Some of the local libraries in my area are now offerng Playaway digital audiobooks. They’re new. They been available for only about two weeks and are so popular it is hard to get them.
Playaways are smaller than an iPod, come preloaded with one audiobook and have a unversal headphone jack that’ll work with headphones or speakers.
They also have buttons for the listener’s placement of digital “bookmarks”, can speed up or slow down the narrator’s voice, and quickly scroll through the contents, which last anywhere from 6-24 hours.
Talk about the marvels of technlogy, and how rapidly we must adapt. I recently checked out an audiobook on cassette recently and quickly realized it would be nearly impossible to get to it. All of the cassette decks or portables we own don’t work anymore. I thought I’d listen in the car, forgetting that I have a CD player /AM-FM in mine.
But I really like this new concept. You won’t need any other device to play it, except the dgital book itself, and you can listen on the go while it sits in your pocket. Just don’t lose it. A Playaway costs $45-85 to replace! A check on Amazon shows if you want to buy them outright, they’re also in this price range.
This whole new delivery system is a good omen for audio book narration work, too.
For now, I’ll need to return the book on cassette and hope that some Playaways are returned with some titles I am interested in.
Playaways are smaller than an iPod, come preloaded with one audiobook and have a unversal headphone jack that’ll work with headphones or speakers.
They also have buttons for the listener’s placement of digital “bookmarks”, can speed up or slow down the narrator’s voice, and quickly scroll through the contents, which last anywhere from 6-24 hours.
Talk about the marvels of technlogy, and how rapidly we must adapt. I recently checked out an audiobook on cassette recently and quickly realized it would be nearly impossible to get to it. All of the cassette decks or portables we own don’t work anymore. I thought I’d listen in the car, forgetting that I have a CD player /AM-FM in mine.
But I really like this new concept. You won’t need any other device to play it, except the dgital book itself, and you can listen on the go while it sits in your pocket. Just don’t lose it. A Playaway costs $45-85 to replace! A check on Amazon shows if you want to buy them outright, they’re also in this price range.
This whole new delivery system is a good omen for audio book narration work, too.
For now, I’ll need to return the book on cassette and hope that some Playaways are returned with some titles I am interested in.
If you have your own MP3 player, you can probably download books directly to it from your library. I use the library almost exclusively for audiobooks and I listen every day on the way to work. Soemthing to check out if you have an MP3 player.
Hey Jeffrey,
Fabulous tip! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing. Think I’ll check this option out right now at my library. By the way, you are a very good audiobook narrator in your own right!
Best,
Bobbin