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In as much as the audiobook phenomenon isn’t too new, there are still lots of people that don’t know certain things about it.

I must confess that I was also ignorant about certain aspects of audiobooks myself.

During my early days of audiobooks, I had to ask certain questions and today I hear a lot of people asking the same such questions.

Who knows, you might also have such questions and you really want to find the answers to them.

If yes, then below are some of these questions and their answers:

What is an audiobook? An audiobook is simply a book in audio format. Instead of receiving a physical hardcover or paperback book that you have to read, you will be able to have someone reading the book to you when you download the audiobooks online in MP3 format.

What is an MP3 audio book? MP3 is simply a compression technique that makes it possible for reduction to be made to audio books so that they use less space (sometimes as little as 80%) compared to that of cassettes or CDs.

How can MP3 audio books be played? MP3 audio books can be played on any new version of CD players that support the MP3 technology – mostly those that can accept a 4.75 diameter disk. They can also be played on any PC that has Microsoft’s Windows Media Player or other related music software such as Real Media Player. Lastly, they can also be played on any mp3 player such as Creative Zen or Apply iPod.

What is an unabridged audio book? An unabridged audio book is one that was narrated word for word. In such an audio book, nothing was removed from the printed book. It has the exact content with that of the printed book, albeit in audio format.

What is an abridged audio book? An abridged audio book is one that is shortened and doesn’t contain the exact word for word narration as the printed book. Instead, it contain the main and most important points of the original book. In short, it is more concise and straight to the point.

What is a dramatized audio book? A dramatized audio book, as the name implies, is a dramatized “play-life” version of the printed book, with usual full cast, music and sound effects.

How can I find the audio book I would like online? You can visit audio book store and search for the particular title you need.

What are the more popular online book store available? There are a few online book stores with huge collections, please do a search using keywords “Audio Book store” from your favorite search engine

Are these audio book expensive? On the contrary, they are cheaper as there is no physical product or delivery. Most online book store allow user to download it directly.

To check out how you can listen to some of the #1 best seller books, visit http://www.merlionaudio.com
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate, we offer attractive commissions, you can visit http://www.merlionaudio.com

I didn’t believe it the first time I heard a friend of mine say – “I benefit from the reading of 50 books each year… in my spare time”.

Knowing how demanding her time was because of her top position in her job and because she is a single mom, I was certain she was lying and I told her so.

Smiling, she insisted that it was the truth. I would have continued arguing with her until she pointed out to me that she didn’t have to physically “read” them, but they were “read” to her while she listened… in her spare time.

Not giving me any opportunity to argue, she went ahead and played an audio book on her CD player for my perusal.

She explained that this was how she had almost any book she wanted read to her as audio books while she prepared for work in the morning, while she prepared her daughter for school, while she did her exercises each day, while she commuted to and from work and any free time she had on hands that didn’t involve using her mind.

I was surprised, to say the least, that I could have been doing the same thing in my spare time, instead of just commuting to and from work doing nothing.

You see, my work is one that requires a lot of my time involvement. I have to leave home quite early, spend over an hour on the road because of the constant heavy traffic and when I get to work, I work all day until break time and closing time.

From what this friend of mine explained to me, I knew I had to give audio books a try.

I did and was very impressed.

Now, I can proudly say I also benefit from the reading of up to 50 books each year.

Still don’t think it’s possible?

Fine, let’s do the math:

For an audio book that takes 4 hours, you can have it read to you in just two days – 1 hour each day while preparing for work in the morning and 1 hour each day while commuting to and from work. That’s 4 hours in 2 days.

So, if it takes you 2 days to have one audio book read to you, that will be 365 days in a year divided by 2. That will equal about 133 books each year!

That’s over double the original 50 audio books we were targeting, right?

Audio books are indeed the secret formula that many people use to get the value from the best books they want to read. With audio books, you can forget the frustration you always had whenever you force yourself to read any book.

For the bookworms back in college that want to continue reading but can’t afford the time anymore, you now have a solution in audio books.

Whether you want to use your PC, cassette tape player, CD or even any PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), it is now possible and within your reach for peanuts.

To check out how you can listen to some of the #1 best seller books, visit http://www.merlionaudio.com
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate, we offer attractive commissions, you can visit http://www.merlionaudio.com

Do you want to be the NEXT Amazon in new special niche; Audio Books Did you know that audio books are becoming more and more popular by each day? For example, in 2004, over $124 million worth of audio books were sold in the UK and $120 million in Germany during 2005. Experts say that this year the market is expected to rise by 20% in Europe, and audio books seem to be even more popular in the USA.

According to the report from digital trends, research firm iSuppli is predicting that shipments of MP3 players are expected to rise by nearly a factor of four from 2004 to 2009 which means total MP3 player shipments will expand to 132 million units in 2009, rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 36.8 million units in 2004.

The audio books industry is the next big thing to watch out for.

But why are audio versions a convenient way to “read” a book?

1) You save time, because you can listen to an audio book anywhere and everywhere, and you can even do other things at the same time. You can listen when driving to and from work, when walking the dog, cycling, working around the house or at the computer, exercising, and so on. The possibilities are endless.

According to a recent survey, in the USA a person is driving an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes daily, which means over 440 hours a year for each driver, or 11 full-time work weeks. This is huge! Imagine how many things you could learn during this time by simply having your MP3 player with audio books at hand.

2) If you love reading but don’t have a enough time, audio books can give you the opportunity to read many more books that you would otherwise have time for. Audio books are a great way to fill the “dead” moments we all have in our lives.

3) Audio books are good for older, ill or recovering people and can be a wonderful gift for someone in a nursing institution. This is a gift they can remember and enjoy time after time.

4) Audio books can be a blessing for blind people, disabled people or people with impaired vision. Everyone should have the chance to experience and enjoy a book and in many cases, this is the only way for such persons to do it.

Spoken books can help these people improving their education, help them developing new hobbies and habits and greatly enriching their life, both personally and professionally.

5) The most important skill a child can ever acquire is probably the ability to read, and audio books can be easily used to stimulate literacy in children. Books can be listened to by children while following the story in the paper book. Or they could listen just to gain and improve vocabulary and communication skills. If you want to instill in your child the love of reading, audio books can be a excellent start.

There are many more benefits of using audio books, but even these few reasons should be enough to convince you to enter the exciting world of the spoken books.

You can select a vast range of audio books from the following categories:
Arts & Drama Biography Business Crime & Thrillers Fiction Foreign Language Study Health & Recreation History Humor Juvenile Misc Radio Shows Religion & Spiritual Self Help TV & Film!

To check out how you can listen to some of the #1 best seller books, visit http://www.merlionaudio.com
If you are interested in becoming an affiliate, we offer attractive commissions, you can visit http://www.merlionaudio.com

There are some disadvantages to having audio books available in so many different formats, such as tapes or CD. It is much more desirable to have downloadable audio books in digital formats, as these eliminate the problems that come with buying them on CD, such as cost, delivery time and physical storage. The opportunity to purchase downloadable audio books in digital format is much more convenient and less costly than buying books on tape or CD.

Pros of Downloadable Audio Books in Digital Format
You get audio books immediately when downloaded
They are much cheaper
You can get the latest produced audio books

Cons of Audio Books in CD or Cassette Format
The cost is higher
You have to wait for them to come in the mail
They take up physical storage space

There are far more advantages to buying an audio book online where you can download it immediately. You can get an audio book right away as opposed to waiting for it to be produced on cassette tape or CD. It is much more convenient, easy to do, costs less for you and the producer, as well as saving you time as you do not have to wait for an audio book to come in the mail. You can listen to it on various devices (PDAs, MP3 players, on your computer, and more) where and when you want to and as soon as it downloads.

However, it does take time to find an audio book, especially if you are searching for one in particular. You might find that it is not available at your favorite online audio book store and have to search elsewhere. Also, if you have a slow internet connection, it can take a long time to download an entire audio book. You might choose to download it at your office, local cafe or library.

Even with these minor disadvantages, they can all be solved. You can check out other online audio book stores, or even do a search of your own with your favorite search engine. However, if you do not know the name of the author or the title of the audio book, your search will certainly take a bit longer than it would if you already know them.

Even with these disadvantages, buying your downloadable audio books at an online store is still more desirable than buying your audio book on cassette or CD. The pros certainly outweigh the cons in getting your online audio books in a downloadable digital format.

Helen Wall is the author of this article. Visit http://www.audiobooksbonanza.com to download audio books from an extensive range of titles from top publishers. Join the free newsletter and get to know about the latest titles, receive time limited special offers and discounts, before anyone else.

I am sure that you have heard that listening to something when you are sleeping, increases your chances of retaining that information.

That can be true, because when you are sleeping (or otherwise not really paying attention to what you are hearing), your subconscious is doing the work of taking in the information. Your conscious mind knows right from wrong and files information into different categories. However, your subconscious is completely different. It will take in the information no matter what is right or wrong.

A large number of people believe that the audio book was a very recent invention, but it is not! The Royal National Institute For The Blind created the first audio book in the 1920s. They were listened to on those old record players that you might see in a museum. They have a large horn and a crank handle. Back then, you had to turn the handle in order for the record player to be played and listened to. The audio book has come a long way since then.

You can now listen to audio books on CDs, MP3s, on your PDA and more. You can download an audio book and pay for it on the Internet in as little as a few minutes.

So, what exactly is an audio book?

Well, in the most simplest of explanations, audio books are just books that are meant to be listened to instead of read. Someone has to record his or her voice in a studio in order to create an audio book.

Audio books have been around for a very long time, first introduced in England in the 1920s! However, if we go even further back in time, there were audio books created by the Library of Congress in the United States. The Library of Congress was specifically created for the American Foundation for the Blind. Those audio books were distributed free of cost throughout the United States.

Believe it or not, there is one magazine published that particularly focuses on the audio book industry Audiofile, with Robin Whitten as the Founder and Editor of the magazine. According to Robin Whitten, Caedmon, which is now a subsidiary of Harper Collins Publishers,can be credited with having started the recording of literature as far back as fifty years ago.

Caedmon was a small business in New York that began recording the audio of authors and poets in the 1950s. Some of the most popular recordings at the Caedmon were of Dylan Thomas, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Fitzgerald, and others. In Caedmon, these authors recorded their own pieces of work and created records to be played. The precise history of the audio book can be argued and is a little controversial.

Of course, records turned into audio book cassette tapes during the sixties, seventies and eighties. However, the audio book gained popularity in the 1990s more than ever.

With the convenience and ease of the Internet, audio books have come a long way, from LPs, records and cassettes to CDs, MP3s, and PDAs. However, you do not have to listen to recently recorded audio books just because the formats have greatly changed over time. You can find and listen to old versions of audio books, even some of the first audio books ever created!

Copyright: Helen Wall

Helen Wall is the author of this article. Visit http://www.audiobooksbonanza.com to download audio books from an extensive range of titles from top publishers. Join the free newsletter and get to know about the latest titles, receive time limited special offers and discounts, before anyone else.