Audio Books: A Novel Way to Read a Good Book

Introduction

In this fast-paced world, it becomes increasingly difficult to sit back, relax, and curl up with a good book. As Americans become highly skilled multitaskers, dedicated readers aren't giving up their passion�they're turning to audio books.

"I'm an audio book-ophile. I love them for the same peace, serenity, and brain food they give me as a normal book, but without the eye strain or book lugging that you'd otherwise deal with," says Susan Lindner, a busy mother of two and owner of a successful public relations firm in New York City. "I also find I'm falling in love with the art of storytelling. When they're read right, it's better than me reading it myself. Finally, I find I am so much more open to whimsy about the kind of audio books I read as there's no sense of ownership about them; you can just choose one and put it back."

Dale Siegel, White Plains, N.Y., an attorney who commutes 45 minutes twice a day to work, listens to a book a week. "It becomes a quiet place to have 'my time.' I do not feel compelled to return phone calls or check the Blackberry while driving," she says. "I get to multitask by reading and driving, and it passes the time, making traffic and a monotonous drive more bearable."

While they're not new, audio books are popular today not only because of increased demand, but because of the many ways you can get them. You can purchase or rent audio books, borrow them from the library as CDs or audio cassettes, or download them from the Internet as electronic audio files such as MP3 files.

Pay to play options

One popular site, Audible.com, allows you to pick a plan that suits your reading habits for as low as $7.95 a month. Then, using the site's custom tool or Apple's iTunes software, you can choose from more than 40,000 books, magazines, newspapers, and podcasts, and digitally download your selections. You can burn them to a CD or synch them with an MP3 player for portability.

Another site, SimplyAudiobooks.com, offers more than 10,000 titles on CD that you can rent through a variety of plans�for as little as $11.95 per month. Selections will be mailed to you to enjoy as long as you like, then you return the selection in a postage-paid envelope. Then, the company automatically mails out the next selection on your list.

People like Harvey Rosen, an entrepreneur in Los Angeles, are willing to pay for these services over other options. "It's far more convenient for me because the books are downloaded at my convenience," Rosen, who uses Audible.com, says. "There is a far greater choice of material than what is available at my local public library. The convenience and variety of choices are well worth the cost."

How to get audio books for free

Books in the public domain

Once the copyright expires on a book, it becomes part of the public domain and can be legally distributed. Many classics by authors such as Mark Twain, Jane Austen, and Frederick Douglass are available through a growing number of services with a mission to make all public domain titles easily accessible.

Michael Hart, the pioneer producer of free electronic books, dreamed up Project Gutenberg with a goal to make the largest number of books with expired copyright available for free electronically. The site has nearly 25,000 eBook titles and more than 700 audio book selections available for free download. Volunteers who scan, proofread, and record titles run the site.

With more than 1,400 out-of-copyright titles available, LibriVox also is a leading site for free audio book downloads. Volunteers run this site, too, recording chapters of books into digital audio files. "I wondered whether we could set up a big project to get many volunteers around the world to make and record audio books and give them away. Turns out that we could," creator Hugh McGuire says. "I was excited by the possibilities of mass online collaboration and the volunteer spirit behind it in the free/open source software movement, and the work of creative commons had me thinking in a wider sense about the importance of the public sphere...."

LearnOutLoud.com provides more than 500 free educational audio books for download, including many works in the public domain, lectures, speeches, interviews, videos, and more.

AudioBooksForFree.com's 800-title selection is full of the classics, but there's also a nice representation of mysteries, science fiction, and more. The low quality (8 Kbps [kilobits per second]) versions are free; to get a better quality recording, it costs between $5 and $8.

Beyond the classics

Your public library: Audio books just a click away

Think your library only has the hardcover and paperback versions of your favorite book? Think again. By logging in to your local library's Web site, you may be able to download professionally recorded, copyrighted work publishers provide for "check out" using your library card.

Check to see if your library is affiliated with either NetLibrary.org or OverDrive Digital Media Locator. If so, thousands of titles await that you can download and retain for a set period of time�usually a few weeks. Once the lending period lapses, the license expires and you can't listen to the title again until you renew it. To prevent unlawful copying and distributing, the files are encrypted to protect the copyright.

In addition, many libraries have a wonderful selection of audio books available on CD or audio cassette available on the shelves or through an interlibrary loan network.

Published July 28, 2008