If you are a real acim lover, you know the sheer joy of snuggling down on a soft couch with a book on one hand and a cup of coffee or maybe a small tin of candy on the other hand. There is a delicious feeling of satisfaction as you turn the first page and immerse yourself deep into the fascinating and entertaining world of literature. Ahh, bliss! However, with the growing demands of the modern lifestyle, very few people could find the time to actually read books. Fortunately, the modern lifestyle has also given booklovers a new “reading” option – to listen to books online.
Audio books, or books to which you can listen, are digital voice recordings of the texts in books. Audio books started out as books-on-tape as the earlier audio books were in cassette tape format. Through the passing of time, these books-on-tape evolved into books-on-CD and now the audio books are available in digital format such as mp3 or wma. Now, with the development of the internet, you can even listen to books online. The basic principle though is still the same – the text of the book is read either by humans, professional or amateur readers, or by computer-generated voices.
There are so many types of audio titles available online. You can find fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, textbooks, even cookbooks, and religious text like the Bible. There are several websites which host hundreds of thousands of audio titles that you can listen to via internet streaming or that you can download. Technology has made it very simple to listen to books online.
Some websites allow you to download not just the audio title but also the various digital formats of the book, such as text, PDF, or ePub, for free. The books from these websites are usually public domain, like the classics or other great works of literature. Thus, you can reminisce and enjoy the written works of the earlier literature masters in their newer audio versions and even listen to them online.
Some websites also feature audio titles of the latest and more popular literary works. These websites usually require registration or quick sign-ups. Certain websites may also ask for a small fee when you want to stream or download audio titles. However, these fees are actually still diminutive if you think about how expensive books are nowadays. Moreover, if you also figure in the costs of going to bookstores and the time that you will spend looking at and looking for books, paying a nominal membership fee to be able to access more contemporary books is a bargain.
Many people are now choosing to listen to books online because it is so much cheaper and it fits their fast-paced lifestyle. Listening to audio titles requires less effort and less concentration as compared to reading books. With audio titles, you can just turn on your computer, stream the audio book, and just listen while they are working or while they are doing their chores.
Moreover, people on the go can choose to download the mp3 or wma format of the audio title, put it into their iPods, mp3 players, personal digital assistant (PDA), or mobile phones and listen while they are on their way to work or during their break periods. They can also listen to audio books while they are doing their usual activities, such as walking, jogging, buying groceries, or paying bills.
Furthermore, when you choose to listen to books online or to download audio titles, you can “read” up to a hundred of books from your laptop or from your iPod without needing to carry hundreds of heavy tomes. Hundreds of audio books for your listening pleasure right at your fingertips. That is modern literary bliss.