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Archive through October 31, 2006

The TVClubHouse: Movies & Library ARCHIVES: Movies & Library 2007 ~ 2008: Audio Books: Archive through October 31, 2006 users admin

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Chewpito
Member

01-04-2004

Monday, September 18, 2006 - 11:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chewpito a private message Print Post    
Just finished "The secret life of Bees", by Sue Monk Kidd....what a great book. The gal that read it (wish I could remember her name) was just awesome...what a great story teller. It left me wanting more.

Chewpito
Member

01-04-2004

Monday, October 23, 2006 - 9:11 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chewpito a private message Print Post    
Ive never been a huge fan of Mickel J Fox, I like him allright but not head over heals or any thing like that.. But in need of somthing to listen to and the library was low on audio books, I picked up his new book, "Lucky Man"..read by him as well....I must say that I enjoyed it very much.. read very well, kept me intrested to the end... I now consider myself a fan..lol.

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Monday, October 23, 2006 - 9:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
I read the hard copy of Fox's books and thoroughly enjoyed it. His voice really comes through in his writing; I bet it would be even better as an audio book!

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Monday, October 23, 2006 - 9:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
I love books on tape. I own all the Harry Potter series, Terry Goodkind, some Stephen King, some Patricia Cornwell, DaVinci Code, Eragon, The Bartamaues Trilogy, Peter and the Star Chasers. I guess a lot of misc. ones.

My pet peeves about audio books are abridged books, BBC productions, narrators with English accents and books on CD. I don't understand why anyone would want an abridged audio book and sometimes that's all you can find. Books on CD are just too annoying as you cannot walk around with a CD player and you always have to know which track you were on if you switch from car to house, etc.

I adore Jim Dale's narrations. He is so, so good and his voice is amazing.

My husband gave me a 30G ipod for my birthday last year but I returned it as I couldn't find anyplace except apple to download and it was too expensive for me.

Supergranny, I did find a Sony tape player that is very slim and fits in your pants pocket very easily, only uses one AA battery at a time and is auto-reverse so you don't have to take the tape out until you are actually done with it. It costs $40 and you probably have to order it from Sony now as Sears does not carry it anymore and I can't find it anywhere else. I need a new one.

Chewpito
Member

01-04-2004

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - 11:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chewpito a private message Print Post    
chiliwilli, I go to the gym every morn and walk on the treadmill, one disc is about one hour and a great book,read by a great reader-makes it a breeze for me...I agree that in any other cituation(outside of long trips in a car)can be kinda hard to manage with a cd player and all..but while just standing there walking, Ive listened to some very great books. As I said above "The Glass Castle" was just a great listen, I could listen to it again easy.. I just started My Sisters Keeper, I read it as well but I just love having a good story read to me. Teach, Lucky Man was very good and you would really enjoy listening to it, He really had a great way of pulling me in from the first few words.... I must say that after reading his book, I have a special place in my heart for Fox, now....

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - 11:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
I agree, Chewpito. In that situation, CD's are okay. However, that is not my situation. I am up and down, in different rooms and different buildings at work, in an out of the car so CD's are a royal pain for me. I love tapes and the slim player I could carry in my pocket. I took it everywhere with me; work, grocery store, waiting at the Dr's. You gotta do whatever works for you. I just hope they don't stop making taped books because that's my choice. I cannot find them at my bookstores anymore now and have to special order or else go to eBay. I wouldn't buy a car last time I was looking because it only had a CD player and not a tape player in it. I do own some books on CD but I bought those as we were going on a long trip and it didn't matter.

Supergranny
Member

02-03-2005

Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 8:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Supergranny a private message Print Post    
I have found some great buys for the taped books...those bookstores in the outlet malls. They sometimes have them in the brown mailing boxes from the publishers. Unabridged for $10 or 12. It's been several years since I've been to an outlet mall but if you are near one you might check it out. I even found them at the outlet in Branson, Missouri. California...Washington etc.

Supergranny
Member

02-03-2005

Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 8:56 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Supergranny a private message Print Post    
Wow that was pretty insensitive of me! I just checked your profile and remembered you live in Fairbanks. I love visiting your area but don't remember any outlet malls. Please accept my apologies!

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 9:01 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Chilliwilli - I download audiobooks online. I use an "MP3" player. It's a LOT more technically advanced than cassettes, but if portability is what you're looking for, I think a smaller MP3 player would be good for you.

There are actually TONS TONS TONS of places to download audiobooks from. I have to admit, I illegally download a few of them from torrent sites, and others you can get from the free Gutenberg library, and there are also FREE audiobook sites available too. One of them I go to a lot is http://www.learnoutloud.com/Home. It's pretty good. Lots of educational stuff.

As for the mainstream favorites like Stephen King and John Grisham, I get those from Demenoid.com.

As well, if you're going to spend 10 bucks or whatever on a cassette, I'd rather buy the CD, and then "rip" the CD onto my computer, and then put them on the MP3 player.

I'd be happy to walk you through it all if you need help. My email is in my profile, and you are more than welcome to ask questions.

I googled something like "free audiobook" and tons of sites came up. It was just a matter of tossing the lame sites aside, and bookmarking the good ones.

MP3 players are SO much more portable than cassette players too. I think the 30G iPod may be a bit big for what you want to use it for, but I might suggest an iPod NANO, that can hold up to 8 gigs, and is just a big bigger than a stick of gum. Very good for taking everywhere!


c


Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Friday, October 27, 2006 - 7:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
I'm going to echo Eeyore -- I like CDs for car trips, but even for walking on the treadmill, I put the CD's onto Itunes and then download them to my shuffle. My Shuffle "only" has 512 MG, but that's TEN hours of book! VERY portable and it picks up right where I left off.

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Friday, October 27, 2006 - 8:10 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
Thanks, Eeyore. I'll have to check into that. Maybe I can hint for a new MP3 for Christmas. I usually don't have techno problems. I just couldn't find anywhere to download books from at the time except Apple site and they were expensive. I did find some libraries but they said on their sites that the downloads were not Apple iPod friendly.

Mameblanche
Member

08-24-2002

Friday, October 27, 2006 - 8:38 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
Just nosing around in here, and wondering if skipping is a problem. I know that with my cd player, it skips a lot, and that's bad enough with a song, I can't imagine enjoying a book if it kept skipping as whenever I moved, walked, or whatever. And how much is a nano-thingie anyways? (cdn money pls)

Supergranny
Member

02-03-2005

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 9:08 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Supergranny a private message Print Post    
Mame, having the audio books doubles your book consumption! I listen while I'm ironing, cleaning house, washing dishes...all such mindless tasks. There isn't enough time to read all the books I want to as it is.

Chewpito
Member

01-04-2004

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 10:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chewpito a private message Print Post    
Mame, at the gym I go to there is a special little attachment to the treadmill and if I lean my cd player up against a magazine...It never skips...ive been quite lucky there. I also listen like Supergranny, while im at home doing crafts or (as she said, mindless tasks)(im not much of a tv person till the late hrs of the night). I dont think that Id like a MP3 player or nano..or whatever they are - simply because.."Im Simple"..and id probably tear my hair out trying to figure the thing out...My library has soooo many books on disc that its free and exciting to try new ones without the expense. Ive listened to things that I would have never tried otherwise and found out that I really liked them. My daughter is about Eeyor's age and she swears that I would love a Nano.....also a good "reader" can make the book so much better, can bring it to life..those are the best.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 12:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Mame, if you can design your own website, you can DEFINITELY handle a Nano. Skipping doesn't exist on the mp3 players, unless you are hucking it against the wall at full strength.

Future Shop has them at different prices depending on memory size:
2 Gig - 169.99
4 Gig - 229.99
8 Gig - 299.99



Chewpito, I know you THINK you are simple, and these gadgets are all too complex, but Apple iTunes is more user friendly than many DVD players, and Tivos. If you can figure out how to tape your favorite shows, you can most definitely handle an mp3 player. Honestly, a Nano isn't too expensive, and if your daughter is trying to convince you to get one, I'm thinking she'd also be willing to come do the initial set up with you on your computer. Then the only thing you'd have to do yourself is "plug in" the Nano to the computer once in a while, to charge it. You can also add more music later, if you want.


Chilliwilli - I wonder why those library CDs are considered NON Apple friendly. I would like to venture that they are trying to BS the public. Even if the CDs are copy protected, one can still rip, if they really wanted to. It just bugs me when people lie, just to keep people from not doing the illegal things. If anything, they may be in Windows Media, but iTunes offers to convert wma files.

There is nothing about the iPod that is really that proprietary, other than you must use iTunes to get your music onto the iPod. Seriously, it's really very simple, and even most of my Luddite friends have crossed over, and come back to me saying they didn't realize how easy it was, and that they should have done it sooner. Before you know it, you're spending an afternoon "ripping" all of your old CDs, and then just storing them in the attic!!



Here's what I would be doing if I had more time:

Buy the mp3 player of your choice (I do recommend the Apple ones, only because they are so mainstream that you can pretty much ask anyone for help).

Setup iTunes, and rip your CD collection. This is pretty much a one-click operation once iTunes is open.

Once you've played around with ripping into iTunes, go to your library and rip THEIR cds onto your iTunes.



Hey Teach - can you make the Shuffle NOT actually shuffle? Can you just download and listen in order? If so, I have to show everyone the NEW SHUFFLE, it's sooooo tiny!!!!! Talk about portability to the gym and dr's office!!! It hold's 1 GIG, which is still at LEAST a few audiobooks!!!
k

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 7:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
Definitely -- on the back of the shuffle there is a "slide" power button. One slide down and it plays in the order you have put the tracks on. Push it all the way down and it shuffles at random.

After I'm done exercising (or whatever), I just turn it off; when I slide it down one notch the next time, it picks up right where it left off.

Audible.com and Amazon both have affordable downloads -- audible can be a bit of a pain w/the audible download manager, but a year subscription is only $10 and then many books are under $20.

I'm convinced that Itunes and GarageBand are THE easiest music/ripping programs to use. My dad and I both direct musicals; when I needed to create rehearsal CDs for our dancers and soloists, I simply connected my dad's yamaha grand into his imac w/a USB cord. We opened GB, hit "record," I played and we saved. Once saved we had the option of "exporting" it to Itunes. I was able to put all the songs we recorded on one CD for easy portability to MY PC -- and then I just made playlists in Itunes to burn CDs for the kids that were customized w/their songs. I'm not kidding, we recorded almost an entire musical in under 2 hours!!

Wish I could afford the Imac! :-)

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 9:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
I didn't do intensive research as I thought it should be fairly simple to find stuff since Apple is such a high profile company. All I know is I got the 30G iPod as a gift so I could listen to my audio books. This was a year and a half ago. I could only find the Apple downloads which I thought were expensive; especially since books on tape were free at the library. And, I found a few online libraries but their sites said the downloads were not iPod compatible because of the format used. I returned the iPod and spent the money on other stuff. Now it seems to be fairly easy to find stuff so I may have to get another one. I still like my tapes though.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 11:44 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
That's cool Chilliwilli. Just know that if ever the tape-finding struggle gets to be too much, it will be an easy switch over to the new technology, and we're all here to help you use the gadgets, as well as find some good book sites to listen to.


A bit about "Apple iPod" compatible:

Apple has its own file format known as "aac" which I think stands for advance audio coding. Microsoft has their own "wma" music files. The industry standard CAN be mp3, but these companies use THEIR file types in order to build in a sort of "copy protection" to the file.

In iTunes, as well as in Windows Media Player, MusicMatch, and all other music playing programs, you can CHOOSE to put your CD in, and rip the files to mp3. This is I think why CD sales can still be maintained; so people don't have to choose a proprietary file type, that won't work in the other players. I do know that iTunes offers to convert your wma files, and I only use iTunes, so I'm not sure about other players like Audible, or Rhapsody services. What I'm TRYING to say is that most CDs can be ripped onto ANY mp3 player.

If anyone wants to know some of my audiobook sources, or needs help, feel free to ask, or drop me an email (in case I forget to check in here). I'm more than happy to help. :-)

Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 8:29 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
I have a shuffle and I love it. It was easy to figure out.

Here's my question--Can you check out audio books from the library and put them on the shuffle? The reason I ask is that I tried that when I first got my shuffle and it didn't work. Either that or I didn't know what I was doing. I don't want to buy an audiobook--too expensive. I know I can download a book from iTunes but I would rather check one out FREE from the library. Once I hear a book, I really don't need to hear it again.

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 8:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
Um -- well Westtexan, it can be done -- but it is against copyright laws. Any CD can be ripped to Itunes, so it's just a hop skip and a jump to getting it to an ipod, but it shouldn't be done if you intend to keep it. I did this once when I was listening to a 48 CD book that was interlibrary loan. I only had the CDs for 3 weeks, and w/ working full time, just didn't have the time to listen that much. I listened to what I could, then the night before I had to return them, ripped the rest. I'm still working on finishing them, and THEN my "civic duty" is to destroy them or purchase a set for myself. NOW -- I HAVE copied CDs I've purchased so that I can loan them out to friends w/o worrying about them not getting returned, but so far, they've always come back.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 9:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Weattexan - it can totally be done. Some CDs have copy protection, but there is always a program around it.

Teach is very nice about obeying the laws. I personally think the market-driven society has evolved too far, and have no problem finding a way to save myself money. Art used to be done for the sake of art, and to share in beauty. Not to have some crappy actress decide she wants to sing, and hire some amazing musical technician who masters it to sound great, then they gouge my wallet for one catchy song and the rest of the CD sucks. Mind you, I also don't do very well in school, and just go for the sake of learning something new.

I'd have to see what messages you're getting when you try to rip the CD. I have a program that I've used for several years that doesn't fail me. I can email you the file if you're interested.

From there, it's up to you if you'd like to go the way of Teach, and delete the files after you've listened to them. I personally delete mine when I need more space. LOL


Teach - I applaud your law-abidement.

Chiliwilli
Member

09-04-2006

Monday, October 30, 2006 - 2:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Chiliwilli a private message Print Post    
My library doesn't have many books on CD so that probably wouldn't work for that. Can you use RealPlayer to transfer from CD to MP3? Anyone?

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Monday, October 30, 2006 - 3:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Teachmichigan a private message Print Post    
It's the English teacher in me -- citations, copyright all that! :-)

Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Monday, October 30, 2006 - 4:36 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
Thanks Teach and Eeyore. I'm a school librarian and am supposed to know all this copyright stuff and hiss at my teachers if they don't follow them. I figured it was a possible infringement (copying the CD) but since I'm checking out the audio book FREE from the library, it seems like it ought to be okay to transfer it to an iPod--at least temporarily. I'm not taking any money away from anyone's pockets--well, perhaps iTunes. The only reason I want to do this is that I want to listen to a book while riding my bike those long distances on the weekends. It's just not easy to carry a Walkman-type cassette player on the bike--possible but inconvenient and a bit cumbersome.


Eeyore, I figured it was some kind of copyright protection keeping me from ripping (new vocab word for me) them to my computer. It was a year ago so I don't really remember what message I got. I don't really think I got a message so much as the first couple of chapters copied but not the rest no matter how many times I tried. I will have to check out another audio book and give it another try. If it doesn't work, I'll request that file from you. Thanks for sharing.

Eeyoreslament
Member

07-20-2003

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 10:10 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Eeyoreslament a private message Print Post    
Guilt-free audio-books:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_Audio_Books_Project

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/screen_main.asp

http://literalsystems.org/abooks/index.php

http://librivox.org/librivox-catalogue/