Anybody try mp3 books?

[django1]

Just what the title says. Anything to know about buying and using these?

[dane]

Listened to quite a few of them myself.. You can check my "(audio) books I've enjoyed" over the past several years, as well as my recommended compression settings when ripping your own audio books to MP3 (if you have the regular multi-CD version) and some samples with those settings to give you a feel for it. Be sure to listen to the compressed FIRST -- you'll barely be able to tell ... of course after you listen to the original you'll think "wow, that DOES sound different." But if you think "that's not that bad" before you listen to the original, and then consider that it's 50:1 compression... you can get a 17-CD harry potter book to fit in just over 200MB.. Pretty good IMO..

Hope that helps,
..dane

[django1]

I think I'm going to enjoy my mp3 player. Thanks!

[Mep]

Audio books are great to listen to when doing other things like wood work in my case. Keeps the mind from wondering and thinking about things best left not thought about. They can also be quite entertaining. Most audio books are abridged though so you need to make sure you find good enough books with unabridged readings. Some can even have rather extensive production bringing in voice actors for all the different characters with music and sound effects. Much more like those old time radio shows than a book.

[django1]

Is there a good place to buy ? Can you rent?

[etcarroll]

Your library may have them already, it will definately have them on CD.

My wife rips the CD books to mp3 and listens on her Sansa.

I got a free download of a Dean Koontz book on mp3 from Audio.com, check them out.

[Carlp336]

i bought one when i got married, was a requirement to read this one book during our newly wed counseling thing. got it on itunes as an audiobook. and was able to listen to it while working on my car. pretty neat.

i understand a lot of people read and enjoy it, but i just cant do it.

[django1]

Thanks for the replies!

[Kevin_Wadsworth]

I listen to a lot of books on CD while driving, but I haven't tried ripping to mp3 for portable audio listening.

My dad has done that, however. Our local library has mp3 books that you can download on your home computer. I think somehow they expire after a certain date.

There is also a website called libravox.org that has a ton of public-domain (a lot of classics) audio books for download. Anyone can post to libravox, so some of the recordings are done by some guy wiht a lousy voice in his living room. But some are well done.

[dane]

You can also try http://www.audiobooksforfree.com -- I've downloaded a half-dozen free classics from them over the past several years. It's done a little differently in that you can get as much as you want for them for free-- at 8kbps bitrate, or you can pay a couple bucks for some better quality recordings. They're not as professional as say the Harry Potter audiobook series, but they get the job done.. And all the ones I've downloaded from there are in read by someone with a british accent.. for what it's worth..

8kbps sounds quite unbearably horrible, I will admit. But after listening to it for about 10 minutes, you acclamate and it becomes bearable. The price is right, anyway..

..dane

EDIT: I see that libravox already lists the audiobooksforfree website.. so nevermind! :)

[Kevin_Wadsworth]

EDIT: I see that libravox already lists the audiobooksforfree website.. so nevermind! :)

So it does! The site I meant to reference was librivox.org, rather than libravox.org. Latin noun declension was always tough for me...

[dane]

Ah! I'll check out the revised suggestion.. :) thanks! :)