Are Downloadable Audio Books Worth Their Cost?

The increasing popularity of downloadable audio books is already shaking up the publishing world! But the truth of getting online audio books is so easy.

The reason I like audio books is because I actually enjoy them more. Does that sound strange? Well, if you answer yes, I understand.

In the past one never thought twice about paying high dollar amounts for a hard back book at a book store. That shouldn't surprise you! In fact companies like Amazon grew overnight satisfying this same demand for high quality books at a discount price and they continue to this very day!

But now comes another spin in the marketplace! Yeah, let's not leave out technology and the ability to immediately download the very same spoken words onto your favorite iPod, MP3 player, etc...

So now you can buy the very same book (in a different deliverable form) and receive it almost immediately at 35% (or more?) off from the same price you are paying from the book store! And! ... it will last forever, because it's on digital media.

When you begin to look at the value proposition, you really have a better deal even if it were sold at the same price? Maybe that's why last year the downloadable audio book industry climbed to two billion dollars followed by growth projections of (30%) each year thereafter! Wow! ... This creates a great foundation for me to further explain what people who love to read books really see in this new paradigm of audio books online downloads. When you think of your friends who love to read (and who doesn't?) why not give them the gift of an audio book download instead of the last hard copy book you gave them? It's cheaper, more convenient; they can listen to it while driving, on the plane or relaxing during a spare moment?

There are quite a few sites available today where you can download audio books. Audible, Todaysaudiobooks & Simplyaudiobooks are just a few, but each has its own way of marketing that's stands out from the other. For example, Todaysaudiobooks has many thousands of downloadable audio book titles, covering 100's of subject areas, but they have an additional special twist in their offering. They "also" will donate a portion of its total sales each year to Easter Seals charity to aid in supporting their child care development programs. I believe this adds to every customer's buying experience knowing that not only are they getting a tremendous deal on a high quality audio book download, but are also helping "some" needy American child as well!

It's no wonder that the popularity of audio books has recently become so popular? Listening to audio books is entertaining, relaxing and allows multitasking as well. Just think about having a quick break where you want to get away mentally? In an airport waiting on that plane, riding in a car, on a train going to and from work, etc... They all allow a convenient escape, just by reaching in your pocket and pulling out the iPod, MP3 player, etc... Heck! You are in the office and even listening to that great book you haven't finished on your desktop computer, with or without headphones!

Digital storage these days is making more and more sense as well. When you are done listening to the audio book you save it away digitally and keep it for another time ... or maybe as a gift sometime later, who knows?

Audio books for children offer many potential areas of assistance and educational training for parents. With kids having an overload of unprotected exposures these days, why not provide directed learning, hobbies, positive mentorship in the form of audio books that you can download and better control what they are listening to and where they are spending a great deal of their time? Many of the required reading books they are assigned to read in school classes might be much better received if they could listen to it on their iPods or MP3 type players.

Listening to downloadable audio books while you are on the move, whether you're driving to work, washing the car or even doing some other chores can make the day go a little bit faster. Actually at the rate new audio books are being released, you'll never run out of available books to listen to, since the demand in all of the categories is on the rise.

Downloadable audio books are not a fad and the trend towards audio books over hard copy books is steadily growing! The beauty with audio books is that you have more than one option for listening to them. Downloading and distributing audio books is easy and can be done in minutes. Also buying and playing audio books is an uncomplicated process.

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This is just the initial installment article on "Are Downloadable Audio Books Worth Their Cost?" Look for additional articles coming soon...


About the Author

Harold Nusbaum, founder of http://www.todaysaudiobooks.com ,which provides audio books online downloads across an extremely wide range of audio books categories. The site offers discounted immediate downloads of Arts & Drama, Biographies, Business, Crime & Thrillers, Fiction, Foreign Language, Health & Recreation, History, Humor, Juvenile, Radio Shows, Religious & Spiritual, Self Help and TV & Fim categories of interest. No membership required!

How to Research Gadgets Online Before You Buy Them

Every day new gadgets are coming out on the market. Companies are constantly updating and inventing new devices for the consumers. The newer gadgets are more portable, easier to use and nicer looking than the first models. There are gadgets for just about any task you can imagine.

Gadgets are not just for businessmen and students to labor on. Now, there are electronic devices that help perform simple tasks as well as complicated ones. People of all ages and lifestyles are now carrying their own electronic gadgets around with them.

Shop for Gadgets
Because these gadgets are so popular, many online sites are selling them. You can find almost anything you want. Mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players, cameras, televisions, video games and games consoles are offered in varying brands and prices. There are even sites dedicated to black gadgets only if you're a fan of black gadgets.

If you want to buy electronic gadgets, begin by browsing online stores. Type in your key words and look at the products they have available. Compare the brands and prices on the sites. This will give you a chance to find the best deals. Bookmark the sites that have gadgets that interest you. You can go back to these sites to see the new products as they are added. You can also watch for accessories to gadgets you already own.

Compare Products
Another thing to do is compare the brands and the features they include. For instance, a phone that includes a camera and iPod will cost more than a more basic model. If you want the highest quality, you can search online sites until you find a price you can afford. If you want a durable and dependable product, you are usually better off buying a well-known name brand.

There are many brands and styles of digital cameras now to choose from. Decide what features you want and that will make your search easier. If you are interested in high-quality photos and want higher megapixels, a better zoom or compact size, there are cameras for every need.

Laptops now come in assorted sizes for easy use and carrying. You can find sizes from a 17-inch laptop down to a handheld size computer. The important thing is to find the features that you will utilize. You don't have to sacrifice functions in exchange for a smaller size. Don't settle for a cheap gadget just because the price is good.

Look For Gadgets Now
When you are buying gadgets, it is a good idea to read reviews written about the products. You can find articles written by the company as well as customers. This will give you important information on the performance of the products.

Start your research online now to find the gadgets that are right for you. Take time to look at different sites and products and you will be satisfied with your purchases.

About the Author

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies. For tips/information, click here: gadgets
Visit Majon's Electronics directory.

How to Copy Music OFF your iPod

So, you've got music on your iPod that you don't have on your computer?

It doesn't matter how you got in this predicament -- maybe you've lost a hard drive (or an entire computer), or you've accidently deleted just a little too much, and for one reason or another, you don't have the original source of the music.

If any of that sounds familiar, the time to fix it is now -- before you lose your iPod (and your music), or iTunes manages to get set to automatically sync your entire library (its default state, if you have to re-install it) and starts deleting all of the songs it doesn't know about.

Unfortunately, the standard tool for transferring music between your iPod and your computer (iTunes) is one-way -- it'll put music (or videos, etc.) onto your iPod, but it won't retrieve it back. Why? Uncle Steve wants it that way, I suppose.

Getting music off of your iPod -- the Windows Down & Dirty Method

Unusually enough, this is one place Windows users have an advantage over Mac users. If you have a Windows formatted iPod, Windows actually treats it as a removable drive, and you can go in and copy the files off if you know where to look.

Here's how:

1. Connect your iPod -- =Warning!= if iTunes loads when you plug in your iPod, and is set to automatically sync your entire library (erasing your iPod), you MUST stop it -- hit the little "X" in the upper right hand corner of the window.

2. Open your iPod -- It should show up on "My Computer" as a "Mobile Device"; right click and choose "Explore". Alternatively, go to the Control Panel, Portable Media Devices, and double-click your iPod.

3. Unhide the files -- By default, Windows hides hidden files and folders (thus the name). Go to Options (in the Tools menu), and on the View tab, check "Show Hidden Files and Folders".

4. Find the Music -- The music is stored (in current iPods) in the directory "\\iPod_Control\\Music". This may have a lot of odd looking stuff in it -- it doesn't matter; select everything and drag and drop them to a folder on your hard drive.

5. Configure iTunes -- Go into iTunes Preferences, and under the Advanced tab, check "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to the library" (settings move around a bit between versions of iTunes, but these settings will be there somewhere).

6. Add Your Files -- In iTunes, select File, Add Folder to Library, and select the folder where you copied the files from your iPod. Alternatively, just drag and drop this folder onto iTunes

Once you've done that, iTunes should sort out the files from the iPod folder structure, put the artist and album information back from the ID3 tags in the music files, and reorganize the whole thing in the iTunes library folder.

The one caveat with this is that what you won't get back is any "metadata" that isn't stored in the files themselves, such as ratings, play counts, last played and modified information, etc.

It's also very difficult to select individual files or groups of files doing this, as it's not terribly obvious which file is which just looking at them in the way the iPod stores them.

Last but not least, I've never seen (nor read about) this trick being tried with any of the "new" iTunes data types, such as pictures, video, games, etc., so I don't know how well it would work to retrieve that information, nor whether this will retrieve purchases from iTunes Music Store intact.

For more methods of copying data off of your iPod, including links to several free utilities that can copy all of your data, please see:

5 Ways to copy music OFF your iPod (Windows / Mac OS X)

About the Author

Chuck Lawson writes tips and reviews for technology and gadgets at Nonliteral: Metaphoric Engineering. Please visit Nonliteral for more information on this and other related topics.

Two Tremendous Budget mp3 Players Compared

As you are possibly aware from my previous articles, on my site at http://Buy CheapMp3Player.info, I have a shortlist of my top six favorite cheap mp3 players.

A couple of my top six are lower end of the price range machines from brand name manufacturers (Apple iPod and Sony).

Most people will be pretty familiar with these two companies and the quality of the products that they produce. Also, most of mp3 players that they have produced have been covered in some depth elsewhere, on review sites, in press reports and the like.

I therefore see little point in recovering well trodden ground by describing these machines in any detail.

What I would like to do instead is go into a little more detail with a short comparative review of a couple of cheap mp3 players from lesser known manufacturers.

Both of these machines, in my opinion, beautifully encapsulate the reasoning behind my impartial recommendation to buy a cheap mp3 player, rather than perhaps wasting our money on an expensive brand name machine.

The simple fact is that there are many cheap mp3 players that offer great quality at exceptional prices, and why pay more than you need to?

In other words, the two players that I have highlighted below simply provide tremendous value for money, and who amongst us doesn't want that?

iRiver iFP-700 (780T model - 128MB - @$60)

The first point to note about this player is the great sound quality, and my previous articles have all attempted to highlight how important this is. The bass response, in particular, is simply outstanding, making this a very good choice for those who will use their mp3 player mainly to listen to rock music, hip hop and the like.

The 128MB available to you translates into something like four hours of music, well within the lifespan capacity of the battery, which can easily last twenty hours plus in normal use.

It will play MP3, WMA & OGG music files, and can record from any sound source, not just through your PC. It also features an FM radio, is pretty resistant to the skips and jumps that are often a feature of Flash based players, and weighs in at just 3 grams!

So, there are a heck of a lot of good things that you can say about the 780T, making it an outstanding buy in its class and price range for me.

I do, of course, have a couple of small gripes!

First, the radio reception is often not particularly good. Obviously this is only relevant if you are interested in listening to radio, but, it is something to be aware of.

Second, I found the earphones a little difficult to use, and pretty uncomfortable into the bargain. Not that the 780T is unique in this, and, of course, earphones can be bought separately, but I didn't really like the standard phones that come with the 780T.

That being said, it is still a very, very good example of what you get if you buy a cheap mp3 player, and for the price, it is exceptional value for money.

SanDisk Sansa e100 (e140 - 1GB - $80)

This one comes with 1GB memory, so it obviously has the ability to load up considerably more music than the 780T above.

Again, this is five star mp3 player, great quality from a lesser known name, that can play mp3 or WMA files, weighs in at 0.4ozs and has a battery life of 15 hours continuous playback.

Also like the 780T, this one offers terrific sound quality, with its "TruBass" feature again adding considerably to the response at the lower end of the tonal scale.

The controls are extremely ergonomically laid out and are simple to use, and the backlit LCD screen, allied to the detailed album and/or song information shown on it, make this a very easy player to actually operate.

It has the added advantage that there is no requirement for special software to load songs on to it - simple Windows "drag and drop" is all that is required - and for pure functionality, the Sansa e140 is pretty hard to beat.

Again like the 780T, downsides are very few.

There does seem to be a noticeable (and slightly irritating) gap between tracks playing on the e140, but this seems to be a feature (or fault) that I have found with some other Flash based players a well, so maybe it is an inherent fault of the technology, rather than the manufacturers.

I also, once again, found the earphones uncomfortable, but (given the frequency that this appears to be the case) maybe I should blame that on the shape of my own ears, rather than on the phones!

In conclusion, the iRiver 780t and the SanDisk Sansa e140 represent all that is good about the idea of buying a cheap mp3 player!

Both retail for well under $100 in the high street or local mall, but, before buying, don't forget to check the special eBay deals from my signature at the bottom of this page for extra cheap prices!

Both offer great sound quality, excellent functionality, light weight and good looks.

So, your choice is pretty simple.

Do you want to pay the extra $30 or so necessary to move up from four hours of music with the iRiver 780T to the fifteen hours or so (before a battery change becomes necessary) with the Sansa e140? Otherwise, there is so little to choose between them....

As they say, you pays your money, you takes your choice!

About the Author

Steve Cowan is an avid fan of both music and spoken word mp3's. Get his "fabulous 30" free audiobooks at http://www.TalkAlive.com, then download his own unique free report "Top 99 Free mp3 Downloads" at http:/www.BuyCheapMp3Player.info. And, before buying an mp3 player, don't forget to check out Steve's unbeatable eBay prices at http://buycheapmp3player.info/ebayspecials.html