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Tuesday 10 August 2004 The Audio Age by John Joseph Adams The concept of an audiobook grew out of the Books for the Adult Blind Program passed by Congress in 1931. Modern day audiobooks — bestsellers read by professional narrators not only for the blind, but for the seeing general public as well — were conceived in 1975 by audiobook publisher Books on Tape, Inc., whose name has become synonymous with the format. Since that time, audiobooks have gone on to become a multi-billion dollar a year industry, and have spawned dozens of publishers, large and small. Audiobooks have evolved into different formats, and so are merely books-on-tape no longer; the original medium, analog audio cassettes, has been joined by digital media — CDs, MP3-CDs, and online digital downloads. I've divided this primer into two parts. The first part (which you're reading now) will cover everything from narrators, to the difference between an abridged recording and a dramatization, to the best place to buy, rent, or download your audiobooks. The second part, forthcoming in the next few weeks, will provide an overview of the various technologies involved in audiobook listening. I'll point out some good cassette players, digital audio players, earphones... and I'll point out some tips and tricks I've learned along the way that will cut down on some of the hassle associated with listening to — rather than reading — a book. So. You're interested in audiobooks, but don't know where to begin? Listen up. The Basics Narrators The narrator of an audiobook is just as important to the overall success of the production as the author. A book may be written by the best prose-stylist or the most imaginative plotter in the world, but the audiobook still won't be enjoyable unless it has the right narrator.
Though you likely already have a good idea of which authors are your favorites, you probably have little or no idea which narrators are good ones. Unless the narrator is a famous actor (as is sometimes the case), you will probably have never even heard of him. Household names like Steve Buscemi and Ethan Hawke are excellent narrators, as are many SF television stars, such as Buffy's James Marsters (Spike) and many of the various Star Trek actors, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor (Major Kira) and Alexander Siddig (Dr. Bashir). But even if you know and respect an actor's work on screen, a good on-screen persona doesn't always translate well to spoken-word audio. And just because you haven't heard of a narrator doesn't mean he's a nobody — many actors have made a name for themselves within the audiobook industry and are considered stars in their own right. Just take a look at the various winners of the Audie Awards (the Audio Publisher's Association's award for excellence in audiobook publishing) and AudioFile Magazine's list of "Golden Voices" — you'll find a few familiar names there, but you'll mostly find performers you've never heard of unless you're already an audiobook aficionado. The other possibility you'll encounter is the author reading his or her own book. You might think that an author reading his own work would be ideal — after all, who understands the work better than the author? On the one hand that's true, but on the other hand... some authors just don't have the acting chops to pull it off, so here's where things get dicey. Some authors, such as Neil Gaiman (reading his own Coraline), do a superb job — in fact, Coraline is one of the very best audiobooks I've ever heard. And Harlan Ellison is such a skilled narrator that he is not only hired to read his own works, but the works of many others as well. Other authors, meanwhile, are not quite up to the task, such as William Gibson in his abridged Time Warner Audiobooks edition of Neuromancer (instead, look for the unabridged edition from Books on Tape, narrated by Arthur Addison). Authors reading their own works are more common in non-fiction; fiction authors generally only read their own audiobooks when they're big stars (and commercially very successful), so it doesn't happen all that often, especially in SF. Considering the hit-or-miss nature of most of these author-read recordings, this could very well be a blessing. So what makes a performance good? Basic vocal skills — everything from phrasing and diction to articulation and timing — play a part in an audiobook performance, but a good narrator goes beyond that and draws the listener into the story and holds her interest despite whatever distractions may arise. More specifically, there are two basic types of narrators, which I think of as "The Invisible Man" and "The Performer." The Invisible Man, as the name suggests, gives a subtle performance that doesn't draw attention to itself; instead, he simply acts as a conduit which translates the written word to the spoken word. Though he doesn't do voices per se, he alters his voice just enough to distinguish between characters and infuses his performance with emotion and gravitas. Stefan Rudnicki and Ron McLarty are fine examples of this narrator type. The Performer, meanwhile, takes a very creative role in the process of adapting a work to audio. He reads with great enthusiasm and brings the text to life by using a wide-range of character voices. Outstanding examples of this type of narrator include 2004 Audie Award-winner Stephen Briggs, who reads Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and James Langton, narrator of Lloyd Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles. Which type of narrator a book gets depends on the book itself; some texts lend themselves to a quieter performance, while others work better with a more vibrant reading. So what makes a performance bad? There are any variety of ways where a narrator can go awry, but perhaps the most heinous sin he can commit is delivering an dull or uninspired performance that doesn't engage the listener. This can lead to the listener to lose focus, forcing him to go back and rewind constantly. Often this will be the fault of the author, but just as often (if not more so) it's the fault of the narrator. Another way narrators can go wrong is by attempting to go beyond their range when it comes to performing voices and/or accents. An actor who goes overboard with accents can completely ruin an otherwise enjoyable audiobook. Such a performance can sound so ludicrous that it seems like intentional self-parody. So, with all these variables in mind, how is a listener supposed to find a good narrator?
The first thing you should do is read my Locus column "Locus Listens to Audio," which will be appearing quarterly (in January, April, July, and October) and will be reprinted here at Locus Online shortly after the print edition appears. And, of course, you can check out other reviews. Publishers Weekly covers audiobooks, and then there's AudioFile Magazine, which is a magazine entirely devoted to audiobooks and audiobook reviews. Sadly, neither of these venues covers much science fiction or fantasy on audio, but they are useful if you read in other genres. But don't stop at reading reviews. Listen for yourself before making a purchase. Most audiobook publishers have excerpts available on their websites in windows media player and/or real player formats, allowing you to get a sample of the narrator's voice and style. Audible.com, the industry's leading digital audiobook content provider, also offers audio excerpts of all of their titles. Between audiobook publishers and Audible.com, you can sample most any book before buying it. And ultimately, the only way to be sure if you'll enjoy a narrator's performance is to sample it for yourself. Abridged vs. Unabridged vs. Dramatized If you've never come across the terms abridged and unabridged in your life, you likely will the first time you shop for a dictionary (and if you don't know what those terms mean, you really need that dictionary). In relation to audiobooks, the terms mean just what you'd think they'd mean: unabridged audiobooks contain the complete text of the book; abridged audiobooks meanwhile have been truncated in order to make the length of the audiobook more manageable. But what you're probably really wondering is: "What sort of material is cut when an audiobook is abridged?" Well, I posed that very question to audiobook producer Stefan Rudnicki when I interviewed him for The Internet Review of Science Fiction in March 2004. "Depends on the book," Rudnicki said. "Some books are driven by story, so the plot has to be intact. Others are character driven, so plot points are not as essential. Others still are dominated by mood or a particular literary tone. What goes away in an abridgment, ideally, is what is not essential to the author's style, while what's left retains the core elements of that particular book." [read the whole interview]
Purists will probably scoff at the idea of abridged books, but abridgers usually know what they're doing, and if the audiobook is published by one of the top houses, you can rest assured that the core of the novel will remain intact. In fact, some of my favorite audiobooks were abridged productions. For example, Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series (Seventh Son, et seq.) were abridged when published by Fantastic Audio in the 90s, and that series is one of the reasons I fell in love with audiobooks. (Note: Audio Renaissance is now publishing the series in unabridged format, starting in September with The Crystal City.) Other noteworthy abridged audiobooks include: Lost Boy, Lost Girl by Peter Straub, The Winter King (et seq.) by Bernard Cornwell, and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (also available unabridged). But if nothing will convince you that abridged audiobooks are worth listening to, you'll be glad to hear that fewer and fewer audiobooks are being abridged these days. Some audiobook publishers — such as Blackstone Audio, Books on Tape, and Recorded Books — never abridge their books. And nowadays, even mammoth fantasy novels such as the books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series are now being published in unabridged format (from Audio Renaissance). Somewhere between abridged and unabridged audiobooks falls a strange hybrid — the audiobook presented in "Unabridged Excerpts." That probably sounds a bit confusing, and it is initially perplexing, but let me explain. Here's how it works: in order to cut down the playing time of a very lengthy piece, yet still maintain the style, the producers record certain unabridged sections of text from the book, while omitting other sections completely. In order to keep the narrative coherent, the narrator (usually a different actor than the primary narrator) reads a summary of events that occurs between the two unabridged selections — "bridging" them together. It probably sounds more complicated than it really is, but it does work pretty well, even if it isn't quite as satisfying as a completely unabridged book. Thus far I've only ever seen this form of abridgement used with Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, though I note that it will also be used in the forthcoming audio editions of his Baroque Cycle. Dramatized audiobooks are a slightly different beast; these are recordings adapted from novels or other media, and are usually performed by a full cast, while incorporating sound effects and music into the production. Their very nature demands that they be at least slightly abridged — for instance, the full cast eliminates the need for character tags, so those are usually eliminated at the very least. Dramatizations are often broadcast first as radio programs, such as those that run on NPR. In fact, NPR produced an excellent dramatization of A Canticle For Leibowitz; look for my review of it in Amazing Stories #604 (October 2004). The SCI FI Channel also produced a series of radio dramas called Seeing Ear Theater, which are available for free online. Other radio dramatizations include those produced by the Radio Repertory Company of America and the ongoing Amaryllis Radio serials being produced for Telltale Weekly. Formats Before you go shopping for audiobooks, you should decide which format you'd prefer. Let's look at the pros and cons of the different audiobook formats. Cassettes Familiarity:
Though analog audio cassettes have long been considered a dinosaur format by the music industry, when most people think of audiobooks, they think of books-on-tape. And with good reason — though there are newer titles being released now only on CD and as digital downloads, audio cassettes still dominate the audiobook market. Bookmarking:
When you press stop, the audiobook stops right where you left off, and you are able to remove it from the cassette deck and transfer it to another playback device without risk of losing your place. One potential difficulty is created by cassette players with an auto-reverse feature; this can cause you to lose your place if you're not careful, though it is easily remedied. Fast-forwarding and rewinding is very simple and functional. Again, auto-reverse features can be tricky, but you won't have any trouble fast-forwarding or rewinding nine times out of ten. Sound quality:
Though sound quality is usually fine, occasionally there is some sound "bleedthrough" caused by the tracks not being properly aligned, or if low quality tape is used. This bleedthrough is audible during the silent portions of the audiobook — that is, when the narrator pauses between scenes or paragraphs, or for dramatic reasons — and sounds a lot the mumbling speech you would hear if someone was having a loud conversation in an adjacent room. This problem varies from audiobook to audiobook and publisher to publisher; for example, I've encountered this multiple times from Random House Audio audiobooks, but never from Blackstone Audiobooks. Portability:
If you listen to audiobooks only in your car, as many people do, this might not be an issue, but if you listen with a portable cassette player when you're out and about, lugging around six or more audio cassettes can be a bit of a hassle. Also, if you choose to only take part of the book with you, you run the risk of finishing the portion you're carrying and being stuck without the rest of your book until you get home. Versatility:
Technically, I suppose you can transfer material from an audio cassette to a CD-R on your PC, but you need special recording software most people don't have. Durability:
It'll be durable for your first listen, but the quality of the recording will degrade over time. Sharability/Resalability:
When you're done with the book, you can give it to your friend, or sell it used on Amazon, or be charitable and donate it to your local library. Compact Disks (CDs) Familiarity:
Everyone knows what a CD is, but not everyone knows that audiobooks are available on CD. Most major audiobook publishers offer their titles on both audio cassette and CD, and more and more each year are being released on CD exclusively. Bookmarking:
Most CD players automatically hold the CD in the exact place you stop it, but it's very easy to lose your place. For instance, once you put the CD in your player, you generally can't remove it without losing your place. Some advanced models have digital bookmarking features, but these are generally an annoyance to use. Another way you can lose your place is if you need to rewind the audiobook. On most CD players, the rewind button is the same button as the previous track button (generally, you hold down the previous track button for a few seconds and the CD will begin to rewind). However, if your finger slips or you hit a bump in the road while driving, you can accidentally skip back to the beginning of the track, losing your place. If the audiobook breaks up each CD into small tracks (i.e., three minutes long or less) this is not a big issue, but many CDs have tracks that are ten or sometimes even as long as twenty-five minutes long, so finding your place again can be quite a nuisance. Sound quality:
As close to perfection as you can get. As in the music industry, CDs are the kings of sound quality. And with modern CD players equipped with digital memory buffers, skips are a thing of the past. Portability:
Audiobooks on CD suffer the same portability issues as audiobooks on cassette, only more so. You probably wouldn't have guessed it, but you can fit more data on an audio cassette than you can on a CD; thus, it takes more CDs than cassettes to record a whole audiobook. Versatility:
You can listen to the audiobook as is on CD, or you can rip the tracks on your PC and encode them into MP3s so you can listen on a portable digital audio player (a/k/a MP3 player, such as an Apple iPod). You can also go retro and record them onto cassettes if you are so inclined (though I don't see the point). Durability:
You can listen to CDs ad infinitum and the sound quality will never degrade; however, if you scratch the disk, you're sunk. Sharability/Resalability:
Same as cassettes. Digital Audio (MP3s, AACs, OGGs, Audible formats) Familiarity:
Digital audiobooks are a relatively new phenomenon, and not everyone knows about them or is tech savvy enough to figure out how to use them. Bookmarking:
The bookmarking capability of digital audio playback devices varies greatly from device to device, but, in general, though most players will bookmark the exact place where you press stop, it's quite easy to lose your place when rewinding, and oftentimes nearly impossible to find it again. The problem is caused by the "rewind/search" button being the same button as the "previous track" button on most players. To rewind, you have hold down the button, but if you tap the button, it skips back a track. Sound quality:
Audiobooks on MP3, OGG, and AAC are of the highest sound quality, equal to CDs. Portability:
Digital audiobooks are by far the most portable, provided you have a portable digital audio player. There are digital audio players available now, for reasonable prices (under $150), that can fit a complete audiobook (or several complete audiobooks), that are as small as a keychain. Versatility:
You can listen on your PC, a portable digital audio player, or you can burn these files to a CD-R. Durability:
Digital audiobooks will never wear out (obviously), and you can even download them again if you have a catastrophic hard drive failure. Sharability/Resalability:
Generally, digital rights management forbids the consumer from sharing and/or reselling digital audiobooks (though there are always exceptions, such as audiobooks released under a creative commons license). Buying Now that you know a little bit about what to look for in an audiobook, you'll want to know where to go to get them. In this next section, we'll take a look at some of the best places to buy, rent, or download audiobooks. Buying, Renting, and Downloading Almost every bookstore sells audiobooks. The smaller stores usually don't have much of a selection, and even the largest bookstores often don't have much to choose from when you're confining your search to one genre (such as science fiction/fantasy). Borders recently entered into a partnership with Recorded Books to be the exclusive distributor of certain Recorded Books titles. As a result of this partnership, you can usually expect to find a pretty good selection of audiobooks when you walk into a Borders (or the Borders-owned Waldenbooks, to a lesser degree). Of course, with the rise of online booksellers, like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, it's very simple to just order the book you want and have it shipped to your home. However, it's worth mentioning that you can't rely completely on stores like Amazon to tell you whether or not a book is available on audio. For instance, many of the library/collector editions (read: high-priced) available from Books on Tape and Recorded Books are not even listed on Amazon, or are listed, but look like they're out-of-print. An example is Elizabeth Moon's recent Nebula Award-winning novel The Speed of Dark, which is available on audio from Books on Tape, but isn't listed on Amazon or any of the other online booksellers I checked. But the biggest problem for regular listeners of audiobooks is that audiobooks can be quite expensive. Some are double, triple, or even quadruple the price of the equivalent hardcopy editions. You can avoid the expense by borrowing audiobooks from the library, or buying used audiobooks either from the online merchants previously mentioned or at your local used bookshop. But if none of those choices sounds appealing to you, here are some other options. Rent Directly from the Publisher The production costs for an audiobook are necessarily higher than that of a regular book (after all you have to pay another talented party to perform the book, not to mention the directors, producers, sound engineers, etc.), so it should be no surprise that they are more expensive than regular books. Some audiobook publishers don't even try to price their books for the consumer; instead they produce editions for libraries and collectors, often with very high price tags. Fortunately these publishers also make their books available for rent. Blackstone Audiobooks, Books on Tape, and Recorded Books are among the industry leaders in producing high-quality unabridged audio recordings, and all three publishers offer similar rental plans. For $15 to $20 (plus shipping), you rent an audiobook and can keep it for 30 days. When your rental term expires, you place the audiobook in the postage-paid return packaging provided by the publisher and drop it in the mail.
Founded: 1979 Listening Options: Buy, Rent Formats: Cassette, CD, MP3-CD, Digital (via Audible) Excerpts: Yes, Selected Titles (MP3 format) Selection: All genres, over 90 science fiction/fantasy titles available
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Founded: 1975 Listening Options: Buy, Rent Formats: Cassette, CD, MP3-CD, Digital (via Audible) Excerpts: Yes, Most Titles (Real Player format) Selection: All genres, over 90 science fiction and fantasy titles available Catalog: $5.00, or free with first order
Founded: 1979 Listening Options: Buy, Rent Formats: Cassette, CD, Digital (via Audible) Excerpts: Yes, Selected Narrators and Titles (Real Player format) Selection: All genres, over 90 science fiction/fantasy titles available Catalog: Free, sign up for a free catalog Audiobook Rental Services - Online Another way to rent audiobooks is to go with an audiobook rental service. These function much like the DVD rental service, Netflix: you sign up for a subscription (billed monthly or annually) and you create a queue of titles to be shipped to you. There are no due dates or late fees; you just return the books whenever you're through with them and pay your monthly subscription fee.
Founded: 2003 Service Area: USA and Canada Listening Options: Rent Subscriptions: Yes Individual Rentals: No Formats: Cassette, CD Excerpts: None Selection: All genres, over 150 science fiction and fantasy titles available Three subscription options are available: Basic: 3 books at a time (CD only Monthly charge - $29.95, CD/Tape Monthly Charge - $34.95, CD only Year Membership - $299.00, CD/Tape Year Membership - $349.00); Advanced: 4 books at a time (CD only Monthly charge $39.95, CD/Tape Monthly charge $44.95, CD only Year Membership $399.00, CD/Tape Year Membership $450.00); Exclusive: 5 books at a time (CD only Year Membership $499.00, CD/Tape Year Membership $549.00). 12-month subscribers receive a free subscription to AudioFile Magazine.
Founded: 2003 Service Area: USA and Canada Listening Options: Rent Subscriptions: Yes Individual Rentals: No Formats: CD Excerpts: None Selection: All genres, 90 science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles available Three levels of membership are available: The Fan ($24.95/month, 2 titles out at a time), The Pro ($34.95/month, 3 titles out at a time), The Guru ($44.95/month, 4 titles out at a time); all three plans offer free shipping and have no limit on the number of times you can swap our your selections during the month. All plans also offer discounts for buying 6 month prepaid memberships. New subscribers are eligible to take part in a 15-day free trial. Audiobook Rental Services - Brick & Mortar Locations In addition to the two stores listed below, many truck stops also offer audiobook rentals, as listening helps the drivers pass those long hours on the road (and hopefully keeps them interested enough to stay awake). Founded: 1993Locations: 32, in California, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Canada Listening Options: Buy (in-store, online), Rent (in-store) Formats: Cassette, CD, MP3-CD Selection: All genres, over 500 science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles available (online), in-store varies Talking Book World is the audiobook equivalent of Blockbuster Video. I recently visited the store located in Rockville, Maryland, and I was quite impressed. They had a knowledgeable staff and a huge selection, including over 150 SF/F/H titles. Most TBW stores are franchises, so prices and selection may vary from location to location. The Rockville store gave me an easy-to-follow handout that listed all the various rental options, with choices for avid listeners, occasional listeners, and only-when-on-vacation listeners.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores Founded: 1969 (started renting audiobooks in 1994) Locations: Over 500 in 41 states Listening Options: Buy, Rent Formats: Cassette, CD Selection: All genres, over 200 titles at each location, mostly New York Times Bestsellers Here's how their rental service works: (1) you pay the full purchase price of the audiobook; (2) keep it for as long as you like; (3) when you're done, return it to any Cracker Barrel location, and you'll be refunded the purchase price minus $3.50 for each week you kept the book. Go Digital If you're technologically-inclined, buying digital audiobooks is an attractive option. Though the medium is fairly new, it's probably been around longer than you think, and there are several places online where you can find quality audiobooks at great prices. To use digital audiobooks, you visit the store online and download the book right onto your PC (or Mac). Once you've downloaded it, you have several options: you can listen to it on your PC, burn it to CD, or transfer it to a portable audio player, such as the Apple iPod. In addition to the stores listed below, there are some hidden audio treasures out there on the net, if you know where to look. For instance, you'll find an excellent audio recording of Richard Butner's "Ash City Stomp" on Small Beer Press's website, and Lois McMaster Bujold has made her Miles Vorkosigan novella "Borders of Infinity" available on her website for free download. I'll do my best to find all these treasures and bring them to your attention in my review column, but the net's a big place and I have a limited amount of space each column, so some will likely sneak by me. If you find one, feel free to point it out to me at johnjosephadams@hotmail.com. Meanwhile, here are a few places where you're sure to find some treasures.
Founded: 1997 Listening Options: Buy/Download Formats: choice of 4 digital formats; file size varies, proportional to sound quality Excerpts: Yes, Every Title (Windows Media, Real Player) Selection: All genres (18,000+ titles), over 500 science fiction/fantasy titles available Digital Rights Management: file use restricted to one user Burn to CD: Yes Compatible Devices: PC, Mac, Apple iPod, Creative Nomad MuVo, SoniqCast Aireo, Pocket PCs, Gateway DMP-X20, palmOne Handhelds, Treo 600, Sony CLIÉ, PhatNoise PhatBox, Kenwood Music Keg, Rio 600/800/900, Franklin eBookman, Digisette DUO Subscriptions: Two monthly plans available: Basic Listener: one book per month for $14.95, and Premium Listener: two books per month for $19.95; subscribers who sign up for a whole year receive a free Creative MuVo 128 MB MP3 player. Audible.com's high-quality recordings, huge selection, and affordable prices (all books are priced around 35% off the cover price) make this the best place to buy your digital audiobooks. The quality of Audible's file formats vary; format 4 is the equal of MP3, but other file formats are available which sacrifice some sound quality for a reduction in file size:
Founded: 2001 Listening Options: Buy/Download ("Bearable" quality files are free) Formats: MP3 (choice of 5 conversion rates; price and file size varies, proportional to sound quality) Excerpts: None Selection: Multiple genres (mostly public domain), over 75 science fiction/fantasy titles available Digital Rights Management: MUIFS Burn to CD: Yes Compatible Devices: Any device that supports MP3 play The conversion rates and pricing break down as follows:
The "bearable" free files are certainly not ideal, but they actually are bearable. The other formats increase in quality incrementally, and even "tolerable" is worth paying for. Unfortunately, there's no way for you to sample the different conversion rates yourself; you won't know what it sounds like until you actually purchase it. If I were buying, I'd stick with the "very good" quality, but if you're trying to save, the other options are worth trying out. Advisory: I haven't been impressed with any of the AudioBooksForFree.com narrators I've tried out thus far, so be sure to browse before you buy. The site doesn't make excerpts available, but you can download the "bearable" quality files for free, and that will give you some idea of what the narrator is like.
Founded: 2001 Listening Options: Buy/Download Formats: AAC Excerpts: Yes, Every Title (AAC) Selection: All genres, science fiction/fantasy titles available Digital Rights Management: file use restricted to one user Burn to CD: Yes Compatible Devices: PC, Mac, Apple iPod All of iTunes audiobook content is provided by Audible, so you'll definitely get quality recordings. However, their AAC file format is not compatible with very many devices, so you probably won't want to shop there unless you listen on your PC or have your own iPod. You also have to download the iTunes software just to browse through their catalog.
James Patrick Kelly's "Free Reads" Founded: 2004 Listening Options: Download (free/accepts PayPal donations) Formats: MP3 Excerpts: None Selection: 7 science fiction/fantasy titles available Digital Rights Management: DRM-Free (released under a Creative Commons License) Burn to CD: Yes Compatible Devices: Any device that supports MP3 play This is Jim Kelly's "experiment in self-audio-publishing." He wrote, performed, and produced all of the content found here, and he's giving it all away for free, though he will accept PayPal donations. See my review of these stories in the July 2004 edition of "Locus Listens to Audio."
Founded: 2004 Listening Options: Buy/Download Formats: MP3, OGG, AAC Excerpts: Yes, Every Title (MP3) Selection: Multiple genres (mostly public domain), 16 science fiction/fantasy titles available Digital Rights Management: DRM-Free (released under a Creative Commons License) Burn to CD: Yes Compatible Devices: Any device that supports MP3, OGG, or AAC play This is a new site attempting to "build an audiobook equivalent of Project Gutenberg." See my review of Telltale's SF content in the July 2004 edition of "Locus Listens to Audio." Borrow I mentioned it briefly earlier, but it's worth reiterating — Don't forget about the public library. After all, the best way to defray costs is to get stuff for free, right? "At the branch I manage, there are about 300 books on tape titles," says Chicago Public Library librarian Alan Ziebarth. "Also any tape in our system can be requested through interlibrary loan. For the majority of library systems non-book material is very often not sent through interlibrary loan from system to system. But if you live in a large metropolitan area or a good suburban library system, you can get a lot of these tapes for free." The selection of audiobooks will, of course, vary from library to library, but it's definitely worth investigating. Here's a tip: before you go down to the local branch, google your county's (or city's) library system and see if they have their catalog available to search online. For instance, I can search my own county library system using the Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium's Public Access Catalogs. I can use that to find out which audiobooks my county has available, and which branches have which books. If a branch is not convenient to for me to visit, I can call to have it transferred to another branch. URL index Americana Publishing: Catalog (Cassette, CD) Audible.com: Buy/Download (choice of 4 proprietary digital formats; file size varies proportional to sound quality), Excerpts (real player, windows media) Audio Renaissance: Catalog (Cassette, CD), Excerpts (real player) Audio Editions: Buy (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD), Excerpts (real player) Audiobooks for free.com: Buy/Download (choice of 5 MP3 formats; price and file size varies proportional to sound quality) Audiobooks Online: Buy (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD) AudiobookCafe.com: Reviews AudiobookStand.com: Buy (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD) AudioFile Magazine: Reviews Audio-To-Go: Rent (Cassette, CD) B&B Audio: Buy (Cassette) Blackstone AudiobooksBuy, Rent (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD), Excerpts (MP3) Books in Motion Audiobooks: Buy, Rent (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD) Books on Tape: Buy, Rent (Cassette, CD, MP3-CD), Excerpts (real player) Buzzy Multimedia: Buy (CD) Full Cast Audio: Buy (Cassette, CD), Excerpts (MP3) HarperAudio: Catalog (Cassette, CD), Excerpts (real player) HighBridge Audio: Catalog (Cassette, CD) iTunes: Buy/Download (AAC), Excerpts (AAC) Infinivox: Buy (Cassette), Excerpts (MP3) JimKelly.net: Free Downloads (MP3) Listen & Live Audio: Catalog (Cassette, CD) LodesTone Catalog: Buy (CD), Excerpts (real player) NPR Shop: Buy (CD) Random House Audio Books: Catalog (Cassette, CD), Excerpts (real player) Reader's Chair: Buy (Cassette, MP3-CD), Excerpts (MP3) Recorded Books: Buy, Rent (Cassette, CD) SFFAudio: Reviews Simon & Schuster Audio: Catalog (Cassette, CD), Excerpts (windows media, MP3) Simply Audiobooks: Rent (CD) Talking Book World: Buy, Rent (Cassette, CD) Taped Editions: Buy, Rent (Cassette, CD) Telltale Weekly: Buy/Download (MP3, OGG, AAC), Excerpts (MP3)
- John Joseph Adams John Joseph Adams is the editorial assistant at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and the audiobook reviewer for Locus Magazine. His non-fiction has appeared in (or is forthcoming from) The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Science Fiction Weekly, and Amazing Stories. You can visit his website at www.tuginternet.com/jja. |
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