Audio Book Clubs: Your Portable Library
An audio book club is a shopping club for book lovers. But how
is it different from a normal book library? In simple terms, an
audio book club provides books in audio format - they could be
burned on a CD, could be on tape, or could be simple
downloadable audio files.
The great advantage here is that you can read, or rather listen
to, and enjoy any book even while you are engaged in any other
work. Audio books make reading a pleasure, and place less
demands on one of the most precious things in modern society:
time.
The audio books are more portable than the paper versions: you
can download the audio books directly into your computer and
then burn it on a CD or store it in any portable device, such
as your iPod. Yes, it is much like listening to music on your
iPod! So how about turning on an audio book when you are
waiting in a line? Or when you are driving, or cooking, or
mowing the lawn? You could never do that with a traditional
book, could you?
The audio book clubs provide a collection of audio books in CD,
cassette, and/or secure digital download formats. The average
file size of a downloadable audio book is about 100-150
megabytes. You can buy or rent an audio book from an audio book
club.
Now, audio books could be spoken-word adaptations of a book or
any other other literary work. These could be in the author's
own voice or could be dramatic readings by one or more actors.
Some could even feature sound effects.
There are both abridged and unabridged audio versions of
literary works and other books in the audio book clubs. An
unabridged audio book is a complete book while an abridged
version is one that has been edited and only includes a portion
of the complete work. You can usually find out from the audio
book club’s web listing whether a particular book is available
in abridged or unabridged format. The audio book club catalogue
should give you a list of different formats available under each
title.
If there is a title that is not available in the audio book
club’s inventory, you can even request for a copy, much like in
an offline library. When the book comes in, you will be informed
automatically. An audio book club usually provides many works
from an author, but not all.
The fast-paced modern life has made audio books highly popular.
This has led to many authors and publishers putting their works
into the audio book format. The audio book clubs offers many
fantastic savings. They usually offer discounts of up to 20 per
cent on new releases and up to 10 per cent on the other works in
their collection.
A huge advantage of the audio book clubs is convenience: the
online audio book clubs are open 24/7, enabling members to log
in, search and download audio books at any time they choose,
from any part of the world! You can select and listen to any
type of books such as literature, science, sports, travel,
technology, health, history, etc., at the audio book clubs. You
can enroll in and cancel your membership in audio book club
anytime you wish to.
At some audio book clubs you can get a monthly subscription and
listen to as many audio books as you can! Also, anyone can log
in and buy the audio books, just as you would walk into a book
store and purchase a book. The first time you buy an audio book
from an audio book club, you need to create an account. The
audio books can be paid for using credit cards, just as in any
other electronic transaction.