1. An OVERVIEW of DIGITAL AUDIO BOOKS for Libraries.
- Author
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Peters, Tom, Bell, Lori, Sussman, Diana Brawley, and Ruda, Sharon
- Subjects
AUDIOBOOKS ,LIBRARIES ,ELECTRONIC publishing ,ELECTRONIC books ,TALKING books ,READING interests of blind people ,DIGITAL audiobooks - Abstract
This article presents a review of the current state of the quickly emerging digital audiobook market for libraries. The growing end-user groups exist for digital audiobook content and services include commuters and other travelers, exercise enthusiasts and people with print impairments. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has been the major supplier of recreational talking books for U.S. citizens with print impairments. Although several strong commercial digital audiobook services have been established in the North American market, it remains a rough time for the industry, with official an de facto standards and best practices still emerging in almost every facet of the business. One of the mainstream suppliers of digital audiobooks is Audible.com. It is designed to meet the needs of the individual reader. However, it welcomes business from libraries. Digital audiobooks come in a proprietary version of MP3 with an .AA file extension. Users can listen to content on certain compatible MP3 players. OverDrive launched its service in November 2004. As of May, its master collection contained more than 1,770 titles. Brilliance Audio was the company's first major supplier of digital audiobooks.
- Published
- 2005