OK, so you have used your podcast aggregator software to scour the "airwaves" of cyberspace for the content that tickles your fancy the most. But the world of so-called free podcasts is just one portion of the equation. Although some people would disagree, I'm inclined to fit audiobooks into the podcast category, as well as periodicals that are routinely converted to audio format. As mentioned in Chapter 1, Audible.com is one of the forerunners of commercial podcasting, but if you look hard enough (and often, you don't have to look very hard), you can find commercial podcasts all over the place. Following are locations where you can purchase podcasts and audiobook materials online. Although some of the content available at these sites is free, the majority is not. The upside is that the quality of what you are getting is professional, and the price is very reasonable compared with that of traditional purchasing pathways. (Audiobooks, for example, are much cheaper online than they are in a bricks-and-mortar store.) This section takes a look at the top five Web sites/stores/locations for pay-for-play commercial podcasts and audio entertainment. Audible.comwww.audible.com Around since the late 1990s, Audible.com (Figure 2.42) is the dominant audiobook and commercial-podcast-content vendor on the World Wide Web. Audible's principal role is to supply audiobooks in MP3 format for users to listen to on their favorite MP3 players, iPods, or desktop media players. Voted one of the best sites on the Web in 2003 by CNET.com, Audible has well over 30,000 hours' worth of content for you to explore. Although most of this content has a cost associated with it, Audible offers various subscriptions that lower the effective cost of an audiobook to less than $10. Figure 2.42. Audible.com is a great source for commercial podcasts.Certainly, some people would argue that commercial audiobooks are not truly podcasts, but I maintain that any audio program that can be easily downloaded and enjoyed on a digital music player such as the iPod should be considered in the same breath with so-called free podcasts. The number of available audiobooks has skyrocketed, and because the majority of them are now unabridged and often read by the author, it's hard to argue that the original content (or intent) of a book is lost in the conversion to the aural format. In fact, even though I'm an avid podcast enthusiast, I have more than 150 audiobooks on my 40 GB iPod (Figure 2.43). Figure 2.43. Nearly every new mainstream book is available in audio format.
The periodicals and subscription shows better fit the traditional podcast mold, however. Indeed, the amount of podcastlike content on Audible has expanded greatly in the past year; it now includes audio versions of popular newspapers, magazines, and radio shows, and even custom-made podcasts such as the fantastically funny "RobinWilliams@Audible.com" show (Figure 2.44). Figure 2.44. Robin Williams's show is exclusive to Audible.com and is absolutely hilarious. The show has a different celebrity guest every week.Following is just a fraction of the commercial content available on this site (and elsewhere):
iTunes Music StoreApple's iTunes Music Store (Figure 2.45) opened on April 28, 2003, and in slightly more than two years since it opened, more than 300 million songs (yes, you read that correctly) have been downloaded. The store itself is now available in 15 countries, and by the time you read this book, that number will likely have grown. Figure 2.45. The iTunes Canada Music Store. Already, 300 million music downloads have occurred, and the amount of podcast material in the store is always increasing.Why does this matter to podcast enthusiasts? As the iTunes Music Store has evolved, an increasing number of podcast-type downloads, such as audiobooks and comedy shows, have become available for purchase and download. Although the iTunes store doesn't have the selection that Audible.com does, I suspect that this groundbreaking Web site will continue to add podcast content as the phenomenon continues to grow. Audiobooks Onlinewww.audiobooksonline.com Audiobooks Online (Figure 2.46) is an online merchant that sells (at this time) audiobooks only. The company claims that it will be offering audiobooks in MP3 format for download in the near future, but the one intriguing product it does sell is MP3 CDs of classic books. These files cannot be downloaded indeed, you must have the CDs shipped to a real mailbox but they're available for a bevy of classic titles, from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Figure 2.46. Audiobooks Online is a source for classic audiobooks.Blackstone Audiobookswww.blackstoneaudio.com Another of the audiobook Web sites, Blackstone Audiobooks (Figure 2.47) is unique in that it is an actual producer of audiobook content. You'll find a fair amount of crossover between what is available on Audible.com and what's on BlackstoneAudio.com. Still, this is another good source for audiobooks that are available for immediate download to your digital media player. Figure 2.47. Many newly released audiobooks are published by Blackstone Audio.Satellite radiowww.xmsatelliteradio.com and www.siriusradio.com Satellite radio is a novel approach to broadcasting radio. The idea is that a satellite receiver in a home or car gains access to potentially hundreds of radio stations, in categories ranging from classical to children's programming to up-to-date traffic reports around the clock! This service has caught on and now boasts more than 3 million subscribers. Currently, two satellite radio providers are available: XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Like any radio service, however, satellite radio is broadcast live at particular times, making it entirely possible for busy professionals to miss the programming they desire. Not to worry both XM and Sirius supply streaming podcasts of most of their key shows (Figure 2.48), but this is not a free service. If you are already a satellite-radio subscriber, however, the service is included in your fees. Figure 2.48. XM Satellite Radio offers subscribers live podcast feeds of many of its most popular shows.
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