Audio Books Online Free

An audio book is simply a spoken word recording to tape, cd or mp3. You can get audio books online free, or you can pay for a subscription service to download them from somewhere like Audible.com. You can also get them from bookstores, libraries and music stores on tape or CD or download them in some instances. It is often a reading of published and available works, but can also be a recording not generally available in the written form.

The technical definition of an audiobook doesn't actually refer to an audio version of a 'book' in the sense that it can include a recording of a spoken word program that has never been published in paper form. It was originally used for schools and libraries and later developed for inclusion in the catalogues of music stores. However since the early 1980s a more focused effort to include audio versions of books by the major book retailers was undertaken.

Since then book publishers have taken to producing audio book versions of their published titles and these audiobooks have become common additions to bookshelves in libraries and book stores. Traditionally audio books have been published to tape or cd, but increasingly they are being made available in mp3 format and available for digital download via the internet.

Audio books in particular make the written word available to the blind and illiterate and for enjoyment by everyone in situations where reading is impractical or inconvenient (eg when driving or exercising).

The history of the spoken word is rich in its cultural heritage.

The tradition of storytelling, folk songs and poetry in particular have been used by many cultures to pass on history and stories from one generation to another and today these traditional methods are still utilized by many aboriginal cultures. However with the invention of Edison's phonograph in 1877 the ability to record the spoken word was born.

At the turn of the 19th century the popularity of radio also began to build on the popularity of this form of audio book for entertainment and commercial usage. The growing popularity of radio broadcasts of the spoken word has been credited with several historically significant events. In particular, Orson Welles' famous broadcast of his "War of the Worlds" created national panic in the United States in 1938. Another great pioneer of audio books was Walt Disney's decision to record children's music and stories on vinyl records for people to play on the gramophone. These were first released to the public by RCA/Victor in 1934 featuring Micky Mouse, the Three Little Pigs and Mary Poppins classics.

Of course, more recently the replacement of vinyl records with tapes and then CDs in particular has made the publication of audio books much more widespread. There have also been a number of government programs that established audio books as important parts of our history. In particular the 'Talking Book Program' established by Congress in 1931 prepared to make books available to blind adults. The first talking books were then released subsequently by the American Foundation for the Blind in 1932 and less than a year later mass production began. By 1935 audio books were being mailed the blind adults for free and in less than 60 years millions of talking books were being distributed to over 700,000 adults. Since the 1960s cassettes and cassette recorders began making audio books popular because they enabled these books to be conveniently listened to by a large number of people. In addition to story books educational and self-help recordings were also being produced. And in 1970 audio book rental plans were established. By the 1980s the audiobook publishing industry was worth over $1 billion annually. New companies were being established regularly and the body of professional readers and actors had become very large. In recognition of the growth of the industry the Audio Publishers Association established the Audio Awards in 1996 to recognize achievement by actors and audio book producers.

The gala event is the equivalent of the Oscars and culminates in the final event in Spring each year. There are also a large number of audio book clubs established in many countries and internationally with some clubs having nearly 500,000 members. The great new era of the modern audio book being available for digital download to MP3 players is set to further revolutionize this popular industry. The growth of the internet and improvement in broadband technologies in particular are poised to make streaming of audiobooks available anywhere anytime.

Online audiobook subscription services like Audible.com are making this format available to an ever increasing audience. This all makes it effortless for audiobook enthusiasts to access an increasing expanding library of works.

Audio books are available on cassette tapes, CDs, mp3, wma and aa formats. In particular, digital formats have advanced audiobook 'readability' by introducing bookmarking capability. This enables a user to stop their recording and resume later from the point they were up to.

To enable bookmarking most MP3 players have incorporated technologies specific to this function, but it is particularly available on ..aa/audible file players. If you need to add this technology to your MP3 player you can often find firmware updates from the manufacturer of your MP3 player via their websites. In the United States the audiobook industry is worth over $2 billion and growing, particularly with players like iTunes adding new titles regularly and consistently.

As the internet continues to develop these figures are likely to continue growing, particularly with the growing popularity of mobile internet devices and hence the capability to access audio streaming. In fact, it is now commonplace for audiobook titles to be made available at the same time that new hardcover books are released to the public. There are two types of audiobooks generally available: unabridged audio books and abridgements. Unabridged audiobooks are complete readings of a book and are often particularly lengthy often comprising a number of tapes, cds or audio files. Abridgements are readings with text edits. These are produced to reduce the length of a reading and the number of tapes or CDs required to record it. With the increasing incidence on digital recordings the abridgement of audiobooks is decreasing. Audiobooks can also be released as recording of a single narrator or may be produced with a cast of different readers for the various characters in the story and may include music and sound effects accompanying the spoken word.

There are even annual awards dedicates to audio book reading performances, the Audie Awards.

Also, radio programs often serialize book readings.

Just as tapes and CDs replaced vinyl records in the 1980s the digital revolution is currently making MP3 players the first choice for audiobook enthiasts. Of course an MP3 player is much smaller than portable cassette players and CD players and has the added advantage of being able to store 100s of titles digitally for easy retrieval and playback.

If you're considering buying a new MP3 player to play audiobooks then there are several features that you need to look for: file compatibility, battery life, storage capacity and bookmarking. The issue of compatibility is particularly important and you should be aware of the subscription service that you use to download your audio files. Online services like Audible.com may have different compatibilities than your local library, who might use NetLibrary or OverDrive, which use mostly .wma formats (so that they can't be copied to an iPod for example).

You can usually find a list of compatible MP3 players on the website you use or from your library if that is your main source of downloads. Perhaps the next most critical issue if battery life capability seeing that most audio book files are very long and you might want to listen for an extended period without having to wait for recharging.

Of course, using an adapter at home or in the car will extend your battery life and you should always 'plug-in' wherever possible. Storage capacity isn't much of an issue now with most new MP3 players having over 4GB of memory and the average audiobook being about 150MB.

There are some extremely high capacity players available and these could be dedicated to large libraries of audio books. Most new MP3 players also include bookmarking capability so this shouldn't be a problem, but it might pay to check if you are buying a second hand item.

James Spacey writes about a variety of topics including Paris travel and cheap unsecured loans.