I’ve always loved audio books. They give you the opportunity to read while doing some thing else: driving, housework, exercise, etc. As a teen, I had the entire 5 book trilogy of Douglas Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guide” series on tape, and I basically wore them out. To this day, I can still quote entire chapters.
Fast forward to the Ipod age. Now, I can have dozens of books on a tiny flash mp3 player that will run for dozens of hours on a single charge. Audible.com was the first in the space of digital downloads for books. They supply iTunes and they’re now owned by Amazon, so they are probably there to stay. I recently signed up, and I must say I love it. It is kind of expensive, and it breaks my rule agains buying DRMed material. However, I haven’t been reading much in the last couple of years, and this allows me to squeeze some reading in during my exercise time. It’s nice to be reading regularly again.
Here’s to hoping Amazon can convince the publishers to shed the DRM. Honestly, the book reading crowd isn’t a bunch of freeloaders. We’ve always purchased our books, and human nature says those folks aren’t going to go giving the books away. If Audible ever folds and I’m stuck with books I can’t listen to, you can tell me I told you so. But for now, the benefits outway the possible drawbacks.
