The niftiest little thing arrived in the mail the other day.
It's a rerelease of the unabridged audiobook of The Magicians' Guild, as published by Bolinda Audio. What's so cool about it is that it comes as a ready-to-play package. Earphones are supplied and batteries included (and yes they're replaceable). No need to dig up a tape or cd player, or get to a computer so you can download it to your ipod. You just plug in the earphones and start listening.
I can see all sorts of potential in this idea. Delays at the airport? Unexpectedly need to catch a train? IPod run out of power? Just pop into the bookshop and grab one of these.
How widely available they are I can't tell you, or where to get them, but this is one of those ideas I'd love to see take off. Even if just out of a selfish desire to be able to buy something to listen to next time I'm stuck at an airport with a delayed flight and a flat iPod.
I work at a public library in America, and we started buying them and loaning them to patrons last year. They're really popular, especially with people going on vacation and those who don't like to mess with all that other "new fangled" technology. Just because I know someone will ask, the earphones are not reused :)
Convenient? Absolutely. Yet, if I were you, I'd rather that my name not be emblazoned on quite so many articles in the world's landfills...
If the batteries weren't replaceable, I'd agree with you Think of the Children, but since they are these units can be shared, swapped, kept and collected like any ordinary book (without all the issues relating to paper).
I think it is a great idea. You don't have to carry any CD's with you if you want to listen to your favourite story. In Germany they are thinking about digital books. You have a small screen which looks like a book from the outside. And you can have as many books on it as you wish. But it's still pretty expensive and not so popular anyway.
Great idea.. the only problem I see is the $114.99 price-tag.
So they just need to work on bringing the prices down a bit.
Kyra xx
Oh dear! I guess I won't be picking one up at the airport next time a flight is delayed. I assumed they'd be about A$40.
While I love the whole "Stuck at the airport" scenario for these, I'd want them to be small and somewhat cheaply made. For instance, my ipod isn't cheap (nor cheaply made) but it's very small and I can slip it in my pocket or wherever. Also, since you can't load more things on these like an mp3 player, I'd imagine you'd want it to be cheaply made (not to be confused with shoddily made) to bring the price down. Preferably made with recyclable materials since most people I know don't listen to audio books twice and, past donating them to libraries, don't tend to pass them around much.
Still a very interesting idea that I'd like to see furthered.