| Audio books - no longer just for the visually impaired | | Posted Thursday, February 02, 2006 12:50:18 PM by Rose Martins | Audio books are available on CD or online downloadable versions for your wireless portable device such as an iPod or Mp3.  Most regular bookstores also sell audio books, as do stores selling music and computer games.
Online bookstores offer a wide range of audio books, and there are audio book clubs that sell downloadable versions of an audio book. Some of these audio book clubs will offer a free audio book to all new members, or if you purchase to the value of a specified amount.
Audio books are not just limited to novels. There is a wide variety of fiction audio books, biographies, business books, religious Christian books and self-help and awareness books, just to name a few. Audio books are no longer just for the visually impaired.
With the growing popularity of wireless portable devices, people prefer to download an audio book and listen to it while on the move. It saves time and keeps one stimulated during what could be a very boring commute.
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| | | Now Hear This: Three Essential Audio Books | | Posted Thursday, January 25, 2007 12:54:40 PM by Blog57 Team | | The year-end lists of best books of 2006 started appearing in late November and ended in early January, but those lists almost always refer to the print versions of each title. Even so, who has time to read all the books on those lists? Not me. While pursuing a Master's degree at seminary, and since completing those studies, I have had little time for personal reading. However, I do drive to work every day in congested Northern Virginia. To redeem the time, I listen to books on CD. Those of us who maximize our reading by listening to audio versions of books are often left to wonder if the audio versions match the quality of the print books. After all, anyone who listens to audiobooks knows that it's quite possible for the reader of each title to ruin an acclaimed novel (I never made it past disc 1 on the audio version of Walker Percy's "The Moviegoer" available at my local library), or to make a poorly reviewed novel come alive (Dylan Baker's reading of Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" is a tour de force one-man performance).... | |
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| | | 2.5m digital books on one 25,000 machine | | Posted Tuesday, January 02, 2007 2:47:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | A machine that electronically stores 2.5 million books that can then be printed and bound in less than seven minutes is to be launched early next year. It prints in any language and has an upper limit of 550 pages. The 'Espresso' will be launched first in several US libraries. The company behind the project - On Demand Books - predicts that, within five years, it will be able to reproduce every book ever published. .... | |
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| | | Tarlac school gets library of its own | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 6:49:47 PM by Blog57 Team | | A "reading corner" was all they had before the children of San Agustin Elementary School in Gerona, Tarlac realized they could have their own library even in the midst of poverty. As for the teachers, they saw hope and were equally excited that their 170 students would not only have more books to read, but could enjoy the use of a personal computer and an audio-visual facility to aid them in learning. "We never had a library so we would bring books for the children to read in each of the classrooms? reading corners," said Diana Iglesia, 24, a young teacher who has been with this school among the rice fields in Gerona for almost two years. Restoring a building for the school to have its own library was just the beginning for The STAR?s Operation Damayan in its quest to make a difference in the lives of the people living in San Agustin ? as it has done for the past five years for other beneficiary schools in other provinces.... | |
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| | | Poker on the iPod | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 2:49:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | The biggest British online audio book publishers AudioBooksForFree.Com PLC (ABFF) has produced and recorded a number of mp3 audiobooks especially for poker players: 1) "POKER Cheating Methods and Sleight-of-Hands" (by Theo Hardison) http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/download/default.asp?refnum=1000647 2) "POKER Joys, Rules, Lore and Pitfalls" (by George F Worts) http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/download/default.asp?refnum=1000671 3) "POKER Its Laws and Principles" (by Algernon Crofton) http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/download/default.asp?refnum=1000646 4) "POKER" (by Charles Roberts) http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/download/default.asp?refnum=1000627 As always, all these mp3 audiobooks are available as free downloads or for sale as part of ABFF's popular "gigabulk" compilation.... | |
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| | | Calcasieu Parish Public Library Offers Free Digital Media to Cardholders | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 6:47:23 PM by Blog57 Team | | Cardholders for Calcasieu Parish Public Libraries can now enjoy the freedom to download titles to personal computers and supported portable devices. A collection of audio books, eBooks, music and video titles found at http://calcasieu.lib.overdrive.com can be downloaded to a computer and transferred to a portable device. Selected titles may be burned onto a CD. According to CPPL Director Jeff Rippel, "With this step, the virtual library becomes real. The user doesn't have to leave house or office to go to the library. The library goes to the user." Calcasieu Parish Public Library purchased the service from OverDrive/Digital Library Reserve, Inc. Cardholders may check out 3 eBooks, audio books, music and videos on their own computers for 14 days. Loretta Gharst, Computing and Collection Services Librarian, says, "This is an exciting opportunity for the Calcasieu Parish Public Library to expand the range of library services we offer and better meet the needs of busy patrons.... | |
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| | | Audio Books: World trekker Cooper finds 360 degrees of conflict ... | | Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 12:47:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | Few people are more knowledgeable about war and disasters than Anderson Cooper, who has anchored Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN since 2003. His work as a television correspondent for CNN and other networks has spanned about 15 years, taking him to far-off places on several continents, where he has witnessed often-unspeakable hunger, destruction, conflict, pain and loss. Cooper's background is unlike that of most broadcast journalists. He was raised amid wealth and privilege in New York City. His mother is Gloria Vanderbilt, an artist, actress and spokeswoman for a line of designer jeans. His childhood happiness was short-lived: When he was 10 years old, his father died during open-heart surgery. And about a year before he graduated from Yale, his brother committed suicide, jumping 14 stories to his death while Vanderbilt watched.... | |
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| | | NotePods prep students for exams | | Posted Monday, October 09, 2006 2:47:47 PM by Blog57 Team | | InterLingua Educational Publishing today launched NotePods, its collection of audio downloads for iPods and other MP3 players designed to help students with exams as well as term papers. NotePods are audio summaries of books and plays by Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, and other required authors that are playable on student iPods, MP3 players, or computers. The NotePods, which are written by University instructors and recorded by professional actors, will eventually span nearly 500 titles commonly assigned in high schools as well as colleges. Students can download text versions of the summaries, which are readable on iPods as well as computers. The NotePods.com website also plans to add a "Test Questions Blog" with typical exam questions on various book titles. NotePods -- which currently include titles such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Animal Farm, and Catcher in the Rye -- are available for $1.99 each.... | |
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| | | Parrot MINIKIT Mobile Speakerphone Sets New Performance Standard in Hands-Free, Voice-Activated Phoning | | Posted Saturday, September 30, 2006 10:47:36 AM by Blog57 Team | | PARIS--Parrot, one of the world-leading innovators in Bluetooth technology, today introduced its new Parrot MINIKIT, a hands-free mobile speakerphone that features next-generation, best-in-class voice recognition and audio quality for crystal clear, voice-activated phoning in the car, at home or in the office. The new MINIKIT was announced at the 2006 Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris, France. To validate its exceptional performance prior to its launch, Parrot had the MINIKIT tested against the top two competitors' speakerphones by one of Europe's leading audio testing firms. The MINIKIT was found to be superior in the three categories that most affect the user's experience: volume, voice transmission quality and voice reception quality. (Editor's Note: For further information, contact a Parrot media representative or see www.parrot.biz.) The new Parrot MINIKIT is the only speakerphone in its category with advanced voice recognition technology that allows users to set up their phone books with voice tags for the convenience and added control of true hands-free voice dialing -- especially important when driving.... | |
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| | | Online Lectures Taught by Pioneering Hair Transplant Surgeon | | Posted Wednesday, September 20, 2006 6:49:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | (PRWEB) September 20, 2006 -- Online slide presentations with audio commentary, are helping to make our understanding of surgical hair transplantation procedures clearer. Dr. Bernstein, a renown teacher, lecturer and surgeon, is bringing his presentations on state-of-the-art hair restoration techniques directly to students and patients. .... | |
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| | | Pick, download, listen to books | | Posted Thursday, September 07, 2006 8:49:42 AM by Blog57 Team | | Urbandale and Johnston library users don't even have to visit the library anymore to check out a book. They can download it, in audio form, from the libraries' Web sites through a service that started last month. The cost for the service is being shared, based on circulation, between the Urbandale and Johnston libraries. Urbandale Library Director Sara Pearson has seen the demand change from books on tape, to books on CD to these audio books, which can be played on anything that supports a file in a Windows Media Audio format. This means people can listen to books on their computer, MP3 player, phone, BlackBerry and more. "Our patrons are very technologically advanced," Pearson said. "They're very capable of doing a lot of these things.... | |
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