Digital Recorders Review Blog

The beauty with audio books is that you have more than one option for listening to them.

For those of us who like to be given lots of options for doing certain things instead of being forced to adapt to just one choice, you definitely have lots of options for listening to your audio book.

If you are someone who likes listening while seated on your favorite couch or seated on your desk, listening to your audio book on your cassette tape player (if the audio book is in audiocassette tape, of course) is the option for you.

But if you have a desktop or laptop computer, you might prefer listening to your audio book from it.

Pretty much all Personal computers have software built in for playing back audio books. If your PC doesn't have any (very unlikely), you can still download them completely free on the Internet. The 2 best digital audio players that you can get completely free to download from the Internet include:

- RealOne Player: This can be downloaded free of charger here; http://www.Real.com

- Windows Media Player: It can also be downloaded completely free from their website - http://www.Microsoft.com

But if you would rather listen to your audio book while on a walk, running, on the way to work, going around the house, going around the shops (and many more) then a portable audio player is the right way to go, preferably with an earphone.

With the ever expanding market of portable audio playback devices, it goes to show that more and more people are now using them, because of the wonderful benefits they provide.

The most common form of these portable audio playback devices are the normal audio CD players or CD-ROM devices. These can be carried easily when you go around the shops, go for a run or when you are on the way to work for example.

The more advanced form of these portable audio playback devices for playing audio books, especially those for listening to downloadable audio books, include:

— Audio-ready PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Some of these PDAs include Casio CASSIOPEIA and Compaq iPAQ. These can both be very expensive, they can cost up to $499 for the Compaq and around $399 for the Casio.

— Compatible Portable Audio Players. Some of these include the Creative’s NOMAD Jukebox 3 and the SONICblue’s Rio 900. These can be much less expensive than PDAs. For instance, you could purchase the SONIC blue's Rio 900 for around $250 from websites like Sonicblue.com

Finally, like I said in the start of this article, whatever tool you decide to use in listening to your audio books will depend largely on “how” you prefer listening to your audio books.

For example, the 'young and restless' teenagers can't be without the PDAs. I bet you wouldn't too if you were their age, right? But for the "aged and rusty" who just prefer the ease of being seated on their favorite couch, nothing can be better than listening to their favorite audio books from their "good old" cassette tape player!

A really good place that I have come across to download audio books is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0017

Technorati Tags: audio books, audio player, audiobooks, education, learn, learning, read, reading, self help, spoken network, spoken word, study

Agreed that MP3 player manufacturers didn’t plan their products solely for audio books, but for music. However, it’s great that these days many people have begun to download audio books for listening on their MP3 players aswell.

The fact that they can carry around their MP3 players, instead of listening to audio books on the PCs make the players very popular.

If you’re not sure exactly what features you are looking for in an mp3 player, you may end up purchasing the wrong one.

Below are some of the factors to consider that will help you get the right MP3 for listening to your audio book:

1. When buying an mp3 player, you should really take into consideration how important it is to be able to resume where you left off, after you’ve been interrupted. Unlike music that you can start afresh when interrupted, it isn’t so much fun to have to start an audio book from the beginning after listening to it for up to 2 hours.

So, take your time to search for MP3 players that allow users to continue from the exact spot they stopped.

You can test the MP3 player before paying for it. If it works fine, then go ahead. If you find that the mp3 player you have chosen doesn’t have, you’ll need to start again.

2. Ensure that the MP3 player’s volume is loud enough. In as much as you can use an earphone to listen to the MP3 player, it is ideal if the volume is loud enough to be listened to in a noisy surrounding.

For example, if you are in an airport, you should be able to listen to your MP3 player without using earphones. If you’re caught up in traffic and you don’t have your earphones, a good sound that you can still hear without the headphones is vital.

3. Ensure that the MP3 has a large memory. Since you would be storing your audio book in the MP3 player, you should purchase the one that has enough memory for audio books of up to 5 hours or more.

For the very best value, you should look for a player that has additional memory capability.

4. Smaller mp3 players are definitely far more stylish than big bulky players. Style isn’t everything though, so make sure you don’t give up quality or durability.

5. You don’t always have to follow the ipod trend, but I would still recommend that you purchase a player which has been manufactured by a popular brand, like Creative. It would be a little silly to buy an mp3 player because it’s a bargain. There are many low quality MP3 players that are made from Asian countries. A great deal of these cheap mp3 players are just not worth purchasing.

Journey’s in your car can also now be more pleasurable, as many car manufacturers have started to build in the capability to connect your mp3 player to the car stereo. If you don’t have this in your car, you could use an AUX socket to connect your mp3 player.

A great source I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network. They can be found at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0008

Technorati Tags: audio books, audiobooks, digital audio, download audio, education, learn, learning, mp3, mp3 player, read, reading, self help, spoken network, spoken word, study