Monday, August 27, 2007

#22 Audiobooks

The functionality that seems to be provided by Netlibrary when you access a book (eg annotation, access to a dictionary, access to a pronunciation guide) are all useful and the process for accessing titles (once your library subscribes) seems straightforward. The services would be a particular boon for schools or universities with multiple campuses and remote students.

I have no idea about comparative costs but, if bearable, a service like this if it offered contemporary material in languages other than English might be a useful alternative to public libraries building collections in such languages.

The range of material available on Gutenberg's Audio eBook Collection fascinated me (I must return to hear Benjamin Franklin's Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout and I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been to have access to the Electronic Tools and Ancient Near Eastern Archives many years ago when at university). Would love to know more about the demographic that uses the site. Was delighted to see that poetry can be heard on the site (eg Coleridge and Shakespeare) because often hearing it read well is the way that you develop confidence/interest in reading it yourself.

Very pleased to learn of these resources and will return to them.

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