audiobooks

When you purchase audiobooks from the iTunes Store, the program will conveniently organize them in the "Books" section of the iTunes sidebar. However, if you have audiobooks from other sources they may be in different formats, including standard MP3 or AAC formats, and iTunes may handle them differently when imported. Instead of keeping them with the rest of your books, iTunes may put them in the music section, along with all your other music.

While you can create playlists and use naming schemes to organize your audiobooks, this can be inconvenient, especially if you have ones purchased from … Read more

Here's something that could have publishers quaking in their books: gadget makers continue to look for ways to do for books what the CD ripper did for music.

Ion Audio, a company known for helping vinyl-record owners digitize their music, says it will trot out sometime this summer a device called the Book Saver, according to a story on Engadget. Ion said the Book Saver is capable of digitizing a 200-page book in 15 minutes. An owner of a Book Saver, which will likely sell for $150, places a book into the scanning cradle and the device makes color … Read more

When Audible.com rolled out its iPhone app earlier this year, the big complaint was that you couldn't browse the Audible store or buy audiobooks on the fly. You could access your existing library of purchases, but for new stuff, you had to stop by your PC.

Not anymore. Audible 1.3 provides access to a new mobile store, where you can browse and search Audible's catalog of more than 85,000 audiobooks. See something you like? Buy it or add it to your wish list on the spot. (To actually download books, however, you need to be … Read more

When Audible.com rolled out its iPhone app earlier this year, the big complaint was that you couldn't browse the Audible store or buy audiobooks on the fly. You could access your existing library of purchases, but for new stuff, you had to stop by your PC.

Not anymore. Audible 1.3 provides access to a new mobile store, where you can browse and search Audible's catalog of more than 85,000 audiobooks. See something you like? Buy it or add it to your wish list on the spot.

(To actually download books, however, you need to be … Read more

One of my favorite apps of 2010 just got a major update. Tales2Go, which provides on-demand access to nearly 1,300 children's audiobooks, updated the app to add multitasking support, story caching for offline listening, new subscription options, and more.

Intended for children between the ages of 3 and 11, Tales2Go offers a huge range of listening material--everything from two-minute fables to full-length novels. These aren't just public-domain works, either: you'll find well-known series like "American Girl," "The Boxcar Children," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," and "Encyclopedia Brown."

For … Read more

If you have children between the ages of 3 and 11, there's an app you have to get: Tales2Go. It provides on-demand access to more than 1,000 children's audiobooks and stories--everything from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" to "Junie B. Jones."

The app is free, but a one-year subscription costs $24.99, which is a steal in my book.

However, if you download and register Tales2Go using a valid e-mail address between now and midnight tonight (Pacific Time), you'll get a summer's worth of streaming absolutely free.

Specifically, instead of expiring … Read more

Version 9.1 of Apple's iTunes software is now available for download, bringing a handful of improvements and iPad compatibility.

Without an iPad to connect, there aren't a whole lot of visible changes for users to notice. The Audiobook library category has been renamed "Books" and broadened to include all book-related content, including audiobooks and back-ups of e-books purchased using the iPad's iBooks app. Although the feature isn't advertised, we found that free EPUB books from Project Guttenberg or Google Books can be imported via drag and drop. Unfortunately, without the option to view … Read more

You know what they say about parenting: It's the hardest job you'll ever love. Of course, you might love it a little more if it weren't so flippin' hard all the time. So let's hear it for all the iPhone apps designed to make parents' lives a little easier.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of such apps in the Store, but I've rounded up five that I consider essential--starting with one that can make injuries and illnesses a little less scary (for you, anyway):

1. Kid Care Your toddler is running a fever of 103. Should you call your pediatrician? Head for the hospital? Wait it out? Kid Care offers medical advice for dozens of common symptoms--everything from bee stings to headaches to wheezing. Based on proven clinical protocols, the app provides symptom definitions and images, care advice, medicine dosage information, and helpful reading material such as "Fever--Myth Vs. Facts." There's also a handy dial-your-doctor button and a location-aware emergency-services finder. My only wish is that I'd had this incredible app at my fingertips when my kids were younger. Amazingly, it's free.

2. Tales2Go A new favorite in our house--make that our car--Tales2Go streams on-demand audiobooks for kids. The collection now exceeds 1,000 titles, including such well-known series as "American Girl," "The Boxcar Children," "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," and "Junie B. Jones." The app is free, as is a 30-day trial of the service. After that, you pay $24.99 for a year of unlimited listening. As someone who's spent that much on a single audiobook CD, I consider that the bargain of the century.… Read more

Hey, fellow parents. Sick to death of the kids' "Wiggles" CDs? Exhausted the library's "Magic Tree House" collection? Do I have an app for you: Tales2Go provides on-demand access to nearly 900 children's stories. It's my single favorite app of 2010 (so far).

The Tales2Go collection includes works from a variety of audio publishers, including Audio Bookshelf and Recorded Books. A Tales2Go representative told me a couple "major" new publishers will collectively add about 80 more titles to the library in coming weeks.

The app provides countless ways to peruse the … Read more