I am aided in my audiobook addiction by the fact that the Iowa City Library has an astoundingly comprehensive selection of books on CD. These books on CD are also astoundingly popular. So, to get a new book to listen to, all I have to do is watch their online catalogue like a hawk until the book I want is checked in, go to the library asap in hopes that no one will check it out again before I get there, find the book I want to read on the shelf, bring it home, transfer the contents of between 6 and 25 cd's to my computer and then move them over to my ipod in stages as I listen to them.
Yeah, it's kind of a pain, actually.
So, naturally, I have been watching the library's online audio-book service development with great interest. When I discovered it last year, they had a slim selection of books that could be downloaded and listened to on any mp3 player except an ipod. That did me very little good as my ipod is my only mp3 player. Lately, however, they have started providing ipod friendly files which can be downloaded and listened to. To get around copyright issues, after a certain amount of time these files simply corrupt themselves so you can't play them anymore.
Wonderful, I say.
It is true, however, that there isn't really a very big selection online yet. It is also true that I am not nearly as discriminate a listener as a reader. In fact, I often prefer to save books I'm really excited about for taking in the old-fashioned way - curled up on the couch and turning pages. The stuff I listen to has to be on the fluffy side or I can't follow it and concentrate on my work at the same time.
But we all have to draw the line somewhere. Yesterday I found myself listening to something I had downloaded simply because I could put it on my ipod and it was available for checkout. Five minutes in I realized it was pretty much vampire soft-porn.
Weird.
Needless to say, I deleted those files well before my time limit ran out. I also ran a google search on the book, just out of curiosity. This proved to me the dangers of indiscriminate downloading. Had I actually been in a library looking for something to read and somehow picked this book up off the shelf, the cover would have deterred me from so much as reading the first page.
Ah well. Live and learn I suppose.
4 comments:
Wow. I remember looking at covers like that when I was a kid, fascinated that adults would not only paint such weird scenes, but that adults would actually get excited to read a book somehow containing said scene. These two look related, no?
Do you ever try the PL's hold service? I live by it, and I highly recommend it. Saves loads of time.
They totally look related. Haha.
And I have used the hold service from time to time (it just doesn't make for nearly as dramatic blogging ;)).
So, I'm guessing vampire porn is the in thing now. The cover does look intriguing. :D
Yeah, who knew?
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