iPhone user interface quirk #1 for audiobooks

Posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Dan Sanderson provides a clear explanation, including pretty good photos, of one of the user interface “quirks” that can get you when using the iPhone for audiobooks, namely, the iPhone’s indicator and toggle buttons for Repeat and Shuffle modes are somewhat hidden, not 100% clear, and can be toggled accidentally if you’re not careful.

When listening […]

Free audiobooks via podcasts

Posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a story about fledgling authors who get their start by publishing their books online, via podcast:

Take my book. It’s free. Giving away books as podcasts is new way to promote sales.

The basic idea is, the author reads their novel a chunk at a time, recording it, and publishing […]

Random House dropping DRM for audiobooks

Posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

In a weblog post titled A Big Day For DRM, writer Maya Reynolds provides a concise (after three paragraphs about a hotel upgrade) and personalized look at this week’s news that Random House Audio Group is dropping DRM from their audiobooks.

Managing audiobooks on a small-capacity iPod

Posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008

Managing audiobooks on a small-capacity iPod is a new article I’ve posted in Aldo on Audiobooks, which describes some of the ways I manage what goes onto my iPod. The article is for anyone whose iTunes Library size exceeds the capacity of their iPod or iPhone, but it’s especially helpful to anyone who has a […]

Complete set of Harry Potter audiobooks at Amazon.com

Posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

I’m still waiting for a deluxe boxed set of all the audiobooks, like the deluxe print books set, but if you’re just looking for a great deal on a complete set, packaging be damned, here’s all seven Harry Potter audiobooks at Amazon.com, at a 40% discount from full retail.

It’s still $275, but considering what […]

How to join multiple tracks into a single audiobook file

Posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

If you follow the instructions I offer for importing audiobooks on audio or MP3 CDs into iTunes, you end up with a single album with the title of the book, that is composed of sequentially numbered tracks, which make up the chapters or discs of the book. These separate tracks are kind of painful to […]

The Amazon Kindle does audiobooks too

Posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

If you pay much attention to the technology industry or consumer electronics, you may be aware of a new “e-book” reader from Amazon.com, called the Amazon Kindle. An ebook reader is an electronic device that can display the text of books or magazines onscreen, more crisply than a standard computer, and with the benefit […]

Free this week: The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer

Posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

The unabridged version of The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer is currently free at the iTunes Store. Freebie audiobooks usually last about a week, so get this while you can. (Requires a valid iTunes Store account.)

Here’s the book’s description (from the iTunes Store):

What would you steal if you couldn’t get caught? It started as the perfect […]

Holy afterburners, Batman!

Posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Today Apple announced a whole series of changes to its lineup of iPods, including improvements and a price reduction for the iPod I recommend for audiobooks, the 4 GB iPod nano.

But the most interesting news, to me, was about the iPhone, at the end of the event. From Steve’s lips to our ears (via Macworld):

“We’re […]

One week with an iPhone

Posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007

Last Friday I bought an 8 gigabyte iPhone at an Apple store. I’ve been using the phone for a week now, and overall, while there are certainly flaws and omissions, it is a spectacular synthesis of hardware and software excellence. No other handheld device I’ve used even comes close, including the seven previous iPods I’ve […]


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