2007-Nov-2 - The Future Audio Books

Audio books are not something that new to the world, though in some parts of the world people are not familiar with audio books. Audio books were first available in the form of cassette tape. After the introduction of compact disc audio book publishers quickly adapt it as the favorite choice of distribution.

Nowadays, technology has developed so much that audio books are now available in digital format where customers can download right from the comfort of their own home. The evolving technology of the computer especially related to internet made storing large files such as audio books possible. Since audio books are basically books in audio format, their files size are generally much larger than traditional non-audio format.

The wide spread availability of hi-speed internet connection also play an important role of downloadable audio books industry. The natures of audio books large file size make it almost impossible to download them using traditional dial-up connection. The hi-speed connection makes downloading audio books correctly and a lot faster, minutes instead of hours.

However, there are some minor setbacks with downloadable audio books, mostly with the program that customers use to play their downloaded audio books. The common problems are user’s technological skill and the need to update the program itself.

Customers need to be able to surf the internet to start off. They also need to have an audio player program in order to play audio books on their computers. Most, if not all, computer has at least an audio player program on their computer already, assuming that the computer is fairly new (from 2003 onward). If your computer doesn’t have an audio player program you can download a free Windows Media Player 11 (WMP) the latest version from Microsoft.  You can also update your Windows Media Player for free.

Another common problem arises when customers wanted to have their downloaded audio books on cd. Their computers must have at least a cd-writer drive as well as a good cd-burning program; most of the new computers have all of the mentioned technology. The need to learn how to transfer (a.k.a. “write”) downloaded audio books in to cd is crucial. This minimal learning curve can be done in as little as 5 minutes. Customers will need many blank cds in order to fit all data of an audio book on to cds.

Most of these setbacks are a one-time setback. They won’t occur again once customers have the right software and know how to use them. The majority of customers are now listening to audio books on their mp3 players. These customers eliminate the need to “write” audio books to cds completely, unless they want a hard copy of the audio books themselves.

Downloaded audio books are the future of audio books. They give customers an alternative way to consume the knowledge of books. It comes with a minimal learning curve. However this learning curve is what we need to know in order to take advantage of what the world of technology has to offer.