MP3 CDs - The Way Forward

So everyone knows about audiobooks - well, almost everyone. They're great for commuters wanting a means of passing the boring hours on the train, bus or coach and for children needing entertainment on long journeys to holiday destinations. What better way to escape the frustration of being stuck in traffic than by being plugged into an audiobook?

The trouble, however, (if you don't happen to own an MP3 device like an iPod) is that you have to interrupt your listening every hour or so in order to change your CD. This is because ordinary CDs can play for a maximum of 70 minutes only. So, listening to an unabridged book, such as the latest Harry Potter, could involve you having to stop and change CDs as many as sixteen times! Doing this while driving is onerous and could be a safety hazard.

The answer to the problem is to go for audiobooks produced on MP3 CD. You thus are less encumbered: having only one CD to take with you, no inconvenient changing of CDs needed and, of course, fewer CDs means reduced cost and, therefore, lower retail price.

These are the benefits to the audiobook purchaser and also the reasons for starting up Storypods - an audiobook publisher based in Oxford. Their new MP3 CD: Alice in Wonderland & Nonsense Verse and Prose contains the unabridged Alice 'read' by a variety of talented actors who bring out Lewis Carroll's absurd humour in a very entertaining production. Piano interludes and the Mock Turtle's songs are charmingly set to original music. With added recitations of Carroll's verse and prose the whole CD runs for approximately 3.5 hours.

While some people might find that their old CD players are unable to play MP3 CDs, they can still access the material via their computers. Virtually all computers play MP3 CDs; therefore, downloading on to iPod or other MP3 device is very simple. If the CD player or audio system was purchased in the last 6 or so years, it is quite likely that it has MP3 playback facility. Audio systems which play MP3 CDs are available for cars if they have not already been installed by the car manufacturer.

Below is the image of the CD label. This MP3 CD can be purchased for £9.95 from a number of shops listed on the website or downloaded for only £4.95 from www.storypods.co.uk where more information as well as an audio clip are available.