"I heard the best book!"

Remember when audiobooks were cassettes or reel-to-reel tapes? No, probably not.

Digital recording has come of age in the last few years, and books are available in a a number of different formats. You can purchase them on iTunes or Amazon, listen on an Amazon Kindle, or iPod, or iPhone. I'm currently listening to The Report of the 9/11 Commission.

Something we are trying in the media center is the Playaway format. It's a digital recording of a book that you wear on a lanyard around your neck and listen to with headphones or ear buds.

I think they're pretty cool because 1.) you don't need anything except the Playaway to listen to it. No tape player, MP3 player, or anything, just this little mini-book-looking thing you were around your neck. And 2.) I like it because it looks like you're wearing a mini-book around your neck. Probably not everybody's idea of a fashion statement, but I think it says, "I'm a smart, interesting person who likes books!"

We have 13 Playaways in the BHL media center, featuring such titles as Holes, Charlotte's Web, Bad Boy, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Right now they happen to be all checked out. But when you're in the media center next time, stop by and see what's on the shelf.