Vol. 38, No. 1
March 2008

DOWNLOADABLE BOOK OPTIONS

"For some readers the change to the new technology on flash drives can’t come soon enough. We would like to give you a few available options while we wait for the National Library Service to release the new machines and books.

The first possibility is the Greater Phoenix Digital Library (GPDL). Arizona State Library joined with all the public libraries in Maricopa County, as well as the Apache Junction Public Library and Casa Grande Public Library to make available approximately 50,000 downloadable books, movies, and music. People who are customers of the Arizona State Braille and Talking Book Library are able to get a state library card and can access this collection no matter what part of the state they live. A computer with high speed access is required. Books can be checked out for three weeks at a time, downloaded to your PC, and in most cases, transferred to an MP3 player or burned on to a CD. Please note that because of contractual problems these items can’t be transferred to an iPod. Once the three week checkout period has expired, the file becomes unreadable on your PC. The GPDL has a policy of not having more than three holds for any title, so there is never a long wait even for popular titles. Some recent titles purchased for the GPDL are: 7th Heaven by James Patterson, The Appeal by John Grisham, and Edge of Evil by J.A. Jance. If interested, contact the BTBL director, Linda Montgomery, at 602-255-5578 or 1-800-255-5578 for a free library card and instructions on using the GPDL. To see what kind of selection is available, go to www.phxlib.org, click on down-loadable, and then click on Greater Phoenix Digital Library.

The second alternative is Audible.com, which is a pay service. The audible titles are able to be played on ipods as well as other MP3 devices, and they can be burned to CDs. There are approximately 40,000 titles available for purchase. In addition, Audible offers downloadable magazines, newspapers, and podcasts. Audible titles, since they are purchased, don’t expire, so many people check both Audible and the GPDL to find titles they want to read. Audible was recently purchased by Amazon which should broaden the range of information available to purchase. The URL for Audible is www.audible.com.

There are too many devices available to list them individually. Before buying a device, you should check to see if it’s compatible with the service you’re most interested in. The services listed above focus on audio files. There are also a couple of newer devices that focus on print files with the option of making the print large enough to be read by most people. Amazon (www.amazon.com) has come out with the Kindle and offers downloads of approximately 80,000 titles, as well as newspapers and blogs. It costs approximately $400.00 and has been so popular that they are back ordered. The other dedicated eBook reader is the EReader by Sony which sells for about $300. (www.SonyStyle.com/Reader)

 

Director: Linda Montgomery and Editor Catherine Coughlin.

1030 N. 32nd Street | Phoenix, Arizona 85008 | 1-800-255-5578