Conference 7.286::digital

>>    Listening to books on tape while commuting makes the trip go by
>>    quickly and is enjoyable/educational.


I agree.

    
>>    My question is, are there others who do this?  How could we set up a
>>    commuters book-tape library? Could we use Co. mail to send books on
>>    tape?
  

  Some libraries have books on tape that you can borrow.
  I have borrowed some from the Fitchburg, MA library and
  it is pretty convenient.
 
  If it was to be done companywide it would be best if
  our corporate library system coordinated it simply because they 
  already have the necessary tools and experience.

    My book tales have made me a much better driver.  I am too interested 
    in the plot to bother to object to the bad driving habits of other
    drivers.  It also find housework goes much faster if I am listening to 
    something exciting.  They sort of take the place of the BBC afternoon
    plays that I loved so much.
    
    For those in the New England area, Costco Wholesalers do a good, but 
    limited, selection of new release audio book tapes at about half the 
    cost of regular stores.  The draw back is that you have to be a member 
    at $35 a membership.
    
    I just wish the publishers would do the complete book and not abridge
    them. 

    Hello, 
    
    I've been listening to books. on tape since this summer when I took a
    long trip by car.  It's a great way to pass the time of a long commute-
    my group moved to Merrimack in July extending my commute from 40 miles/day 
    to 100 miles/day, and I've found that books on tape are a good way to spend
    a couple of hours- otherwise I just don't have time to sit and read a
    book.                       
    
    I get my books from the local library in Wellesley, Mass- not an
    extensive collection, but a lot of variety, novels, business books,
    biographies, etc.
    For anyone that lives in Eastern Mass around 128, there is a new audio
    tape rental store in Needham, MA called Earbooks- they rent books on
    tape for $1/day with a $3 Minimum.  There collection is extensive, but
    I try to get books from the library first because they are FREE there.
    
    I've listened to: The Client, The Eagle Has Landed, one of Peter
    Drucker's management books, Truman, these were all very good.  
    There are also a lot of motivational books around that are great
    listening on a long commute.
    
    Enjoy!
    

  I have a short commute, but I take longer trips several times a month, mostly
over the same route. For years I got bored stiff on these trips. I couldn't
stand listening to the radio because I didn't like the music and commercials.
Even with electronic tuning, I got tired of scanning the dial every ten minutes
trying to get a good station. A year ago, a friend suggested I borrow books on
tape from the library. After putting it off for a while, I tried it and I'm
glad I did. I encountered a few duds, such as "radio theater" tapes where the
music is twice as loud as the voices, but in general I have had good luck. It
makes the trips go much faster, and I "read" stuff that that I would never get
around to reading otherwise.
  The Littleton town library, which is 1/2 mile from LKG, has a good collection
of books on tape. However, I will soon run out of tapes I want to listen to
from there, so will need some new ideas.
  I like the idea of Digital libraries having books on tape, but I don't think
we can talk the company into buying them. Maybe we can donate tapes to them.
  By the way, the most interesting book on tape I have "read" so far is "The
Dam Busters". I expected it to be a garden-variety war story, but in fact it is
a story about an obscure British mechanical genius in World War II who invented
a system for bombing dams. It's a fascinating story of how an ingenious person
in the right place at the right time can change the course of history.

>a story about an obscure British mechanical genius in World War II who invented
    
    Obscure to you colonials, perhaps!
    

    I got hooked on books on tape a couple of years ago.  I was commuting
    to downtown LA everyday and felt I was waisting sooo much time.  A
    books on tape store opened in our building downtown.  I started renting
    tapes several times a week.  Listened to lots of those business books I
    never could find time to read.  Worked on my vocabulary.  Psyched
    myself up through the use of motivational tapes.  The the store closed
    that location over a year ago .  We closed our downtown office this
    summer.  Now I have Jimmy B's Audio Bookstore between the office and
    home.  For those of you in Southern California, it is  located on
    Rosecrans Avenue directly next to the 405 Freeway.  They have the
    largest selection of books on tape I have ever seen.  They rent most
    titles for a $1 a day or $6 a week.  If you join the rental club you
    get 15% off all purchases.  They buy back old titles at 25 cents on the
    dollar.  They also allow you one days rental toward the purchase price
    of the same title.  I bought several of my favorite tapes a couple of
    years back and have been surviving on those.  I think it is time for a
    trip to Jimmy B's.  The number is 310-643-7640.
    
    Blockbuster Video has a small selection of books on tape for rent and
    some company has books on tape for rent through Prodigy.
    
    Happy Listening,
    Susan

Greetings all,

I've similarly gotten hooked on BOT. Oddly enough there is a company with
that name. 

Here in Maryland the state library system has a large selection of BOT. I
work in field service and am on the road several times a day and can hardly
imagine life without these things. I've done Les Mis* 25 hour and a half 
tapes for instance. though the longest was Battle Cry of Freedom which I 
think was 30. The saddest was On the Beach by Nevil Shute, I finished the
book on my way to a down system and wanted to tell the customer I was just
too emotional right now to fix their system! 

Concerning DEC and these things... They are very expensive! I have bought the
cheap versions, the ones that you listen to one side of the tape from the 
left speaker then the other side from the right, they cost around 20 to 30
dollars. The nice versions are around 50 to 100! The public librarys are the
best places to get them from. 

I'd sure like to see a CD version of audio books. It would seem to be a fairly
easy thing to do?

Fred

When we took a cross-country vacation last year we found these tapes
a good way to reduce the boredom of 6 hours per day on the Interstate
highways.  The larger truck stops sell books on tape, heavy on the
westerns and spy novels.

Not related to BOT: "The dam busters" was made into a movie.  Pretty
good if you don't get picky about the special effects.

    Jarassic Park, Cricton; Space, Michener is an excellent book on tape. 
    
    John

    An alternative to books on tape is to learn a foreign language. The
    "Pimsleur" tapes available at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge are the
    ones I prefer. I have gone through their French I, German I, Italian
    and [50% of] Japanese. 
    
    Jim

    I'm not sure what the copyright laws are like in the US, but a lot of
    BOPs (books on paper) have this bit in the front saying that it is an
    offence to lend, hire, borrow etc the books without the permission of
    the publisher. I'm not sure Digital would like to get involved in that
    sort of legal hassle.

  Re -1: Another reason why if this is done on Digital premises, it should be
handled by the company library. I think copyrights are a non-issue for lending
books and tapes in the U.S., but if it is an issue, I assume the Digital 
Library System knows how to handle it.

    Hubby and I do the NH to Orlando run at least twice a year and it is a
    lifesaver.  We must have at least 50 or more all types, not many
    "Current" as in whats presently a hot seller or new in the movies but
    good listening none the less.  Anyone in the Mass, NH area thats
    familiar with BLDG 19, thats where we got most of ours for $1.49-$1.99.
    
    They all are $14-$15 tapes.  If anyone is close enough and wants to
    borrow a few at a time I am open lending them if I know your taste.
    
    Terry

    There is an active CDSWAP notesfile.  Why not do the same thing for
    BOT?
    
    Chet

    If you work in Merrimack, you can get a Merrimack library card. They
    have a good selection of books on tape. And if any library in the area
    has something you want to borrow you can get it inter-library loan. This
    opens up selections from Manchester which has a large section.
    
    Gail

The Digital Library Network has many books on tape.  Most
of them tend to be oriented towards business and management.
However there are also motivational and language tapes
available.  You can check them out and have them sent to you using 
VTX.  At the $ prompt type VTX DLNCATALOG.  You will be prompted
for your badge number, etc.  (If you aren't a registered 
user you can then register--it processes overnight and you
can check books out the next day).  When you get to the
search menu select the option that allows you search for
a word in the title.  Then enter the word 'sound'.  This
will pull up items which have the title annotation "sound
recording".   Is isn't very precise but there are a lot of
titles to choose from.

Regards,
Andy Breeding
LJO Reference Library