A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF AUDIOBOOKS AND MEDIA PLAYERS

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EVOLUTION OF AUDIO BOOKS AND MEDIA PLAYERS
People have been familiar with the general idea of an audio book for ages, long before they started printing paper books. Oral storytelling, ballads and poetry were the only means to pass knowledge from generation to generation.
THOMAS EDISON
In 1877 Thomas Edison announced his invention of a rotating-cylinder phonograph. This new technology created the foundation for recording vocal interpretations of literature. If audio books had been recorded on Edison's phonograph, they would have sounded like this:
RADIO
In October 1899 Marconi made his first trip to the U.S. to broadcast results of the America's Cup race. In January 12-13, 1910. De Forest arranges the world's first radio broadcast to public, directly from Metropolitan Opera to several listeners in New York. By 1915 daily weather reports for farmers were transmitted on the air. The history of Public Radio has begun. The spoken word of literature started its penetration into households all over the country. The Mercury Theater on the Air was probably one of the most famous predecessors of modern audio books. In 1938 Orson Welles' famous show ``War of the Worlds`` threw the nation into panic. Abbott and Costello's immortal ``Who's on First?`` baseball routine, Jack Benny's hilarious ``Your Money or Your Life?`` - who can forget these spectacular shows?
THE VINYL ERA OF WALT DISNEY
The Disney stories are part of our children's music culture, and to exclude it would leave just part of a story told. People of older generation certainly still have nostalgic feelings for these fantastic vintage Children's vinyl phonograph records. In 1934 RCA/Victor released the first gramophone records of Disney soundtracks. The music from popular Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons was recorded by Frank Luther and his orchestra in November 1933. The series also included 'In a Silly Symphony,' 'Dance of the Bogey Man,' 'Mickey Mouse and Minnie's in Town,' and 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' In 1965 the Buena Vista soundtrack album of 'Mary Poppins' was a super hit of all times and spent 14 weeks in the No. 1 position on the Billboard chart setting up a company record. The recording won two Grammy Awards, Best Recording for Children and Best Original Score. The sales exceeded 2 million copies. In 1988 the soundtrack of 'Oliver & Company' marked the end of the vinyl era -- it was the last Disney animated feature soundtrack to be released domestically on 12-inch disk. The CD revolution had arrived.
THE TALKING BOOK PROGRAM
In 1931 the Congress established the talking-book program, which was intended to help blind adults who couldn't read print. This program was called ``Books for the Adult Blind Project``. The American Foundation for the Blind developed first talking books in 1932. One year later the first reproduction machine began the process of mass publishing. By 1935, after Congress approved free mailings of audio books to blind citizens, the Books for the Adult Blind Project was in full operation. In 1992 the National Library Service (NLS) for Blind and Physically Handicapped network circulated millions of recorded books to more than 700,000 handicapped listeners. All NLS recordings were created by professionals.
LIBRARIES - A NEW SOURCE OF FREE AUDIO BOOKS
With the development of portable cassette recorders audiotapes had become very popular and by the late 1960s libraries became a source of free audio books on cassettes. Instructional and educational recordings came first followed by self-help tapes, and then by literature and fiction. In 1970 Books on Tape Corporation started rental plans for audio books distribution. The company expanded their services selling their products to libraries. Audio books gained more and more popularity. By the middle of 1980s the audio publishing business grew to several billion dollars a year. The new companies, Recorded Books and Chivers Audio Books, were the first to develop integrated production teams and to work with professional actors. And since libraries made up the largest segment of their market space, Chivers Audio Books established close connections with them from the very beginning of the company's existence.
AUDIE AWARDS
In 1996 Audio Publishers Association established the Audie Awards for audio books, which is an equivalent to the Oscar for the talking books industry. The nominees are announced each year in January, and the winners are announced at a gala banquet in spring, usually in conjunction with BookExpo America. The quantity of the audio book enthusiasts continued to grow. They began joining into audio book clubs. By 1997 the Columbia House Audio Book Club had more than 150,000 members and the Herrik Company's Audio Book Club in Morristown, NJ had 215,000 members.
NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY STARTS THE NEW ERA FOR AUDIO BOOKS
Invention of CDs added to the convenience and flexibility of listening. But a truly new era for audio books began with the advent of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats and tiny portable MP3 players on flash memory cards and microdrive hard disks. Now the popularity of audio books really soared. After Audioble.com many other audio book download subscription services began to grow as fast as mushrooms. OverDrive and NetLibrary opened their services to local libraries. Now the listeners were able to effortlessly get any audio book on line and download it onto their micro media players. That's where the real fun began, and William Swanson's famous words became as true as never before: 'Audio books are one of those happy marriages of art and convenience loved by frenetic Americans. The idea ... is to enable us to enjoy books - a traditionally solitary and concentration-intensive pastime - while doing something else - mowing the lawn, cruising the interstate - often in the company of others.'
JOIN THE CLUB
So, why not try joining the growing army of happy audio books listeners. Switch from music to a great alternative - audio books. Find an MP3 player which is good for listening to audio books, buy it and get many hours of unforgettable pleasure. Try it out, and who knows, this might just become a new hobby!

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TOP 10 MP3 PLAYERS FOR AUDIO BOOKS
Creative Zen 2/4/8 GB by Creative We're hard-pressed to find anything not to like about the Creative Zen. Watch video It's a great option for anyone looking for a great-sounding, pocketable MP3 player with an excellent, vide... See specs...
iRiver Clix 2 Gen by iRiver February 2008. Great for audiobooks! The re-designed iRiver... See specs...
Cowon iAudio 7 by Cowon July 2007. The Cowon iAudio 7 is one of the most versatile MP3 players available. It plays music, video, and photos; has unbeatable sound quality; records line-in, voice, and FM; supports OGG and... See specs...
iAudio G3 2 GB MP3 Player w/FM & Voice Recor... by Cowon Cowon has made it again. Another exceptional product by that hidden gem of a company. Fantastic sound quality, excellent battery performance and everything you need for listening to audio books. See specs...
COWON D2 by COWON Take your media everywhere with the versatile Cowon D2 4GB Portable Media Player. Featuring a 2.5-inch LCD touchscreen, wide video and audio file format support, audio recording via internal mic... See specs...
iRiver T10 1 GB MP3 Player by iRiver iRiver T10 MP3 Flash Music Player is no ordinary player. It's a lifestyle. Amazingly small, you'd hardly know it's there but you'll appreciate its features and performance. The ultra-portable T10 from iRiver delivers exceptional sound quality in a unique, sport-ready design. The T10 is PlaysForSure verified to support subscripti... See specs...
SanDisk Sansa M260 4GB MP3 Player by SanDisk The 4 GB Sansa M260 will hold approximately 64 hours of CD-quality MP3 tracks (encoded at 128kps) or 128 hours of WMA tracks (at 64kbps). It's compatible with MP3, WMA, secure WMA, and Audible audio file formats. The digital FM radio allows you to access local radio stations, as well as preset up to 20 of your favorite stations.... See specs...
Creative Zen Micro Photo 8 GB MP3 Player Bla... by Creative The micro-sized, coolly styled Zen Micro Photo digital audio player/photo viewer enables you to watch slide shows of your favorite digital images on its stunning, high-intensity 1.5-inch OLED screen while listening to an MP3 or WMA soundtrack. This 8 GB player in black can hold up to 10,000 JPEG images or 4,000 songs. It's also ... See specs...
Sandisk SDMX4-4096 Sansa e260 4 GB MP3 Playe... by SanDisk Enjoy skipless music playback, photo slideshows, and videos with the sleek, easily-pocketable SanDisk Sansa e260 flash memory digital audio player with 4 GB of storage. It features MP3 and WMA playback and is also compatible with secure PlaysForSure WMA files downloaded from online music stores and subscription services (like MT... See specs...
iAudio X5L 20 GB Multimedia Player by Cowon The iAudio X5L 20 GB Multimedia Player Black combines an MP3 player, video player, FM radio, voice recorder, and digital photo album in one tidy package with a smooth aluminum finish. With its capacity for up to 5,000 songs, 2,000 folders, or 10,000 files, and a lithium-ion battery that provided up to 35 continuous hours of play... See specs...
iRiver H10 20 GB MP3 Player/Recorder by iRiver The iRiver 20 GB model H10 is the perfect portable digital player/recorder for true music and audio enthusiasts. Hardly bigger than a deck of cards, its 1.8-inch hard drive has space for over 5,000 songs (128 kbps MP3, 4 minutes per song) or more than 330 hours of music. Yet the whole player measures just 2.4 x 4 inches (W x H) ... See specs...
COWON A2 by Cowon Why Cowon A2? In addition to a wide range of audio, video, and still image compatibility, Cowon A2 also offers an FM radio, and unique in-line audio and video recording. Well, Archos 604 features in-line video recording too, but it requires an additional expensive docking station. C... See specs...
Samsung YP-K3JQB 2GB Ultra Slim MP3 Player by Samsung The Samsung K3 Slim 2GB MP3 Player lives up to its name. It's the slimmest subscription-enabled MP3 Player on the market. The OLED display has a light emitting touch-pad, for easier control. Samsung's proprietary DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) technology lessens distortion at high volume & gives you natural, accurate sound.... See specs...