UPDATE: Sadly, due to work commitments driving me to 16+ hour days, it has been impossible to find the time to make this happen – very disappointing for me, and perhaps for you, too. I still aim to create a series of spooky audio stories in 2009. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

Instead, follow the adventures of a ghosthunter in the audiobook Persistent Spirit!

So I am looking for suggestions. I want to record something classic, something traditional, yet genuinely scary. I have a few of my own ideas, and have had a few suggestions following posting this idea on twitter a few days ago. One particular story already has more votes than others, but I’m still very interested in hearing your thoughts as you might just come up with something no one else has thought of.

The story has to be out of copyright, of course, which means anything recent is out of the question.

If there is a traditional, classic scary story you would love to listen to this coming Halloween, please leave a comment below, get in touch via the contact form, or drop me an email. The story with the most votes wins, but I’ll not reveal which one until the actual day.

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Now affiliated with 40,000 record labels, and recently having shifted its service into a more web 2.0 social network environment, it seems eMusic is going from strength to strength. David Pakman, eMusic President and CEO said: ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

eMusic is redefining digital music retail for the 21st century with new features that make it easier than ever to discover new music. More and more labels are recognizing that eMusic is always working to help them increase sales of their catalogues, including songs that don’t sell on other services.

eMusic is one of the leading players offering DRM-free mp3 music downloads, which are fully compatible with any device capable of playing a standard mp3 music file.

In association with this blog, you can have a good look around the service with a completely free eMusic trial. The no obligation, two week trial gives you the chance to download up to 35 music tracks, to keep whatever you decide. You’ll need a credit card to sign up to verify your identity, but it will not be charged unless you decide to continue after the initial 14 day free trial.

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15,000 titles are planned to be available for download in mp3 – which means DRM-free, of course – and can be played on pretty much any digital music device. In addition, the audiobooks are available in WMA format – which looks to also be DRM-free. Titles include Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”, and Borders are planning on adding hundreds more titles every week. When the service launched on Monday, 5,000 titles were immediately available. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

Right now, as part of their initial offering, several books are available for download at the special price of $9.95, and until July 19, John Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” can be downloaded for free (you’ll have to sign up at the Borders.com website first, of course).

In addition to online downloads, new Borders concept stores are planned to offer audiobook downloads in-store. There are ten such stores at this time, with another four planned by the end of the year.

Audiobooks from audible.co.uk

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PublishersWeekly is reporting that Simply Audiobooks is about to offer more than 5000 DRM-free products from Random House. This means Simply Audiobooks joins other download companies such as eMusic in offering audiobooks in formats that can be far used across many more devices than rights-managed distributions from companies such as Audible. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

The Random House books will be downloaded as straightforward mp3 files. This means they can be played on almost any digital audio device, from big, expensive iPods, to the cheapest give-away mp3 player. This means, of course, that they can also be easily copied and distributed elsewhere across the internet, or onto CD. And that is what the publishing industry as a whole fears.

These explorations into unshackled content are a positive forward step for the consumer and although publishers may feel a sting in immediate profits from not exacting complete control over distribution, it does help to segue into a better attitude towards their new media savvy audience.

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Yes, I’m on the scrounge again… TableRappers Persistent Spirit is up for votes in the 2008 European Podcast Awards. So if you have a minute, please click this banner or link and leave your vote. And do let me know so I can personally thank you!

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Readers read books (I know, it’s obvious, but bear with me) and I believe the acceptance of audiobooks stumbles over the need to switch modes between dealing with a physical product to dealing with discs or abstract digital files. It is the same stumbling block podcasting has had: the technology gets in the way of the user experience. ---- All rights reserved. nd.com Read on...

One company has come up with a possible solution, one that I have been thinking for some time is a viable form of the audiobook product.

PlayawayDigital have taken the audiobook and packaged it in a no-fuss, independent physical product – just like a miniature book. Earbuds plug in to the side and there are the basic controls you would expect from an audio device on the back. No searching a device for the right chapters, no having that device messing up the order of those chapters, no synchronising, no disc swapping – no messing around whatsoever. Plus, the product retains the product’s branding (i.e. book cover).

The most significant aspect of this, I feel, will be a higher level of consumer acceptance. It is just like a book. It can sit on shelves, pop into a handbag, be loaned to others – and will ultimately appear on the shelves of charity shops.

I not only hope the publishing industry will take up this form of audiobook distribution, but also that there might be a way for independent audiobook creators to distribute their content in this way. That’s a little optimistic, I’ll admit, but providing none of the big publishing players nail PlayawayDigital down to tight agreements, or do not buy the company outright, we can still hope.

The publishing industry needs this form of audiobook product to truly break the market. I, for one, welcome it.

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