and I are on the same page.
I have had a lot of very good experiences with audiobooks. If the reader is a good one, then the experience is on a par with reading it yourself. It depends on the situation. I have a job where I can listen to large chunks of a book on the move uninterrupted, which is probably the key factor. I've had very good experiences with
Solaris &
The Great Gatsby. Also I would never have even attempted to read
The Da Vinci Code, but I managed that piece of schlock on audio, and the historical religious parts were interesting enough to overcome the basement level chase story that it was draped over. Listening to Keith Richards and Johnny Depp reading Richards' autobiog definitely added to the experience (hilariously sometimes).
So I generally tend to listen to books outside of my usual fields of interest; classics being one of those at the moment.
There are so many wonderful books out there, and such little time to sit down and read properly, that denying yourself the opportunity to increase your experience with books in any way is an opportunity missed from my pov.
The audiobooks I have lined up currently are;
The Boy Who Followed Ripley- Patricia Highsmith
Dandelion Wine- Ray Bradbury
Hard Times - Dickens
I wouldn't get to any of these before the five or so books I have lined up to read, so I'm maximising my opportunity here.