Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

CNET’s top pick? The iTouch. Runners up? Sansa Clip+, iPod Classic, Zune HD, and the Creative Zen. The best bargan? The Sansa Clip+, at $200 less than its rivals. Be sure to read the complete article by Donald Bell, CNET Senior Editor, for specific details about each unit. If you select one of the players [...]

Add your tweets to complete a communal tale kicked off by the Hugo, Newbery, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Award-winner Neil Gaiman. The resulting story, a combination of 140-character contributions from around the globe, will be recorded as an audiobook by an as-yet-unnamed narrator by BBC Audiobooks America and distributed as a free download. When Michele [...]

Very cool. User-submitted sounds from around the globe, from lemurs in Madagascar to monks in Phnom Pehn. Give a listen if you want to turn your tongue to a foreign twang or need to recreate an authentic sound effect. A great resource for sound engineers who want to echo some of these endangered sounds. Or [...]

Multimedia downloads equal newfangled audiobooks for beginning readers – now with a new mainstream player entering the field. Disney offers an interactive online books subscription service for kids, featuring over 500 titles, ranging from old favorites like Bambi to new pop culture tie-ins such as Hannah Montana. Looks like they’re marketing to parents, with educational [...]

This just released by OverDrive, the leading global distributor of digital audiobooks:
With OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile, audiobook readers can now instantly download over the air from thousands of libraries and retailers in OverDrive’s global network. Customers purchasing digital audiobooks from Barnes & Noble or Borders.com can enjoy audiobooks on their Windows Mobile phones. [...]

Booklist’s Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries – a new & improved monthly e-newsletter – debuts today with great ideas for teachers, librarians, parents, and caregivers. Sign up for your FREE connection to reviews of the newest & best in children’s and YA literature, as well as exclusive content such this month’s columns on mystery [...]

The home of 2,557 audiobooks in 26 languages – all FREE. Hugh McGuire launched the volunteer-effort audiobook publishing model LibriVox on August 10th, 2005. Hugh is this week’s Inside the Audiobook Studio guest, ready to share the background on this amazing project. Want more information on LibriVox? Subscribe to the Community Podcast here. Have you [...]

Change audiobook narrator to your mom’s voice? Have Oprah read you her latest Book Club title? Want Paul McCartney to read you a bedtime story? Listen to Madonna rather than your history professor? That’s what tech detective hounds claim will be in the iPhone future through these patented inventions. Here’s more from the post on [...]

National Public Radio celebrates with a Reading Of The Declaration of Independence – listen in!

Read Happy Birthday! The Walkman Turns 30 and see this quote from Martyn Williams on the PCWorld website:
Sony introduced its Walkman portable cassette player thirty years ago this week, kicking off a revolution in the consumer electronics industry by changing the way people enjoy music.
I’d add audiobooks to the revolution, and believe that the combination [...]