Once again, my local library has come through for me with their excellent books-on-CD selection. My family and I are heading off to the beach this week, and we'll be listening to the complete and unabridged audio version of Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief along the way.

As longtime readers of the site know, I am a huge Van Draanen fan, and I am sincerely grateful to my library system for providing me with four hours of audio entertainment. If you don't spend much time at your local library (and a shocking number of bibliophiles never set foot in libraries, preferring to hang out in bookstores), do yourself a favor and trot on down. I can't speak for every library in the country, but most of 'em are clean, friendly, staffed by helpful, friendly librarians, and surprisingly well-stocked... with books that are free.

Labels: Audio, Library news, Wendelin Van Draanen, Wordcandy on the cheap

My idea of the perfect afternoon is curling up on my couch with a huge mug of tea and a paperback romance novel. Recently, though, I've become obsessed with audiobooks, and while I'm not tossing the tree-derived contents of my overstuffed bookshelves in favor of mp3s, I am acquiring a healthy audiofile collection. Here's a little info on audiobook players, for all you tech-savvy bibliophiles out there:

Apple iPod family: $79 - $249
Love 'em or hate 'em, Apple and the iPod are the biggest players in the game when it comes to mp3 players and audio downloads. Ranging from the $79 1G Shuffle to the 160G iPod, Apple offers a large variety of options. The biggest benefit to purchasing one of these is Apple's customer service. (Users that don’t live near an Apple store can still contact their phone support.) On the downside Amazon and Barnes & Noble have restrictions (DRM) on the files you download that will not allow you to play them in iTunes.

SanDisk Sansa Clip: $59-$72
Of all the options in this price range, the SanDisk Sansa Clip is the only player with a display screen. (They also include an FM radio and a voice recorder.) This is a great pick for any gym rats that you know - there's nothing like needing to hear the last few pages of a story to keep you on the treadmill.

Creative Zen Stone: $39
This would be an ideal choice for the mp3-player shopper on a budget. The 1G Creative Zen is a great, no-frills basic player, with more than its fair share of style. It boasts solid sound (particularly for the price), and a battery life of 10 hours. Throw in a gift certificate to audible.com and you'd have a great holiday gift.

Sparkling Sony E-Series
The Sparkling Sony E-Series is still limited to Japan, and (as far as I can tell) it doesn't seem to boast any technological innovations. This sequin-encrusted little puppy is all about style. If you're as tempted by those sparkles as I am, try checking out Sony Japan’s online store.

Labels: Audio, Electronics, Gifts

Since going live in 1997, Audible.com has become the leading provider of spoken entertainment and information on the Internet, allowing users to download digital audio editions of books, newspapers, magazines, original programming, and TV and radio subscriptions. Audible customers have several choices: they can download on a per-program basis, or join one of a variety of “AudibleListener” plans, allowing them a predetermined number of credits for Audible content. Audible offers more than 30,000 different programs, totaling nearly 100,000 hours of audio content.

Working with the International Thriller Writers Organization, Audible is currently releasing The Chopin Manuscript, a collaborative, audio-only thriller written by 15 well-known novelists, including Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Lisa Scottoline, and P.J. Parrish. (Deaver wrote the first and the final two chapters, while his fellow authors contributed one chapter apiece.) The Chopin Manuscript is being released serially—since September 25th, readers have received 2-3 chapters each Tuesday, with the final installment scheduled for November 13th.

The Chopin Manuscript kicks off with a bang: former war crimes investigator and musicology expert Harold Middleton is currently in possession of a previously undiscovered manuscript by Frederic Chopin. Determined to uncover the manuscript’s secrets, Middleton is plunged hip-deep in intrigue, and finds himself accused of murder, targeted by assassins, and hunted by a mysterious, terrifying figure from his past.

While one suspects that a story as well set-up as The Chopin Manuscript would work as a conventional novel, too, it’s ideally suited to both the audio-only format and the round-robin-style execution. Actor Alfred Molina narrates the story, infusing each chapter with a sense of tension and dread, and the authors outdo themselves in an effort to ensure that their contribution is worthy of its predecessors. The final product is fun, fast-paced, and beautifully produced—the perfect choice for any Wordcandy readers out there with a boring job and a discreet mp3 player.

Labels: Audio, Book Reviews, Thrillers