Audio Books 2009

[Wendy Cornelisen]

Audio books are a great way to pass the time! I love listening in the car; I don't mind sitting in traffic quite as much if I have something good to listen to.

Do you count listening to a book as "reading"?

[Alison DePollo]

Oh man I have this week down!! I love downloading audiobooks from the READS website. I have two on my work computer right now. My favorites are the "always available" and "burn-to-CD" audiobooks. I have yet to burn one, but I plan on doing that this week to test it out. The only problem I've found is that the digital audiobook's sound quality isn't as good as if I had checked the physical CDs out from the library. Sometimes it's hard for me to listen to them in the car because they are so quiet. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Ronara Williams]

I've never had that experience. I have noticed poor sound quality on some of the READS audiobooks. I believe this is related to the source material. Several books I've listened to have had one or two spots where the audio skipped like it would with a scratched CD. For me, READS is still superior to taking home a CD audiobook only to find that minuscule scratches you didn't think would affect play translate into constant skipping halfway through the book.

[Suzanne Costner]

I had a problem with the book I dowloaded. It was not too quiet - but it had a shrill noise in the background. Remember how some cassette tapes had that sound like the gears in the machine were squeaking as the tape was being recorded? It had that same sort of sound, but then it cleared up after the first 2 chapters.

[April Crockett]

I had a hard time with OverDrive. I was trying to search for any audiobooks that I could download as an mp3 and I kept getting an error. I might try it out from home next.

I had not heard of READS and so that was really cool. I think my husband will enjoy this website because he has a 30 minute commute to and from work. He can play audiobooks from his blackberry. I did notice that most download to a PC instead of mp3, though.

[Ronara Williams]

Right now, READS audiobooks are exclusively WMA. The Nashville Public Library has recently added a large number of mp3 audiobooks to their overdrive collection. If you're looking for free mp3 audiobooks, I would suggest you start with librivox.org.

[Polly]

I listened to Thoreau's Walden at librivox and enjoyed the reader. Nice way to wash dishes and do laundry.

[Christi U.]

See, commutes and laundry and washing dishes... this is why god made audio books, in multiple formats. :)

[Suzanne Costner]

A friend and I were discussing how we always keep a book in the car in case we get stuck in a traffic jam, or there's a long line at the post office, etc. I asked her if she had tried READS - because she has an IPod and enjoys using it. Now she's excited about trying out the audiobooks so she can always have something on hand.

[Christi U.]

I keep a book, a journal, music and audio books. I'm not sure what that says about Nashville traffic or how often I'm traveling out of town. Heh.

[Michelle Nielsen Ott]

I have also had a hard time with OverDrive. I kept trying to get one downloaded but it never played for me. I am going to try again.

[Wendy Cornelisen]

Great! Let me know if you have any more trouble.

[DeAnne Luck]

What kind of an mp3 player are you using? I have a Creative (prize from last year's Learn& Discover) and have never had any problems playing any of the READS audios, no matter what format it says they're for.