audio-books

Thursday News: Women fighting on the front lines; Samsung’s exciting new phone display; Tom Hiddleston reads us poetry

Thursday News: Women fighting on the front lines; Samsung’s exciting new phone display; Tom Hiddleston reads us poetry

Samsung’s Next Smartphone Could Make Us Soon Forget The iPhone’s Retina Display – Apple’s iPhone 5 isn’t moving as many units as previous iPhones and Apple stock has dropped because of it. Apple’s competitors are cranking up the tech in their upcoming devices. Samsung’s next release has a screen that will put the Retina displays(…)

Tuesday News: B&N to launch in the UK in October; Penguin and Harlequin Australia launches digital first lines; The next generation wristwatch

Tuesday News: B&N to launch in the UK in October; Penguin and Harlequin Australia launches digital first lines; The next generation wristwatch

Barnes & Noble to launch in the UK in October – Barnes & Noble will launch http://nook.co.uk in Mid-October and will announce partnerships with “leading UK retailers” shortly. “The first products to be available when the company begins offering its products in the UK in mid-October include Barnes & Noble’s line of critically acclaimed E(…)

REVIEW: Escape Velocity by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox

REVIEW: Escape Velocity by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox

Dear Ms. Crow and Fox. I would not have finished this book if I had not been listening to it on audio book instead of reading it. In fact, I tried multiple times to read it when it was released from Torquere Press and couldn’t. Now revised for and re-released through Carina, it was also(…)

Thursday Midday Links: Steve Jobs Passed Away

Thursday Midday Links: Steve Jobs Passed Away

I don’t have any beautiful eulogy to give Jobs and it’s not that I don’t believe that he deserves a beautiful eulogy. He does.  He transformed our collective lives. But I have neither the connection nor the knowledge from which to give voice to a remembrance.  I’ve read several and these are few I thought(…)

Monday Midday Links: Romance News I Gathered in New York

Romance gossip I picked up in New York (unattributed to protect the innocent). The next hot thing appears to be the straight contemporary patterned after the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr.   Several houses are trying to capitalize on this through marketing and repackaging.   Mariah Stewart of Ballantine and Toni Blake from Avon are examples(…)

Maili’s Rant on the Author’s Guild Text to Speech Position

Earlier today I read this report Photos and Video From the National Federation of The Blind’s Kindle 2 Protest at the technology news blog, Gizmodo, about a street protest held by members of the National Federation of the Blind against the Author’s Guild. As Gizmodo reports: "Basically the story is this: the Author’s Guild raised(…)

Federation of the Blind Pushes Back Against Authors Guild

Authors’ Guild is peeved about Kindle’s Text to Speech function and the Federation of the Blind is pushing back. "The National Federation of the Blind supports all technologies that allow blind people to have better access to the printed word, including the ability of devices like the Kindle 2 to read commercial e-books aloud using(…)

Author’s Guild Tells Authors to Stay Out of the Ebook Game

AuthorsGuild  , an organization designed to promote the best interests of authors, are upset because the text to speech function offered by the Kindle 2.0 may infringe on the author’s derivative right to audio performances. “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s(…)

Library Allows iPhone/iPod Users to Download Audio Books

Library in Phoenix has the capabilities of allowing iPhone/iTouch/iPod users to download audio books. The users have to download a software that deletes the audio books after three weeks. I’m not exactly sure how that works but it is certainly a neat idea. Send to Kindle

Hachette to Stop Producing Books on Tape

Audio books will no longer be sold on cassette tapes at Hachette due to poor demand. Cassette player sales have dwindled dramatically with sales dropping from 18 million in 1994 to 480,000 in 2007. Frankly, it surprises me more that anyone is still buying a new portable cassette player. Cassette audio books accounted for 7(…)

Audible Tries to Tap Into Youth Market

Audio book sales were down by 5.7% in February according to the AAP but up overall by 5.6%. Audible is trying to increase its market by reaching out to kids. According to an AP article, 1/3 of all youth have an ipod or some other mp3 player. The goal is to reach these kids so(…)

Penguin Withdraws AudioBooks from eMusic

One step forward and two steps back can describe Penguin’s path toward digital media. Last month, eMusic launched a DRM free audiobook program. Penguin Audio was participating to the tune of 150 titles. This month, its withdrawn from the program due to “concerns about digital piracy.” Penguin doesn’t state that there has been piracy only(…)

Simply Audiobooks to Go DRM Free

It seems like every day we get more and more announcements of companies selling digital content without software locks on it. Last week, eMusic announced its intention of selling its audiobooks without DRM and now Simply Audiobooks, the second largest online retailer of digital audiobooks (behind Audible) will be offering DRM free audiobooks with the(…)

eMusic Offers DRM Free Audiobooks

eMusic is the world’s largest retailer of indie music and the second largest digital music provider after iTunes. Starting today, September 18, eMusic will offer audiobooks in an mp3 format without DRM. The collection will include Blackstone Audio, Hachette, Naxos Audiobooks, Penguin and Random House. The costs are $9.99 for one book or $19.99 for(…)

Amazon to Acquire Brilliance Audio

ShelfAwareness reported this morning that Amazon is on the verge of acquiring Brilliance Audio, U.S’s largest independent audiobook publisher. It puts out 12-15 audiobooks each month and is located in Grand Haven, Mich. Amazon is no stranger to acquisitions. Two years ago it purchased Mobipocket which has the largest library of ebooks; last month it(…)