The Joy of Audiobooks

For anyone who has been in my car, you know I am a devotee of the audiobook. My commute to and from work is around 20-25 minutes each way, which may seem either ridiculously low or outrageously high considering your geography. Either way, I feel strongly that the time passes quicker when I have a good book to listen to.

For years, I’ve been getting my books on tape or on CD from the Charleston County Public Library, which has an outstanding collection. I’ve listened to books as varied as Scott Adams’ The Dilbert Principle to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon.

I have of late, sadly, been pushing their collection to the limit. So, in addition to my library habit, I’ve taken the plunge and subscribed to Audible.com’s Premium Listener program, which gets me 2 audiobooks per month. I can keep these books, too, which is nice for the books I’d like to go back and listen to again.

Now, Chopper is a serious fan of his iPod, and I wrestled for a long time with the idea of getting one for me. Ultimately, I decided against it. I truthfully don’t listen to that much music in the car, and when I do, I tend to be with Chopper and his iPod. I’m an audiobook junkie. So, my ultimate choice was a very well reviewed Creative Labs MuVo TX, which does triple duty as a flash drive and a FM radio. I got a nice rebate through the Audible subscription, too. I’ll let you know how it performs when I get it in.

For now, I am blissfully happy with my two first selections, both so new the library hasn’t even ordered them yet: Elizabeth Peters’ The Serpent on the Crown and Nevada Barr’s Hard Truth.

A final note: if you take the plunge into audiobooks, do yourself a favor. Stay far, far away from abridged versions, which are a complete waste of your time.