Playaway Audio Device

I decided to try a playaway audio book which is a new format. It is a preloaded digital audiobook. http://www.playawayaudio.com/ I checked out Petty Crimes by Gary Soto a few hours ago. The total playtime of the preloaded audiobook is 3 hours and 45 minutes. It consists of ten short stories. I will be able to skip the stories which I don't particularly like.

They have packaged the device in an interesting way. Essentially, they put the device into a larger vhs container about three inches by six inches. There is a padded pounch inside the video container containing the playaway. The playaway requires earphones like an ipod would have. For safety reasons we insist that people use their own earphones. It would be unsanitary for people to put in used earphones. I spent a dollar and got some earbuds so I can listen to the playaway. We are selling the earbuds at cost.

The cost of the playaway is much cheaper than an audiobook. It is about $30-$35 for a playaway that can be used repeatedly by a library. We have some audiobooks that cost as much as $100 each. Most are about $60-70 each.

Because the playaway is a new piece of technology, we still are not certain what the exact problems or issues we will have with them as a library.

It makes me a little nervous listening to something on the train. I said, I wouldn't do this thing normally, but the device is intriguing enough for me to play with.

I checked to see if the playaway worked. The battery had run out. We had to replace the battery for Petty Crimes by Gary Soto. After listening for a few minutes, I decided that I didn't much care for Petty Crimes.

I checked out a different playaway, I am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins. Narrated by Patricia Floyd. The story is good, but the playaway makes tiny little skipping noises. This is annoying. The sound is still pretty clear.

I checked again and I realized that I hadn't plugged in the headphones all the way. My mistake. Anyways, this recording was blessedly short. 1/4 of an hour, just about the attention span of your average ten to fourteen year old. This audiobook is written for between 5th and 8th grade listening level. It is also a book which is regularly assigned for children and young teenagers to read. Some people like to listen to their assignments rather than reading them.

There was a brief advertisement from Recorded Books, the publisher of the digital audio recording (playaway) at the end of the reading. It encouraged you to buy audiobooks on their 30 day layaway plan. It was brief much like the audio recording.

The playaways which we have were purchased by our teen librarian. She purchased mostly assignment titles which teenagers could listen to if they wanted to. Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston, or the previously mentioned Petty Crimes by Gary Soto.