Audio Books

[Tyler]

I've always been a big fan of audio books.  Audio books are a great way to get an education because they are so easy to fit into your day.

Imagine if you could get 1 hour a day of learning without ever attending school and without ever blocking off 1 hour of your time.  You can!  Just listen to audio books while you are driving in your car, taking the bus, or taking the train. 

Each of us usually spends about 1 hour a day traveling from one place to another, whether it's work, school, or just running errands. 

If you spent just one hour a day, 5 days a week, that's about 250 hours a year that you would have used to educate yourself.  That's about a full semester of learning in school!  Listen just two hours a day and you could get a full year of "school education" without ever attending a class or paying for school.

Audio books are also very cheap if you know where to look.  You can rent them out at the library for just a couple bucks a month.  In my area we have used book stores and audio book rental places. 

You can also find them on http://www.amazon.com or on http://www.ebay.com.

Since I'm in Sales, I like to listen to audio books on how to sell better or other business related books.  There are also books to learn a new language, learn history, "read" classic literature, get your daily scripture in, or "read" a biography.

So, stop listening to talk radio or your favorite music and start taking the time to learn!

[D.A.L.U.I.]

I'm really thinking of this as another thing to do to "eat up time" while I travel.  Right now I only have a one gig mp3 player / a FM radio.  I've got to figure out what to get, move up in Sandisk where the radio is part of the deal or move to the iPod system.  I like the pod casts that are available and all that.  Now, which brand to buy and what size.  Size is important too, both storage and physical box. 
I need to know how big in the sense of storage for books, casts and music--all at the same time.  I did sit next to a person w/ a Kindle last week on the way to New York.  Neat little item, my issue is physical size, it's not flexible and it  has the dimensions of a small magazine.  That could present issues.

[tomgallagher]

I understand that they just released a version 2 of the Kindle.

[Sly Red]

For anyone considering audiobooks check out audible.com

They sell MP3 format audio books of all kinds downloadable directly to your MP3 device.

I use a Creative ZEN Vision M ~ $110 for a 30 Gig player.

Red

[Tyler]

The problem with the Kindle is that you still have to read it.  It's hard to read and drive at the same time and is not advised...lol.

As for the size, you can rip any disk into MP3 files which will take up less space or buy the audio books from iTunes in their format.  I think it's about 70 MB per disk if you rip it in 192 kbs.  So, an 8 disk (10 hour) book would be a bit more than 1/2 a gig.  An 8 GB iPod would hold about 15 audio books that are 10 hours each.

[Tyler]

Hey Red, I stopped using Audible because I couldn't burn the tracks to an MP3 cd.  Have they changed that?  Or do I still have to burn it to 8 disks if I download a 10 hour book?

[tomgallagher]

I've always been a big fan of audio books.  Audio books are a great way to get an education because they are so easy to fit into your day.

Imagine if you could get 1 hour a day of learning without ever attending school and without ever blocking off 1 hour of your time.  You can!  Just listen to audio books while you are driving in your car, taking the bus, or taking the train. 

Each of us usually spends about 1 hour a day traveling from one place to another, whether it's work, school, or just running errands. 

If you spent just one hour a day, 5 days a week, that's about 250 hours a year that you would have used to educate yourself.  That's about a full semester of learning in school!  Listen just two hours a day and you could get a full year of "school education" without ever attending a class or paying for school.

Audio books are also very cheap if you know where to look.  You can rent them out at the library for just a couple bucks a month.  In my area we have used book stores and audio book rental places. 

You can also find them on http://www.amazon.com or on http://www.ebay.com.

Since I'm in Sales, I like to listen to audio books on how to sell better or other business related books.  There are also books to learn a new language, learn history, "read" classic literature, get your daily scripture in, or "read" a biography.

So, stop listening to talk radio or your favorite music and start taking the time to learn!

Great advice Tyler.

[Sly Red]

Hey Red, I stopped using Audible because I couldn't burn the tracks to an MP3 cd.  Have they changed that?  Or do I still have to burn it to 8 disks if I download a 10 hour book?

You are correct.  They changed their format and you can't convert their files to regular MP3 format anymore.  I used to use Goldwave to do this.  With my new Zen player I can download direct to the player.  Are you using an MP3 Disk player?

BTW, Audible supports a lot more MP3 players than they used to.

Red

[Tyler]

I have MP3 disc players in my car and one of the cars doesn't have a jack for an MP3 player.  Because of this, I prefer to burn things to MP3 disc.  I do have an iPod, but I typically only use it when I'm on the airplane or when I workout.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

I have MP3 disc players in my car and one of the cars doesn't have a jack for an MP3 player.  Because of this, I prefer to burn things to MP3 disc.  I do have an iPod, but I typically only use it when I'm on the airplane or when I workout.

Aren't they relatively interchangeable, I don't want to get caught in some "format" war.

[Sly Red]

Here's the Wikipedia explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3

[Tyler]

I have MP3 disc players in my car and one of the cars doesn't have a jack for an MP3 player.  Because of this, I prefer to burn things to MP3 disc.  I do have an iPod, but I typically only use it when I'm on the airplane or when I workout.

Aren't they relatively interchangeable, I don't want to get caught in some "format" war.

If you buy from Audible, the simple answer is no.  If you buy DRM free from iTunes, Amazon, or rip it from a disc, then yes it is.

[tomgallagher]

OK, you guys are losing me. How would you advise a greenhorn like me to start out.?

[Sly Red]

OK, you guys are losing me. How would you advise a greenhorn like me to start out.?

Get your audio books on regular audio CDs.  There are thousands of them.  You can borrow them from the library if you like.  They will play in your car or any standard CD Walkman type player.

Red

[Tyler]

OK, you guys are losing me. How would you advise a greenhorn like me to start out.?

If it's to start out listening to Audio Books, just buy the CD version and plop them into your CD player. 

If you're looking to get an MP3 player, the easiest way is to get an MP3 player like a iPod or Creative Zen and buy MP3's from Amazon or iTunes.  You could even use Audible.com if you just planned on listening to the books on your MP3 player.

You could also grab the high school kid down the street and pay him $20 to show you how to do everything.