#22: Audiobooks online - without pulling out a credit card!

Listen to this podcast [2:01] --->

Any books on tape fans out there? Modern listeners (and marketers) call them audiobooks, so we're no longer tied to a specified delivery format. Some of us listen on CDs now, and some of us with iPods or another type of MP3 player may have already ventured into downloading audiobooks for listening on more portable devices. If you are among the latter, perhaps free audiobook downloading is something you already do, but maybe we'll introduce you to some new-to-you sites worth exploring.

BTW: you don’t have to have a portable player to listen to audiobooks, you can also listen to them from a computer - and/or burn the audio files to a CD. Some libraries are making available online audiobooks through companies like NetLibrary and OverDrive. Sadly, though, these audio files don't work with iPods! The reason for non-compatibility with iPods has to do with digital rights management (DRM) - and that Microsoft created the DRM protection for audio files without (yet?) making it available to Apple.


Discovery Resources

• LibriVox - public domain titles recorded by volunteers with a whole Web 2.0 community driving it!
  
• Gutenberg: The Audio Books Project - Yessirree, those electronic book pioneers are dabbling in audio, not just plain text files! Audio titles are integrated into the full catalog; just look for the icon on your search results; however, if you're interested in just browsing...
  • Human-read by author only listing,
    
  • Computer-generated audio - again, browse-by-author-only (finite list for now; Project Gutenberg is exploring how to create a way for users to create computer-generated audio on-demand)
    
• Audiobooks for Free.com - First image you notice is PayPal?!? No, that is the correct url. In spite of the name, it looks like they're trying to make a buck (notice the DOT com?) - but persist! You will need to "join" before being able to download, but they do not require you to register your email address (and this will be the last account we of 23 Things @ GCC will ask you to create!).
  
• OverDrive - if the no -iPod-compatibility issue doesn't impact you, this link brings you to a search page where you can search for Arizona libraries making available titles through OverDrive downloading or search for titles (and then check if any of your local libraries provide access).
  NOTE: you do need to download a media software application to listen to OverDrive titles.
  FURTHER NOTE: unlike the sites listed above, not all titles are in the public domain (i.e. without copyright nor digital rights concerns) because libraries are paying for or subscribing to them. So look for Janet Evanovich instead of settling (?) for Jane Austen!
• Check out this great blog post (found by searching Technorati). The end of the entry includes a far more extensive list of audiobook links than included here.
  

Discovery Exercise

1. Visit LibriVox. Notice the equal treatment on Listening and Reading? From the get-go, this site broadcasts its participatory nature.
   
2. Click the LibriVox Catalog link to search or browse for familiar titles (bearing in mind that all are in the public domain).
3. Once you've identified something that appeals to you, choose either of the first two mp3 files - the one that best suits your connection speed). Audio streaming should kick in at first click; downloading requires right-clicking. Listen online or try downloading a file.
   
4. Blog about your listening experience and about the ideas fueling and sustaining LibriVox. Would you consider recording a contribution to the cause?
   

Technorati Tags mp3,audiobooks,LibriVox,listening,audio

#21: Can you hear me now?

It may seem that this Thing is out of place. I mean all those videos you found in your Discovery Activity for Thing 20 had sounds with them -- raucous music or a soft puppy yip or two. But sound isn't the same thing as a podcast -- they are cousins, maybe even siblings, but not twins.

A technical tidbit: Podcasts are just audio files (generally in a special format called .mp3) to which you can subscribe using RSS (remember that from Thing 8?). If you subscribe to a podcast, you don't have to remember to check for new files; you're notified automatically. Our audio snippets at the beginning of each Thing aren't technically "podcasts" because we didn't make them available that way, but we could have done so (and might in the future). Our audio snippets were created with and hosted on Odeo.

Podcasting, in the words of the late great Ed Sullivan, is big. Really, really big. You can learn about podcasting in general from EduCause's 7 Things 2-pager on podcasting, or from Carnegie Mellon's white paper on podcasting. You can find everything you need to know about how to do podcasting on our own 23-Thinger Alisa Cooper's wiki, "Coop's Word: Technology Use In & Out of the Classroom." If you're interested in where we're going in Maricopa, take a look at Veronica Diaz's blog post on iTunesU at Maricopa.

So in this Thing, we're just going to dip one big toe into the world of audio.

A bit of techy talk here: In order to listen to an audio file (like our comments at the beginning of each thing), you either need a computer with speakers (external or built-in) or earphones (that fit over your ears) or earbuds (tiny little things that fit inside your ears). But you already knew that, right? Or have we been whistling in the wind for the past 8 weeks? If you want to listen on-the-go, you need an mp3 player that you can clip on your belt or stick in your pocket. Those players usually have some kind of a docking station or cord that allows you to automatically download your files to them (and recharge the player's batteries at the same time.) But you know that you can also listen to an audio file just by clicking on the little embedded player on these blog posts. We're keeping it simple today.

Mp3 players aren't expensive -- you can find quite a few at less than $50, and you can find podcasts to load on to them for free. Did I mention that there are scads of free podcasts?


Discovery Resources:

In Thing #20, we introduced a number of search engines for finding videos, but many of them also find podcasts. You should see some familiar options: Most Recent, Most Popular, specific categories, etc. Just like with video, you can find your podcasts "raw or refined." Here are some places to look:

• Yahoo! Podcasts (I like their simple explanation of podcasting in the banner at the top of their page.)


• Podscope (which says it searches the audio itself; it doesn't rely on tags)


• Podcast.net (uses categories and keywords, much like searching a library database)


• NPR's Podcast Directory (these are professionally produced radio shows)


• Podcast Alley (select a specific genre to narrow your search choices)

Discovery Activity:

1. Explore various categories of podcasts using a couple of different search engines and listen to some podcasts at random. Make sure to listen to some that are serious and some that are fun!


2. Subscribe to a podcast using RSS, or download a podcast to your mp3 player.


3. Write a blog entry that reflects on what you found (or didn't find).
   

Did you know that more and more podcasting sites (like evoca and Gabcast) allow you to record a podcast from your cell phone? Everyone can be a podcaster now and just phone it in.