um, did you know there's a dead guy in your bathtub?

Well, I thought that I was going to wait until I had finished listening to my audio book before I made this post. But. I've had it for over a week and I'm only about half-way through, and that end-of-project (not to mention vacation/home-for-the-holidays action) is quickly approaching. Best to get on it. Besides which, the fact that it has taken me over a week to listen to a thirteen chapter novel that I probably would've read in a day or two if I had the book could perhaps be indicative of something.

Like, audio books are not really my thing. I want to love them, really and truly I do. I know so many people who swear by them and they strike me as such an efficient way to make the most of time spent doing busywork. Maybe then I just don't do enough busywork? Or if I do, I prefer for it to be accompanied by the sounds of something else. Including silence, which I'm not particularly adverse to.

I'm trying though, really and truly. And I'm pleased to see that the digital offerings at Queens have increased quite a bit since the last time I took a look at them. Alas, I am one of those people who aren't particularly keen on downloading the software, free and easy though it may be, in order to play them. I think maybe if I were then able to easily transfer that media to my iPod, I would get over that particular hurdle. Alas, that one-two punch of necessary proprietary software AND incompatibility with the dominant media player which I happen to employ works out to something along the lines of "too much investment, not enough payoff." Again, I offer the thought that maybe I'll get over it, but I haven't yet.

So then, where does that leave you? Or me, rather? Especially if I am feeling not-so spendy?

Choosing from a veritable buffet of classics, brought to your listening pleasure by a team of dedicated volunteers. By which I mean, LibriVox. I have long been curious about this particular project, an auditory Project Gutenberg, whose "goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books." It is easy to browse and use and I found more than a few titles to tempt me. I've been on a British Mystery Kick for a while now though, so I ended up going with Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. Which I'm happy to say I am enjoying, even if it's taking me a while to get through it - probably because I really only listen to it on the bus, and even then not every single bus ride.

I like LibriVox a lot, especially because it is a grassroots, volunteer sort of thing, without any monetary motivation. And on a people-are-interesting tip, it's cool to hear different voices working with the same text, although I suspect some might find that jarring or disconcerting. Obviously, one of the huge things that would prevent people from using it is the fact that a whole lot of literature isn't in the public domain, so if you don't have an inclination to the classic or the obscure, you won't find what you want here. For people like me, though, it's a good way to ease into this world and you just never know. Maybe I'll get so in to it that I'll make that hurdle to paying for audio books, or at least checking them out from work.

Finally, even though this post is already very long, I have to add that I know my comments have been limited to audio books and in reality digital media is a whole lot more. I have pretty much zero interest in e-books , however. Digital audio video is a whole other story but, even as a librarian, I don't really think of the library as my go-to source for it; rather Netflix or iTunes or a host of sites somebody somewhere would like to see shut down. I like that libraries are keen to carve out a niche in this world, although it seems difficult and I suspect that we'll always be sub-players at this particular ballgame. It would be nice to be proven wrong on that point.

P.S. In looking for an image to accompany this text, I notice Whose Body? offered by Overdrive at a few libraries, but it's not in our catalog. I wonder how these things are decided ...