Thing #22: Downloadable Audio Books
I spent a large amount of time on this "Thing." Quite a lot of time was spent exploring Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium (OverDrive), since this is one of HCL's primary electronic resources. I learned that in addition to digital audiobooks, OverDrive also makes available Adobe eBooks and downloadable video. Curious as to what kinds of items were available, I searched "general fiction" and found 1,820 items: some in Adobe eBook format only, others as audio books only and some in both formats. I also discovered "waiting lists" for some items.
I then visited Project Gutenberg. Wow... quite a site. An inventory of over 22,000 items. I was definitely able to find more variety here.... found several items for "Emily Dickinson," while I found none for her in OverDrive. Some of the features in Project Gutenberg that I like quite a bit:
- Larger inventory
- No waiting
- RSS feed of recently published or updated books (nightly update)
- Online Reader
The Online Reader feature is especially attractive - - no need to open a document in Adobe Reader. Rather, the print version of a title comes right up, with bookmark capability. I did read a bit of Jane Eyre while exploring this feature!
OverDrive and Project Gutenberg are amazing resources for audio books. Burn to CD capability, as well as the download to MP3 player option, bring audio books to an increasingly larger audience.
2 comments:
Videos can be downloaded in either enhanced or mobile quality formats. Even in enhanced mode, the audio and picture was not as clear as on a DVD, but it wasn't bad. Even with the library's high speed Internet connect, it took over a half-hour to download a 1 hour video.
. Here are famous books by Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare in audio format. Also discover the stories behind some well-known works, such as Marie Stopes’ Married Love, the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Check out ”Audio Books”.
Videos can be downloaded in either enhanced or mobile quality formats. Even in enhanced mode, the audio and picture was not as clear as on a DVD, but it wasn't bad. Even with the library's high speed Internet connect, it took over a half-hour to download a 1 hour video.
. Here are famous books by Darwin, Newton and Shakespeare in audio format. Also discover the stories behind some well-known works, such as Marie Stopes’ Married Love, the original radical feminist Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Check out ”Audio Books”
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