Tuesday, September 11, 2007

#22: Audiobooks

It is quite an interesting world, this world of ebooks. I'm all for audiobooks; there's nothing decent on the radio anymore, and for long car rides, audiobooks are great. Hey - I "read" all the Harry Potter books in the car. (Jim Dale does the voices way better than I could in my imagination, anyway.) I haven't downloaded any, though; I borrow them from my public library.
However, books on my computer screen are another matter. I think it's fascinating that Project Gutenberg makes some really obscure literature available to anyone with a computer and internet. And I really like the idea that volunteers are doing the proofreading; in my next life, when I have extra time, I may even do some proofreading for them. I don't like the idea of reading a whole book online, though. In fact, whenever I have to read anything longer than a page, I print it out and read it from paper. I like the feel of the book in my hand; reading is, in part, a sensory experience for me.
The Overdrive and Netlibrary sites are easy to use; the netlibrary site could be used by little old men and women with next to no computer experience. I like that you can download music and videos as well on overdrive. I could see these sites being useful for someone who is housebound or incapacitated in some way. They will also be high on my recommended sites next summer when hundreds of middle-schoolers come into our small branch to borrow our few copies of the recommended readings for their summer reading lists. I know kids can do fine in front of a computer screen because they were practically born there.
I did not download any titles. The library computers will not allow us to download. I have a Mac at home, but Overdrive cannot be used on a Mac. The tutorials are clear enough that I feel I know what to do.
Again, although it's not for me, I can see many uses for downloadable audiobooks.

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