#9C - Audiobooks (or "The End IS In Sight!")

With your new MP3 player right around the corner, it’s time to take a look around NetLibrary and downloadable eAudiobooks.

Downloadable eAudiobooks is a service provided by Recorded Books which is available through the library’s subscription to NetLibrary.

To establish a NetLibrary account,  you must create one through the L.D. Bell HS site.  But once you have a Netlibrary user name and password (I know, I know … you’re tired of user names and passwords, but I promise this is the last user account for this program that you’ll have to create) you can access NetLibrary directly and bypass the Bell site.  (Note....it seems like every time I access it from work, it sends me to Bell's site, but when I access it from home, it takes me to the regular site.  It does this with other district folks as well, so maybe this is one application that needs to be done at home!)

For this discovery exercise, you merely need to familiarize yourself a bit with the structure of NetLibrary's Downloadable eAudiobooks site and get an idea of the types of titles you can find here. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interest. That MP3 player is right around the corner and once you have it, you’ll definitely have a reason to try out this popular library service.

Discovery Resources:
Introduction to Netlibrary* - this 12 minute tutorial covers the downloading process for Netlibrary audiobooks using Windows Media Player 10.  It was created for PLCMC, but ingoring the beginning when the signon information is presented, the rest of the video is quite good.  (be patient, it may take a few minutes to upload this for viewing)

Discovery Exercise:
Establish a Netlibrary account for yourself by accessing NetLibrary through Bell HS's site.
Once you have an account created, you can access NetLibrary AT HOME directly at http://netlibrary.com
Click on the eAudiobooks link and explore some of the 1300 + titles.
Create a blog post about your findings. Did you locate a title that you might want to try out and download once you have your player?

CHANGE:  If this does not work, don't stress.  Just familiarize yourself with audiobooks in general, including the various forms of technology that they can be used on.  Blog about your findings and potential to use these in teaching and in life.

OPTIONAL: Try downloading a title from the NetLibrary. You don’t have to have a portable player to listen to audiobooks, you can also listen to it from a computer.