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By Paton Jackson
My friends and colleagues consider me as the audio books expert. They tell their friends that they know an audio books expert and the outcome is that I keep getting dozens of audio books questions and inquiries each day. I have decided to gather the most frequently asked questions for everyone’s benefit.
Here are the top five frequently asked questions about audio books (and the answers of course):
1. Are there free audio books (audio book subscription)? How do I get them?
In one word: NO. In two words: Not exactly. Depends of the type of audio book you are looking for (downloadable audio book are cheaper than the other types), and the audio book title (new audio books cost more), you could find low cost audio books (audio book subscription).
I believe that one should pay for each product or service he gets. Yet, you could find free audio books (audio book subscription) mostly by signing up for the free trials most of the online audio book services give you.
2. What is better – Audio books rental or audio books buying?
I personally prefer audio books rental. Mostly because of the price – I read a lot of audio books (audio book subscription) and it will simply cost too much to buy them all. However, audio books that I really like, Ones that I want to listen to time after time, I buy and keep them on my audio books library.
Yet, I have friends who are more possessive – they are not willing to rent audio books and they must hold a remarkable huge audio book library.
3. What do you suggest – downloadable audio books, audio books on CD or books on tape?
Well, that’s a tough question. Basically, I believe that the most worthy audio books format nowadays is downloadable audio books (audio book subscription). You must own a media player (e.g. Ipod) to listen to it. Yet, it costs less than the others and has a better quality.
However, the widest collection of audio books could be found on the audio books on CD format. If you want to listen to old books you will find them only on CDs. I do not recommend getting books on tape (also known as audio books on cassettes). They are expensive, low quality and not user friendly.
4. When can I read audio books (audio book subscription)?
The answer is - Anytime and anywhere. Here are a few examples: While cooking, cleaning the house, exercising, running, walking, driving, flying, before going to sleep, commuting, working etc.
5. Are audio books expensive?
Audio books are not expensive at all. In fact, Downloadable audio books are very cheap – they cost much less than real books and renting them is the most worthy deal. Audio books on CD cost about the same as real books and books on tape are the most expensive ones.
Paton Jackson is the audio books’ expert of 911 corp. Find the best audio books (audio book subscription) sources and more about audio books on http://www.911makemoretime.com/Free%20audio%20books.htm Audio book rental and more - The audio book bible.
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Friday, May 30, 2008
Audio Books - 10 Frequently Asked Questions - Part 1
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Online Audio Book Rental Vs. Audio Book Buying
audio book subscription
By Paton Jackson
Many of our friends and our colleagues ask us questions regarding the price of audio books. First, they want to get details about free audio books. And, then when they usually ask which is better: audio book rental or audio book buying (audio book subscription). There is no strict answer to this question.
In the following lines we will try to help you find out which is better for you: Online audio book rental services or audio book buying services (audio book subscription). Ask your self the following questions:
1. How much time a day do you have to listen to audio books each day? If you have less than an hour a day driving, exercising etc. it will be much more worthy for you to buy audio books (audio book subscription) instead of using online audio book rental services.
2. Are you a sentimental person finding value in books, pictures etc.? If the answer to this question is yes, then you probably have a large book collection because you never liked libraries and therefore, you should buy audio books (audio book subscription) and not safe some bucks on audio books rentals.
3. Do you like swapping old books, selling them in flea markets or giving them away? If you answered positively to this question, you probably do not want useless stuff to fill in the free space in your house – You should consider using one of the online audio book rental services (audio book subscription) instead of buying audio books.
4. Do you like to reread books ? If your answer is yes, you should buy audio books (audio book subscription) and avoid audio books rentals.
5. Do you like to collect stuff and to show off with your impressive collections? If you answered positively, audio books are not different. Start buying them.
6. Do you make a research before any purchase to get the best price? If you do, check out which of the online audio book rental services (audio book subscription) is the most worthy. Buying audio books is less profitable.
Most people prefer using online audio book rental services (audio book subscription). But make sure you make the right decision for you and remember you could always try both of the methods – audio book rental and audio book buying as long as you have a pleasant listening.
911 Corp. has executed an independent research to find the best place to get audio books from. Find out the clear results and all about audio books and audio books free downloads only on the online audio book rental services information.
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Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Audio Book
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Audio Book Subscription)
An audio book is a recording that is primarily of the spoken word as opposed to music. While it is often based on a recording of commercially available printed material, this is not always the case; nor is this required to fit the definition of an audio book, which is why "audio book" is one word rather than two. It was not intended to be descriptive of the word "book" but is rather a recorded spoken program in its own right and not necessarily an audio version of a book.
Spoken audio was originally primarily available in school and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops. It was not until the 1980's that there began a concerted effort to attract book retailers. As book publishers entered the field of spoken-word publishing, the transition to book retailers carrying audio books became commonplace on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.
Formats
Audio books are usually distributed on CDs, cassette tapes, downloadable digital formats (e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio) and, most recently, some preloaded digital formats (e.g., Play away).
The term "books on tape" was frequently and erroneously used as a synonym for audio books when the majority of audio books (then called "spoken word audio") were available on cassette, but BOT was a company that actively attempted (often failing) to protect its company name from generic use. With cassette tapes no longer the dominant medium for audio books, this has become a non-issue.
In 2005 cassette-tape sales made up roughly 16% of the audio book market, with CD sales accounting for 74% of the market and downloadable audio books accounting for approximately 9%. In the
Most new popular titles put out by the audio book publishers are available in audio book format simultaneously with publication of the hardcover edition. The first example of this simultaneous publication was when Caedmon published the spoken recording of Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings. There are more than 50,000 current titles on cassette, CD or digital format.
Unabridged audio books are word for word readings of a book, while abridged audio books have text edited out by the abridger. Abridgements were initially necessary to keep down the running time, and therefore the cost and corresponding retail price, as the general consumer was getting introduced to audio books. With greater consumer acceptance, less consumer price resistance and higher per title sales for some pricing economy, more of the audio book titles are now being released only as unabridged recordings. Audio books also come as fully dramatized versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music, and sound effects, though many consumers have indicated a preference for less music, multiple voices and sound effects. Each spring, the Audie Awards are given to the top nominees for performance and production in several genre categories.
There are quite a few radio programs serializing books, sometimes read by the author or sometimes by an actor, with most of them on the BBC.
History
In 1931 the Congress established the talking-book program, which was intended to help blind adults who couldn’t read print. This program was called "Books for the Adult Blind Project." The American Foundation for the Blind developed the first talking books in 1932. One year later the first reproduction machine began the process of mass publishing. In 1933 anthropologist J.P. Harrington drove the length of
Though spoken recordings were already popular in 33-1/3 vinyl record format for schools and libraries into the early 1970's, the beginning of the trade acceptance of this medium can be traced to the introduction of the audio cassette and, most importantly, to the prevalence of these cassette players as standard equipment (rather than as options which older drivers did not choose) in imported (Japanese) automobiles, which became very popular during the oil crisis of 1979. Thereafter it was slow and steady going as consumers latched onto the experience and authors slowly accepted the medium. Into the early 1980's there were still many authors who refused to have their books created as audio books, so a good many of the audio books were original productions not based upon printed books.
With the development of portable cassette recorders, audiotapes had become very popular and by the late 1960s libraries became a source of free audio books, primarily on vinyl records but also on cassettes. Instructional and educational recordings came first, followed by self-help tapes and then by literature. In 1970 Books on Tape Corporation started rental plans for audio books distribution. The company expanded their services selling their products to libraries and audio books gained popularity. By the middle of 1980s the audio publishing business grew to several billion dollars a year in retail value. The new companies, Recorded Books and Chivers Audio Books, were not the first to develop integrated production teams and to work with professional actors. Caedmon was the first to have done this, while Nightingale Conant featured business and self-help authors reading their own works first on vinyl records and then on cassettes.
The Audio Publishers Association was established in 1986 by six competitive companies who joined together to promote the consumer awareness of spoken word audio. In 1996 the Audio Publishers Association established the Audie Awards for audio books, which is equivalent to the Oscar for the talking books industry. The nominees are announced each year in January. The winners are announced at a gala banquet in the spring, usually in conjunction with BookExpo
Invention of CDs added to the convenience and flexibility of listening. While music fans were quick to latch onto this new format, audio book listeners were much slower, presumably caring less about technology and more about ease of use and bookmarking capability. Also, it was not until cassette players were replaced by CD players in most automobiles that this format eventually took hold.
With the advent of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats and portable MP3 players, the popularity of audio books has increased significantly. This growth was reflected with the advent of Audio book download subscription services. Meanwhile, the introduction of easy-to-use preloaded digital audio formats have kept audio books accessible to technophobes and the visually impaired, although the majority of consumers are neither: rather, they tend to be regular readers who desire to emulate reading when driving or otherwise occupied.
Use, distribution and popularity
The popularity of portable music players such as the iPod has made audio books more accessible to people for portable listening. This has led to availability in the creation of free audio books from Librivox and similar projects that take works from the public domain and enlist volunteers to read them. Audio books also can be created with text to speech software, although the quality of synthesised speech may suffer by comparison to voice talent recordings. Audio books in the private domain are also distributed online by for-profit companies such as Media Bay (which has since ceased operations), the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), Simply Audio books, Spoken Network, Naxos, Audioville, Bookstolistento and Audible.com, which in 2006 generated $82.2 million USD in revenue through sales of downloadable audio books and other spoken-word content.
Audio books on cassette or CD are typically more expensive than their hardback equivalents due to the added expense of recording and the lack of the economy of scale in high "print" runs that are available in the publishing of printed books. Preloaded digital formats are similar in price to their CD counterparts. The audio content is preloaded on a small and simple player, which removes the need for a separate piece of technology such as a CD player or an MP3 player. Additionally, the content is static-state so it is protected from damage. Downloadable audio books tend to cost slightly less than hardbacks but more than their paperback equivalents. For this reason, market penetration of audio books is substantially lower than for their printed counterparts despite the high market penetration of the hardware (MP3 and WMA players) and despite the massive market penetration achieved by audio music products. Given the elasticity of demand for audio books and the availability of cheaper alternatives, slow and steady growth in sales seems more likely than a mass market explosion. However, economics are on the side of downloadable audio books in the long run. They do not carry mass production costs, do not require storage of a large inventory, do not require physical packaging or transportation and do not face the problem of returns that add to the cost of printed books. It is possible that significant price reductions to customers, while cutting into cost of goods and perhaps somewhat eating into per unit profit margins, will be offset by increased volumes of sales. This will increase absolute profits to the industry while bringing audio books to a wider public.
Many people erroneously believe that one of the factors holding back price competition is the fear that low-price audio books might simply take business away from more traditional forms of publishing. They believe that this is especially significant in the case of publishers who have interests in both print and audio book publishing. This has not been the case. Most major book publishers now actively participate in audio book publishing and see it as a complement to their publishing operations.
Resellers of audio books, such as Audible, Simply Audio books, and Audio Editions Books on Cassette and CD, who acquire much of their content from major publishers, must price their content at such a level as to take account of their cost of goods as well as operating costs. On the other hand, audio book sellers who publish their own content (like the BBC), those who publish solely in audio book format (such as Blackstone Audio) and "Long Tail" type audio book publishers who publish lesser known authors (such as bookstolistento) have lesser costs to authors and therefore can sell at lower prices using a "lower-margin-higher-sales" business model. The fact that there are only modest signs of this happening so far may be a testament to immaturity of the audio book industry in comparison with its printed book cousin; or it might simply be an acknowledgment of the overall costs of author, performer, production and distribution that is required of the audio book publisher's creation.
Audio books have been used to teach children to read and to increase reading comprehension. They are also useful for the blind. The National Library of Congress in the U.S. and the CNIB Library in Canada provide free audio book library services to the visually impaired; requested books are mailed out (at no cost) to clients.
About forty percent of all audio book consumption occurs through public libraries, with the remainder served primarily through retail book stores. Library download programs are currently experiencing rapid growth (more than 5,000 public libraries offer free downloadable audio books). According to the National Endowment for the Arts' recent study, "
Self-help audio books
Audio books are also used for education. Self-help audio books range from public speaking to learning meditation. Their general goal, however, is always to develop one's skills to be happier and/or more successful in life. While some focus on a particular skill, others aim to change the listener's life entirely. Many of these self-help audio books can be purchased online.
Listening practices
Audio books are considered a valuable learning tool because of their format. Unlike with traditional books, one can learn from an audio book while doing other tasks, although it should be noted that this can detract from the primary task. Such multitasking is feasible when doing mechanical tasks that do not require much thought and have only little or no chance of an emergency arising. Such tasks include doing the laundry and exercising indoors, among others. The most popular general use of audio books by adults is when driving an automobile or as an alternative to radio. Many people listen as well just to relax or as they drift off into sleep.
Common practices include:
· Learning: People may listen to an audio book (usually an unabridged one) while following along in an actual book. This helps them to learn words that they may not learn correctly if they were only to read the book.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Growing Success of the Audio Book Business
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Due to the growing popularity of audio books (Audio Book Subscription), people involved in the audio book business (Audio Book Subscription) are becoming more and more successful. There is a huge demand for audio books (Audio Book Subscription), especially now that people use portable audio equipment on a regular basis. Business involved in audio books (Audio Book Subscription) has boomed and the market for these products has expanded to every walk of life.
Good business supplies audio books (Audio Book Subscription) in every possible genre from self-help to children's books and this is why success in the audio book business (Audio Book Subscription) has continued to grow. At one stage audio books seemed to be limited to obscure or educational audio versions that could be borrowed from the library but nowadays all books shops and even music shops supply audio books (Audio Book Subscription). The audio book business (Audio Book Subscription) has even exploded onto the Internet, expanding the market and providing valuable services worldwide. Working in a business selling audio books is now considered to be a busy job in a successful company as audio books are becoming a lot more commonplace and widely used. Even schools are now using audio books as part of their lessons or playtime.
Getting established in the Audio Book Business (Audio Book Subscription)
There is a lot of competition in the audio book business (Audio Book Subscription) but there is also a lot of demand. The key seems to be supplying as wide a range of audio books as possible to as large an audience as possible. Getting supplies of various genres of audio book (Audio Book Subscription) can be relatively simple but attracting a sizeable amount of custom can be slightly more difficult. The best way seems to be embracing all forms of sales and advertisement, from opening an audio book shop to supplying audio books to bookstores. From providing mail service to online services, the options in this type of business are endless.
In order to stay ahead of the competition, however, it should be able to provide alternatives to the regular forms of audio books. For example, downloadable audio books are a must have option at this time, especially the types of files that can be downloaded onto a portable external device such as an mp3 player. People are now interested in convenience and there is nothing more convenient than having a book or text downloaded onto an ipod in order to listen to while on the way to work or school. The audio book enterprise should be able to provide both entertainment and educational forms of audio books as well as keep up to date in modern technology while still providing more traditional services for the type of people who are do not frequently use modern technology overall. It is important to provide something for everyone and that seems to be the key to success in the audio book business.
Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/
About the Author
Eddie Lamb publishes an abundance of information on a range of topical subjects. We believe better understanding your area of interest helps your decision making process immensely. You'll find a host of useful information about digital downloadable products at http://www.DigitalAudiosDirect.com
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008
The Advantages Of Audio Books
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With the incredible advantage of listening to your favorite book instead of reading it, the popularity of audio books has now gone through the roof.
There are now more and more book titles with audio book versions.
Think about it - with audio books you can now save that extra time you spend reading a chapter on your favorite motivational book each morning
before you leave for work. Apart from saving extra time, you are gaining extra knowledge in the process.
You can simply put it on to play while you prepare for work or even play it in your car on your way to work.
No wonder children, adults and even oldies have fallen head over heels in love with audio books.
Below are some of the specific advantages that audio books have over normal hardcover or paperback books:
-- Audio books are more cost effective to produce than hardcover and paperbacks. More so, those who love to conserve nature insist that if all books
are audio instead of hardcover and paperbacks, this will save more trees and keep the earth better than it is today.
-- You can select the exact track you want to listen to instead of flipping through several pages in the case of normal books. This saves a great deal of
time and makes it very comfortable for you.
-- You can listen to audio books while doing other things in the house, while commuting to and from work or even while jogging. With an audio book
someone else does the reading, while you do the absorption.
-- You can listen to an audio book when it's dark (example - when you are out camping and you've got no lights) but you can't read a book when it's
dark. So, with an audio book you can go on vacation and still enjoy what the audio book has to offer.
-- You can save the time you spend reading to your kids each night before they sleep with an audio book. Unlike a normal paperback or hardcover
book that you have to read to your kids, with an audio book you can simply play it for them until they fall asleep, thereby saving you the time.
More so, audio books that are specifically for children are more fun than your reading can be. You probably were not trained to talk like a rabbit, right?
But most of the narrators of children's audio books were trained to read in ways that children love.
About the Author:
Eddie Lamb provides an abundance of information on a range of topical subjects. We believe better understanding your area of interest helps your
decision making process immensely. You'll find a host of useful information about digital downloadable products at http://www.digitalaudiosdirect.com/
(audio book subscription)
How to Find an Audio Book Online
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There are so many opportunities to find the audio book online that you are searching for. There are also many different kinds around now. When you think of an audio book, you may think of your favorite book being told to you by a storyteller or even the author him or herself. However, there are so many other types of kinds available, you should not stop there.
You can find an audio book online to help you learn a new language. You can find ones that will help you study more about business, or another field you wish to learn more about. Sometimes, you can even find ones that are recorded from a seminar or other popular event. You can also find audio books to help you stop smoking, feel better about yourself, or inspire you to take up a new hobby. There are so many different kinds out there it can be hard to keep track of them all! You can even find motivational ones to help you in your career, your parenthood, and your life in general.
In order to find a particular audio book online, you should first visit three of the most popular audio bookstores online and you may have already visited these websites before for another reason. Here they are:
1. Amazon: Amazon is one of the most popular bookstores on the Internet. Their inventory is diverse and large. It is amazing what you can actually find on Amazon when you look for it. Amazon is indisputably the largest hardcover, paperback and audio book market place in the world, online or offline. To locate the book that you are looking for, simply search for the title or author's name. Even if you do not find the specific audio book you are looking for, Amazon should provide you with some alternatives to take a look at.
2. Audio Books Bonanza: This is another downloadable audio book marketplace that specializes in the spoken word. You can easily find the book you need or want. Their search features are very simple to use and will save you a lot of time.
3. Barnes & Noble: This is another incredibly popular and highly visited audio book marketplace on the Internet. Like Amazon and Audio Books Bonanza, you can visit the website and use the search feature to locate precisely what you want.
There are several other audio book marketplaces on the Internet, but the three mentioned above are the most popular and most secure from which to purchase. Buying your purchase from any of these bookstores can give you complete a peace of mind, as you won't have any fear of being defrauded.
Copyright: Helen Wall
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