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Books on tape have been around for a long time. As technology advanced to accommodate varying media outlets, books on tape began to be referred to as audio books. Containing recordings of the entire contents of a book, audio tapes can be obtained on cassettes, CDs and, more recently, digital formats.

Now a multi-million dollar enterprise, audio books are

widely accepted for entertainment, as teaching aids for special needs students and for others who want to acquire particular information on a wide range of subjects while involved in other activities.

Audio books come in several formats such as unabridged (word for word), abridged (text edited out), and fully dramatized versions including complete casts, musical scores and sound effects.

As digital devices become smaller (e.g. iPods and MP3 players), more technologically advanced and more readily accepted by the masses, creators of audio books have developed techniques for downloading and retrieval of files.

This article will address the procedure for downloading an audio CD to an iPod, so audio book files can be played there.

1)Set optimal iTunes import settings to audiobooks.

2) Insert CD and wait for tracks to appear in iTunes. Do not select automatic. Select all CDs tracks, and choose Join CD Tracks from the advanced menu. Note: If the Join CD Tracks menu item is dimmed, you will have to re-sort the list by the track number.

3)Select Submit CD Track Names on advanced menu.

4)In the CD Info dialog box, complete information about the audio book.

5)Click OK, to submit. You may be prompted to Select CD Category, if so, choose Books & Spoken, and then click OK.

6)When the submission process is completed, all of the tracks on the CD should have the appropriate information attached to them. Click the Import button (top right corner) to import this disc, using the import settings you set up initially.

7)When the import finishes, eject the CD.

8)Switch to your Library, and find the newly imported track. There should be only one. Select it, and press Command-I to do a Get Info on the track, and switch to the Info tab.

9)Verify information is there. The song Name will be the same name as the album. Since the Name will be what you see on your iPod, you should add the disc sequence number. The shorter the format the better. (e.g. xx/yy xx being the disc number and yy being total number of discs. Add a leading zero to the disc number if the total number of discs will be more than one digit. This way, the tracks will sort correctly when sorted by Name.

10)Switch to the Options panel, and check both the Remember playback position and the Skip when shuffling checkboxes Remember playback position tells iTunes and the iPod to make the file bookmarkable. Skip when shuffling keeps the spoken word track out of your random music mixes.

11)Repeat this process for the each CD in the audio book, until you have imported all of the CDs.

12)Sync to your iPod, and enjoy.

In today hectic society with its emphasis on multi-tasking, audio books serve a dual purpose. They give busy people the opportunity to keep current with literary works while still maintaining their active lifestyles.

You should be able to find several indispensable facts about audio books in the following paragraphs. If there’s at least one fact you didn’t know before, well… it was worth it.

How and where can you find that favorite downloadable audio books?

Technology can be wonderful thing indeed. It makes life easier in so many ways.

One such area in which technology has made life a lot easier is in the area of searching for information.

The days of spending long hours, days or even weeks looking for the information you want are gone.

For instance, 20 years ago if you were searching for a particular book you would have to physically visit the Library or bookstore.

As if that isn’t manual work enough, you would then have to spend your valuable time searching through a huge collection of books therein, all in an attempt to find the book you want.

And who says you would end up getting what you want?

Most times you hardly ever get the book you want, even with the help of the librarians.

But those days are behind us.

Now, with the Internet; you can find any information you want with just a few clicks of your mouse.

If for example, you are looking for a particular downloadable audio book, you can get started from a search engine. Simply visit any of the major search engines like MSN, type the title of the book you are looking for with the word “audio book” or “downloadable audio books” included in your search.

By doing this you will be presented with the most relevant results for your search.

Specifically, you can get the particular audio book you are looking for by going directly to bookstore or better yet the audio bookstore websites. Some of the best bookstores on the Internet include:

– Audio Book Publishers — http://www.AudioBookPublishers.org (specifically for audio)

– Barnes & Noble–BarnesAndNoble.com

– Amazon–Amazon.com

These online bookstores have specially designed search features on their sites; which you can use to find the particular downloadable audio book titles or authors you are searching for.

The search features on these sites is similar to using the search feature on your favorite search engine.

The major advantage is that you are searching the database of the particular bookstore (very focused), as opposed to the search engines which search the entire database of websites that they have (very unfocused).

To get started, visit any of these online bookstores and enter the particular downloadable audio book title you are searching for. If you know the exact title or author name, put it in the search. It is better to include the term “audio book” in your search query so as to get the best results for a downloadable audio book.

If you have used all these options and are still unable to find that audio book that you are looking for, visit one of the many book forums on the Internet and ask for the advice of other book enthusiasts. You will be amazed that there are many people out there who know a lot about books and how to find them and are willing to share.

It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on audio books. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of downloadable audio books.

Enjoy audio books, the lazy way to read, I love it.

People love to listen to audio books on tape or CD, but for quite some time they have been provided with alternative methods of enjoying various literary works.

Technological advancements have served to accommodate many different types of media output and more recently, downloadable audio books are becoming very popular. Complete volumes are available in downloadable format and have become a great alternative to printed books.

Audio books have been developed not only as a mainstream method of entertainment but also for providing educators with cutting edge teaching aids for both children and adults who have special needs. Recently, audio books have gained widespread popularity among multi-taskers who want to acquire particular information on a wide range of subjects while involved in other activities like commuting and exercising.

Audio books are available in various formats including unabridged (word for word), abridged (text edited out), and dramatized volumes, which include actors, musical scores and sound effects.

What Type of Audio Book is Right for Me?

As digital devices like iPods and MP3 players become more miniaturized and technologically advanced, they are readily accepted by everyone. Creators of audio books have been quick to take advantage of this trend and thousands of audio books have been developed with various techniques for downloading and retrieval of files.

There are many options available for anyone interested in listening to audio books. If you are a sedentary person and would like to enjoy your audio book from the comfort of your couch or favorite chair, cassette tapes may be the option for you.

Perhaps you spend a lot of time on your computer. As most PCs come already loaded with digital audio players, listening to audio books on your computer is simply a click away. Programs like RealOne Player are perfect for this. If, for some reason your computer does not have the program, you can download it from the RealOnePlayer website.

For those on the go, the new iPods and MP3 players allow users to listen to their favorite audio book while they walk, exercise or commute.

Just Exactly How Do I Download An Audio Book to My Computer?

Most of us have downloaded software files from the internet to our computers at one time or another. Downloading audio books is just as simple. Because audio books are digitally produced with software consisting of sound files, it is quite simple to transfer the files from an internet site that specializes in audio books right onto your home computer. For a nominal fee, your chosen audio-book site will provide you with easy to use instructions for downloading your selection. It only takes a few minutes and then you will be ready to enjoy your audio book.

From there you can either enjoy them via the speakers in your computer, burn them to a CD, which can then be played in any audio CD player or transfer directly to your PDA. The selection is vast and the choice is yours.

Copyright: Helen Wall

It’s really amazing that you can get the exact value listening to an audio book while doing your normal chores as you would reading it.

Certain experts even say information sinks in more when we are not paying direct attention to them.

But when did this audio book phenomenon really start? In other words, what’s the history of audio books?

From all indications, audio books look like a very recent invention, right?

WRONG!

It is very easy to make the assumption that audio books are a recent invention because of the mention of CDs, downloadable digital formats, MP3s, PDAs and other technological jargons each time audio books are discussed. But audio books started a long time ago.

To know how long audio books have been, it is pertinent to understand exactly what audio books are.

Forget about any other jargon you have heard, audio books are simply books that are recorded to be heard, instead of read.

That being the case, such recordings of books in audio formats have been around for a very long time. If you want to be specific, it is safe to say they were first introduced over half a century ago.

It could even be longer, if you include the Library of Congress recordings made especially for the American Foundation for the Blind and distributed free throughout the U.S.

However, according to Robin Whitten, the editor and founder of the only magazine which is dedicated solely to the audio book industry:

Audiofile–http://www.AudioFileMagazine.com, Caedmon (now a subsidiary of Harper Collins Publishers) can be credited to have started the recordings of literature as far back as 50 years ago.

Going further, he said Caedmon was just a small company way back then in New York, which started recording the audio of great authors and poets of the 1950s. Specifically, he said one of the earliest recordings were by greats such as Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Fitzgerald and Robert Frost.

What happened then was that they were simply recorded while doing their own works and made as vinyl records.

But these early recordings can arguably pass off for the first collection of audio books ever.

However, the transition of these book recordings into audiocassette tapes didn’t happen until the late 1970s up to the 1980s. From thence, it blossomed until audio books in audiocassette tapes came to be accepted by all and sundry.

For whatever reason however, the audio book phenomenon didn’t really kick off until the 1990s.

And with the transition from audiocassette technology into CDs, more people have become interested in audio books.

With the advent of the Internet and its paraphernalia, audio books have now transited from vinyl records, audiocassette taps and CDs into downloadable digital formats that can be listened to with a desktop computer, laptop computer, PDAs, etc.

If you are still interested in “going back in time” you can get the original book recordings that started this audio book industry.

Impossible?

Not really.

Some of those early 1950s analog recordings by Caedmon which were performed by the greats of those days can be purchased today on the Internet.

For example, recently I was able to browse the Internet thoroughly and found the original recording of “The Lord of the Rings” as read by J.R.R. Tolken.

You can find that classic you have always dreamt of in audio book format if you search hard enough on the Internet.

It’s really amazing that you can get the exact value listening to an audio book while doing your normal chores as you would reading it.

Certain experts even say information sinks in more when we are not paying direct attention to them.

But when did this audio book phenomenon really start? In other words, what’s the history of audio books?

From all indications, audio books look like a very recent invention, right?

WRONG!

It is very easy to make the assumption that audio books are a recent invention because of the mention of CDs, downloadable digital formats, MP3s, PDAs and other technological jargons each time audio books are discussed. But audio books started a long time ago.

To know how long audio books have been, it is pertinent to understand exactly what audio books are.

Forget about any other jargon you have heard, audio books are simply books that are recorded to be heard, instead of read.

That being the case, such recordings of books in audio formats have been around for a very long time. If you want to be specific, it is safe to say they were first introduced over half a century ago.

It could even be longer, if you include the Library of Congress recordings made especially for the American Foundation for the Blind and distributed free throughout the U.S.

However, according to Robin Whitten, the editor and founder of the only magazine which is dedicated solely to the audio book industry:

Audiofile–http://www.AudioFileMagazine.com, Caedmon (now a subsidiary of Harper Collins Publishers) can be credited to have started the recordings of literature as far back as 50 years ago.

Going further, he said Caedmon was just a small company way back then in New York, which started recording the audio of great authors and poets of the 1950s. Specifically, he said one of the earliest recordings were by greats such as Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Fitzgerald and Robert Frost.

What happened then was that they were simply recorded while doing their own works and made as vinyl records.

But these early recordings can arguably pass off for the first collection of audio books ever.

However, the transition of these book recordings into audiocassette tapes didn’t happen until the late 1970s up to the 1980s. From thence, it blossomed until audio books in audiocassette tapes came to be accepted by all and sundry.

For whatever reason however, the audio book phenomenon didn’t really kick off until the 1990s.

And with the transition from audiocassette technology into CDs, more people have become interested in audio books.

With the advent of the Internet and its paraphernalia, audio books have now transited from vinyl records, audiocassette taps and CDs into downloadable digital formats that can be listened to with a desktop computer, laptop computer, PDAs, etc.

If you are still interested in “going back in time” you can get the original book recordings that started this audio book industry.

Impossible?

Not really.

Some of those early 1950s analog recordings by Caedmon which were performed by the greats of those days can be purchased today on the Internet.

For example, recently I was able to browse the Internet thoroughly and found the original recording of “The Lord of the Rings” as read by J.R.R. Tolken.

You can find that classic you have always dreamt of in audio book format if you search hard enough on the Internet.

I have tried to convince many friends to listen to audio books online. This really is not any different to reading a regular book, except that someone else’s voice does the reading for you. Apparently the move from the ‘traditional book’ to a compact disc or mp3 has resulted in a large group of skeptical people who doubt that it is possible to truly appreciate a novel by listening, rather than physically reading. Funnily, it is actually the younger people that are harder to convince to give it a go.

Because my grandmother had grown up listening to stories told on the radio she was more than willing to listen to audio books online – in fact, she found it a pleasure as she could sit quite comfortably, do her cross stitch or even do the gardening while she listens to the recordings. Audio books have been around for a very long time, in fact, many of our grandparents grew up listening to the British Broadcasting Company with its serialized classics. History shows that as early as 1933 an anthropologist J.P. Harrington researched and recorded the oral histories of the Native American tribes.

The American Congress saw a need to provide extra resources for people with sight impairment, and as a result the “Books for the Adult Blind Project” was initiated. This project was the stepping stone for audio books or ‘talking books’ and before long the mass reproduction of them began. In later years the National Library Service provided a much needed public-service for blind citizens across America by recording millions of books in an audio format.

Audio Books and Popular Culture

Massive advancement in technology has driven the audio book online format into the reach of consumers who embraced the development with enthusiasm. It was in the early 1960’s when the introduction of the portable cassette player recorder allowed ease of use. This coincided with the ever increasing popularity of the pursuit for self-improvement. This style of recordings, with emphasis on instructional or educational subjects, became very popular. Self-help audio-books were well and truly in vogue and the initiative was expanded to include audio books on a wide variety of general topics such as the humanities.

Audio book recordings became even bigger and quickly a market was created that catered for people wanting to rent popular titles. Listening to audio book online became a multi billion-dollar industry and producers helped the industry grow by introducing high-quality recordings done with large casts of voices.

Today, the audio book concept has embraced leading edge technology which has made the product much more accessible to the general public than ever before. The vast array of product available can now be easily downloaded from the web and its formats incorporated into any digital listening device such as cell phones, MP3 players and iPods. In view of this modern and cutting edge tools, it is highly likely that the young people of today might even gain an appreciation for a classical author such as Jane Austen or William Shakespeare.

It is ironic that the advent of the audio book online has not fully replaced printed books version but instead has only highlighted the joys of books in general.

I have tried to convince many friends to listen to audio books online. This really is not any different to reading a regular book, except that someone else’s voice does the reading for you. Apparently the move from the ‘traditional book’ to a compact disc or mp3 has resulted in a large group of skeptical people who doubt that it is possible to truly appreciate a novel by listening, rather than physically reading. Funnily, it is actually the younger people that are harder to convince to give it a go.

Because my grandmother had grown up listening to stories told on the radio she was more than willing to listen to audio books online – in fact, she found it a pleasure as she could sit quite comfortably, do her cross stitch or even do the gardening while she listens to the recordings. Audio books have been around for a very long time, in fact, many of our grandparents grew up listening to the British Broadcasting Company with its serialized classics. History shows that as early as 1933 an anthropologist J.P. Harrington researched and recorded the oral histories of the Native American tribes.

The American Congress saw a need to provide extra resources for people with sight impairment, and as a result the “Books for the Adult Blind Project” was initiated. This project was the stepping stone for audio books or ‘talking books’ and before long the mass reproduction of them began. In later years the National Library Service provided a much needed public-service for blind citizens across America by recording millions of books in an audio format.

Audio Books and Popular Culture

Massive advancement in technology has driven the audio book online format into the reach of consumers who embraced the development with enthusiasm. It was in the early 1960?s when the introduction of the portable cassette player recorder allowed ease of use. This coincided with the ever increasing popularity of the pursuit for self-improvement. This style of recordings, with emphasis on instructional or educational subjects, became very popular. Self-help audio-books were well and truly in vogue and the initiative was expanded to include audio books on a wide variety of general topics such as the humanities.

Audio book recordings became even bigger and quickly a market was created that catered for people wanting to rent popular titles. Listening to audio book online became a multi billion-dollar industry and producers helped the industry grow by introducing high-quality recordings done with large casts of voices.

Today, the audio book concept has embraced leading edge technology which has made the product much more accessible to the general public than ever before. The vast array of product available can now be easily downloaded from the web and its formats incorporated into any digital listening device such as cell phones, MP3 players and Ipods. In view of this modern and cutting edge tools, it is highly likely that the young people of today might even gain an appreciation for a classical author such as Jane Austen or William Shakespeare.

It is ironic that the advent of the audio book online has not fully replaced printed books version but instead has only highlighted the joys of books in general.