Tag Archives: IPOD

Traveler’s Library: Short Passages

Catching up on a few things missed earlier.

Bibliomania Add to the list of booksellers. Free books on line plus study guides for travelers and teachers.

Summer Literary Seminars in Four Countries.  You’ve read the books. Now write one. This amazing program includes a contest that covers all expenses (including airfare) for the winner.  Too late for this year, but there’s always 2010. Thanks to Antonia Malchik at Perceptive Travel for the heads up on this. If you have not yet discovered Perceptive Travel, take a look. Them’s our kind of people.

Listening A Book While You Travel

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Weighing in for recorded books

At the Tucson Festival of Books last weekend, a couple of authors who have had their work published on audio books talked about the alternative to reading a book—wouldn’t that be “listening a book?” Since so many readers of A Traveler’s Library seem to like to listen while they travel, I wanted to pass along comments by Jonathan Lowe, author of Postal and several other recorded books. Like to be scared while you drive? Try his Tall Tales from the Road.

Lowe pointed out that audio books are evolving. From one sole reader in a studio, publishers have branched out to add music, sound effects, and even multiple readers.  It occurs to me this amounts to “staging” the books like the radio plays of the 1940’s. Good old Grand Central Station and The Mercury Theater of the Air could serve as good models for people producing audio books today.

I was intrigued to hear that 20% of adults surveyed had listened to two or more audio books over the previous year, and 40% of those are riding in a car at the time.

Here are some other stats he cited:

  • 70% of those who listen to audio books agree with me—they say NO to abridged books.
  • CDs still account for 70% of the sales.
  • Even though downloading to an MP3 is easy and cheap, the majority of audio book fans have not yet invested in the IPod or other player.
  • The fastest growing part of the industry is in downloadable, rather than on disc.
  • The 18 to 24 age cohort is growing faster than any other buyer of audio books.
  • The preferred genres are mystery, thriller and comedy.
  • People prefer to transfer sound files to CDs rather than MP3.
  • A normal-size book might take 20 hours instead of 3 minutes on MP3.
  • Lowe thinks this may change, particularly with built-in MP3 players in cars.

How do you listen to books? Do you buy, rent or download? Join the conversation.

Did you miss our original posts on alternatives to reading a book in print? Part II is here.

 

 

 

 

Read It (MORE) New Ways

Preparation for a road trip at our house  includes a decision on what audio books to take along.  This takes a bit of negotiating, since Mr. Traveler and I do not always agree on what makes a good read (or listen, in this case).  He likes escape fiction–lots of action. I like more contemplative reads. We generally compromise on mysteries. But we never compromise on the length. We DO NOT buy or rent abridged. Give the author a break! Read it (listen to it) the way it was written.

But whatever you like to listen to in your car, you now have a lot of choices for where to get that audio book.  Our public library branches have a limited selection, but generally something interesting. We are fortunate to have an enormous used book store that carries books on tape (getting rarer) and CDs. And on the way out of town we can always stop at Cracker Barrel Restaurant along the freeway and then return a rented book anywhere along our travels. Problem is, they stock more abridged than full versions.

If you have an MP3 player–an IPOD, cell phone that takes recorded material, or other device, you can download books from dozens of sites on line. Continue reading Read It (MORE) New Ways