I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Happy Listening,

Nadine

Well, the kids are in school and I have started a new job. So things have been very busy around here adjusting to new schedules and such. But now that things are settling down, I plan to begin posting regularly again (at least somewhat :)

Fall is in the air around here. The temperatures are really starting to fall at night and soon we will be shoveling sidewalks again. Sounds like something to do while listening to a good audio book!

I have found a site that is putting The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame online, print and audio. So far just part one is available in audio format and you can get it here. I look forward to the rest being available!

Happy Listening!

Children's Stories on Video

Between the heat (although it's not as bad as it used to be:) and the bad air quality from all the fires, the kids are wanting to stay inside a lot lately. And this usually means hearing "Can we play on the computer?" repeatdly thoughout the day. Not so fun for me. So while searching for something new for them to do, I found this neat site.

StoryLineOnline doesn't have audio books, at least not really. But they are so neat that I had to share. The site has 20 different children's stories read by actors and actresses presented to you in streaming video format. And all for free.

So today's post is video books rather than audio books. But still neat! And fun too!

Happy Listening! And Watching!

Burn

Here in Montana, we've been suffering through a particularly harsh fire season. Fortunately for me and my family, the worst we've had to endure is smoke-filled skies.

Here is a free audio book titled Burn. It is a science fiction novella about some planetary colonists having to deal with fires. Burn won the Nubela Award for Best Novella in 2007. It is provided free by the author at JimKelly.net. Scroll down the page a bit to find the links to download the audio book in four parts.

Happy Listening!

PS Thank you to all the firefighters who are working so hard this summer.

Free Audio Book for the Whole Family

Its offically the Dog Days of Summer around here. Everyone seems hot and tired of the same ol' thing, but not very motivated to find something better to do. So here is an audio book for the whole family to liven things up and even stars a dog!

Rockford's Rock Opera is a free audio book that is described as an "amazing musical adventure for humans of all ages." Rockford's Rock Opera is the story of a boy and his dog who arrive on the mystical island of Infinity. Infinity is home to millions of strange creatures, but only one of each. What's going on? Why are they there? Why does the Registrar have to check them in? And why has this boy been chosen to save the world?

Find out what is going on at Rockford's Rock Opera. You can listen online or download it free.

Happy Listening!

More Free Travel Guides

It's been pretty hot around here lately. Which means the kids have been playing inside where it's cooler more often than they usually do. And it means that I have been slowly going bonkers from the noise level and normal antics of the kids. My cure would be going on vacation, so everyone could be doing something new and exciting. Not that travelling with children doesn't come with it's own difficulties guaranteed to keep me on the inside track to going insane, but at least it sounds good.

Rick Steve's has some audio guides of Paris available at his site. Four different guides that include mp3 files and downloadable maps are available for free.

Hmmm. Summer in Paris? Maybe New Zealand would be better. It's winter there now. You can get access to 200 "miniguides" here. In order to get the full audio tours you have to subscribe to the site. Although for less than $6 USD per year, that doesn't seem like such a bad deal. Especially if you are really planning to go to New Zealand!

Gotta go and break up another heat induced child argument!

Happy Listening!

PyroMarketing Audio Book Free

Learning ways to improve your business is a great way to spend time. And using audio books as a learning tool while doing something else that needs to be done (commuting, housework, etc.) gives you a way to learn and manage your precious time wisely.

Here is a free business marketing audio book for you. PyroMarketing by Greg Stielstra can be found here. The book is about the new method of marketing that is going to replace mass marketing. Sounds interesting. So if you have your own business or want to improve the marketing at the business you work for, this may be the book for you.

If you are looking for more business audio books be sure to check out LearnOutLoud and Leisure Audio Books where you can find many audio books (both free and paid) on marketing, business management and more.

Happy Listening!

Free BBC Comedy audio

Well, my company is gone and my household is settling back into normal mode. Which means as little housework as possible :)

I found another free audio resource. This one is an hour of classic comedy from the BBC. It includes stuff from Blackadder, Dad's Army, Monty Python, Yes Prime Minister, Alan Partridge, The Goon Show and more. You can get it here, look for the "free" tab.

The site is also a good place to buy audio books if there is a particular title that is on your must have list. Good prices and instant downloads. If you are using an mp3 player, now you don't have to mess with transferring files from a CD on all the audio books that you want to own. You can find everything from bestsellers to foreign language courses. And all sales help keep the free resources coming :)

Happy Listening!

My Favorite Husband with Lucille Ball

I have company coming this weekend. That of course, means cleaning to do. And there isn't much I detest more that housework!I would rather be doing almost anything but. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to go away just because I don't want to do it.

Listening to something interesting on my mp3 player is the only way I know to make housework somewhat bearable. So this morning I was listening to my favorite audio book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. This is the audio book that first got me interested and made me long for an mp3 player. I got my copy of it over at the ScienceOfGettingRich.net I just recently found a free text and audio copy of it here. I can't recommend reading or listening to this piece of work enough. It has completely changed the way I look at things.

Anyway, there's more housework to do and now I want something on the more lighthearted side to listen to. I just found an old time radio show called My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball! Sounds perfect. My only complaint is that the site doesn't have the complete listing of shows. In fact it starts with episode 20. If I enjoy the shows they do have, I'm going to try finding a source of all that is missing. But for now I need to go do some more of that dreaded housework!

Happy Listening!

Time Management Free Audio

It's Thursday already and I have no idea where this week has gone. Not only is the week more than half over, but I have accomplished no where near the amount of things that I wanted to.


Sound like a problem with time management to me!

So of course I started looking for some free audio on the topic... But this time I didn't find much. Apparently the experts on the topic are holding their secrets close to their chest on this one. LearnOutLoud does have two free audio books on the topic at their free section though.

I did find a site dedicated to personal developement that has some free audio on a range of personal development topics here. None of his podcasts were about time management although the site has articles on the topic.

I guess I will have to continue the research on this topic :)

Happy Listening!

PS - While trying to do two things at once (cooking and blogging) I just set the smoke alarms off. I'm pretty sure that's not a very good example of effective time management. I may have to break down and pay for help on this one! :)

More Free Radio Shows

I really enjoy the old time radio programs. Good, clean fun for the most part. And even better is that the whole family enjoys listening! Perfect for when we are all in the car!

And I found another site that gives access to old time radio shows. OTR.net has over 12,000 radio shows with more added each week. There are 169 different shows that all episodes are available. That way you don't get caught up and then miss the ending!

Happy Listening!

Helping Others with Free Audio

We took a recent visit to my Grandmother, who is in a nursing home. It turned out to be a pretty difficult visit for my children as it is always so sad to see so many people bored and unable to do anything about it. My son in particular was very upset about not being able to help everyone. So we have started a project so that we can continue "helping" even when we are not there.

I am downloading audio books that are in the public domain or that the copyright owners have given permission to distribute and copying the files to disc. In order to get the most info on one disc (to lessen the number of discs that I have to buy and to decrease the number of times the disc needs to be changed by folks that might not find this easy to do) I am using mp3 files. This means that I will need to make sure that CD players capable of reading mp3 files (most newer ones can) are given along with the discs.

The kids are helping chose what titles would most be enjoyed. For now we have been browsing through the classics at Librivox and the old time radio shows at RadioLovers and Mercury Theatre.

If you can think of anyplace or anyone that might benefit from the gift of audio books, consider giving some gifts of your own. Nursing homes, senior centers, assisted living facilities, centers for the blind, etc. might all be happy to get audio books for their members to enjoy. Call and ask what would be welcome.

Happy Listening!

Free Harry Potter Audio Books?

After analyzing some traffic statistics, it has come to my attention that a lot of people are looking to find Harry Potter audio books for free. A part of me can understand, after all, they ain't cheap!

But let's be real. These are books (and audio books and movies...) that people wait in line for. That people are willing to pay money for to get their hands on as soon as possible. If you were a business, would you be handing out a product that has that kind of demand for free? I don't think so. I know I sure wouldn't be.

As for the author, yeah I've heard that she is rich - as in richer than the Queen of England - more money than she can ever spend - rich. But you know what, good for her. Anyone who has the dedication to write 7 books totaling over 4,100 pages and has the creativity to make kids and adults absolutely love reading those books, deserves every penny! I don't begrudge her a single cent.

All that aside, that doesn't mean that you have to pay to listen to the audio books. You can get on the waiting list at your local public library or you can borrow a copy from your friend who just had to buy it. Two perfectly legitimate ways to listen to Harry Potter audio books for free. (Notice that I said borrow and not copy if you want to maintain legitimacy!)

Not good enough for you? Your next option is to pay as little as possible for those Harry Potter, or any other bestselling audio books. If you only buy the occasional audio book then your best bet is just to buy at the best price possible. One example is the obvious, Amazon.com, where audio books are routinely 30-40% off the retail price. Another option is signing up for one of the online audio book clubs. If you are an avid listener of bestseller audio books, this is probably your best money-saving option. Whether you want to rent or buy, get cds or download files there is a club that fits the bill.

For your convenience, here are some of the online audio book clubs out there. All are good choices - it's more a matter of finding the one that best fits your needs. Take a moment to determine what you want, such as price, commitment, rent or buy, cds or downloads, etc. before you sign up for anything.

Audible.com

SimplyAudiobooks.com

Jiggerbug.com

Booksfree.com

And for those not in the US/North America:

Audible.co.uk

Audible.de

Free Audio From the Smithsonian

I just found this. And here is a quote from the site about what they offer:

"Voices From the Smithsonian Associates® provides online streaming programs featuring lectures and discussions by world renowned scholars, performers and authors."

To make it a little clearer, you can get free audio in the form of lectures and discussions on the following topics: history, literature, current affairs, performing arts and personal development.

They even have an interview with Carol Burnett titled A Legacy of Laughter. I just love her work, she is so funny!

Happy Listening!

45 More Free Audio Books

ThoughtAudio provides classic literature as free audio for your enjoyment. "Each title selection is part of a well-rounded, intelligent view of classic literature, history and philosophy." And there are some great selections to choose from, 45 titles in fact.

Whether you are looking for fiction or non-fiction, terror or comedy, Eastern or Western philosophy you will find it at ThoughtAudio.

Happy Listening!

Free Career Audio

With the exception of odd jobs here and there, I have been out of the workforce for over 8 years. But I recently learned that my youngest is going to be going to school full time this fall. (They just changed the kindergarten program here.) Staying at home all day with all of the kids in school sounds pretty boring - although there are numerous projects I could finally finish up :)

That means entering the workforce again. A bit intimidating considering the time I have been away. I don't even now what I want to be when I grow up any more! My previous career decision (I have a degree in Landscape Architecture) doesn't really mesh with my idea of family any more, due to long hours. I still want to be home when the kids are.

Anyway, I have a lot of thinking to do. And of course I looked for some free audio on the topic!

Ultimate Career Guide offers a free 7 part audio course says it will show you how to "chop months of your job search, boost your salary by at least 25%, get promoted faster, and never worry again about job security or layoffs" :) The free audio is in exchange for an email address, so a sales pitch will follow, I'm sure. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wild About Work is another free audio course that you can get in exchange for an email. This one is more about finding a "vibrant, fun, meaningful career". Maybe I should start with this one because that sounds good to me. He also has an affordable ebook on the topic here, if you are interested.

Well, I guess that will give me a couple of directions to start out with for my new career search.

Happy Listening!

Audio Books to Celebrate Freedom

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. I have been gone over the weekend on a backpacking trip with my family. It always amazes me what the kids are capable of! We got home in time to go to the community Independence Day celebration, which had the requisite BBQ and fireworks show.

In a previous post I showed where you can get an audio bundle that contained the founding documents of the United States. While LearnOut Loud stated that it would only be available till the 4th, it's still there in their free audio section, under American History. You can also download the separate titles contained in the bundle as individual downloads.

FreeAudio and AmericanRhetoric are two more places to find free audio content on the subject of freedom that I have also mentioned in a previous post.

A new resource of free audio: Assistive Media. They have hundreds of audio articles on a variety of topics that are all free to download. Check out their archives to get a full list by topic, publication or date listed. They also have a search feature there. They are working to provide material to those with a "'reading access barrier" so please consider providing a donation if you use their services.

Happy Listening!

Free Parenting Audio Books

I'm a stay at home mom, and sometimes that's a really hard job. Its not so much the long hours and endless work - that has its own rewards of being with my children and being able to set my own schedule and pace. Its more the lack of recognition and the crappy pay. After all, there is no annual review where someone says "you're doing a great job and we're so glad to have you with us!" and the pay is pretty self explanatory - there is none! Unless you count room and board. Again there are compensations; hugs from the kids, knowing I don't have to call in to anyone when they are sick, etc.

But its also hard because sometimes you just don't know what you are doing! Mine didn't come with instruction manuals. And it's not something I've ever done before. I've never raised a ten year old, but I'm soon going to be!

So what's a mom (or dad) to do? Besides going on blind instinct? Get advice from someone who's done it before and apply it to your situation as best you can. After all, you know your child(ren) better than anyone else. And it doesn't have to be an "expert" it can be your mom, or other friends and family.

Here are a few audio resources:

"Surviving the Teenage Years" by Mickey Michaels. Acoording to the site this won't be free forever, so get it while you can! There are also some parenting articles if you are interested in reading them.

The "Love and Logic" folks have some free audio including "Funny Parenting Stories", "Funny Classroom Stories" and some of their radio shows.

Get some free audio parenting tips from radio interviews with Kelly Nault here. They are located at the bottom of the page.

You can get a free audio chapter of the book Scream Free Parenting here.

And let's not forget some of the resources mentioned in previous posts. LearnOutLoud has 7 free audio titles in their free section under parenting. And Podiobooks has Lessons from the Geek Fu Master listed when searching for "parenting".

There you have it, a few free audio resources for parents who occasionally feel like tearing their hair out :)

Happy Listening!

Audio Books for Independence Day

July 4th is just around the corner. And if you are driving for any length of time I highly recommend heading over to Learn Out Loud and downloading their free Founding Documents of the United States of America. That way on your way to campgrounds, picnics, family reunions, firework shows and all of the other wonderful activites of the 4th, you can listen to some of the history of that independence we are celebrating.


The documents contained in this set include: Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" Speech, The United States Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, The Virginia Plan, The Constitution of the United States, Federalist Paper No. 51, United States Bill of Rights, Subsequent U.S. Constitutional Ammendments, and First Inaugural Address of President George Washington.

This free download is only available through the 4th of July, so don't wait to get your copy!

Happy Listening!

Business Audio Books

Everyone here is once again healthy and up to their usual hijinks. And given the level of noise around here, I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not :)

Starting a business, at home or otherwise, seems a pretty popular subject these days. Here are a few audio resources if that is something of interest to you.

You can get a free audio version of 5 Famous Fibs & Fables: The Worst Marketing Advice Ever Given here.

LearnOutLoud has 108 free business audio books.

I guess we can't forget internet marketing either. You can get 117 hours of free audio interviews about internet marketing here. You won't even need to give out an email address to access them!

Happy Listening!

Entertain Kids With Free Audio Just For Them

I have a sick kid at home today. Which is just wrong. Kids aren't supposed to spend their summer vacation sick!

Regardless, he is pretty miserable. Mostly he wants to just watch TV but I've checked out some audio books for kids in case he begins looking for some other type of entertainment.

Kiddie Records has been collecting children's records from the mid-40's and early 50's and making sure they don't get lost forever. These are children's stories that were recorded, often as major Hollywood productions, and put on the medium of the time - vinyl. They were very popular, but now are almost completely forgotten. You can get them as free downloads now, along with all the original artwork. And if you don't want to download them all you can get CD's mailed to you for a pretty low price. Not a bad deal if you are pressed for time or disc space.

Robert Munsch is a favorite children's author who has generously made audio recordings of his books available for free at his website. If you have his books at home, now you can get audio versions for the kids to listen along with whenever they want. Even if you don't have his books, you can get the audio and listen to his wonderful stories. Thanks Robert.

I need to go check on my son so that is all for now.

Happy Listening!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

It has been one of those days... And I have decided that it is time to unplug from the computer and unwind with a humorous audio book. First I headed over to AudioBooks.net, a new site for free audio books that I recently found. If you sign up for a free account, you can download up to two free audio books per day. Not a bad deal. They have a nice mix of contemporary and classic works, some which you can find at other sites and some you can't, and a wide range of genres to search in. Unfortunately for me I didn't find anything under comedy that interested me today.

So then I headed over to PodioBooks, as I figured this would be my next best bet for something humorous. Sure enough. So now I am going to sit back and give "Fiddle and Burn" by Jason Pomerantz a try at tickling my funny bone, or at least putting me in a better frame of mind.

I sincerely hope your day has been better than mine, although it is starting to look up now.

Happy Listening!

If You Haven't Got Your Health...

You haven't got anything! Now you can get a free audio book geared toward attaining perfect (or at least more perfect) health.

Jon Barron wrote the book "Lessons From the Miracle Doctors" and then provided a free ebook form online. In it he talks about what to do to achieve optimal health, why some of the "miracle" supplements work for some and not others, and what to look for in supplements - all without promoting any specific brand of supplements. You can get the ebook here.

He has also provided a free audio series called "Take Back Your Health" that parallels many of the chapters in his book. You can find them here. You will also find more free audio at the site in the form of Jon's radio show archives.

Happy Listening!

War of the Worlds

Yesterday I showed you were you could find old time radio programs to listen to for free. Most of them were radio serial shows.

So what about the individual programs? You now the ones that were kind of like movies, only without the pictures...

The finest radio drama program of the time (1930's) was Mercury Theatre on the Air. And their most famous production was War of the Worlds. You know, the one that caused mass panic and had people believing that we were being attacked by aliens.

Now you can listen to the original broadcast for free and find out what all the fuss was about. You can find War of the Worlds and many other radio dramas, such as The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, Treasure Island, The Immortal Sherlock Holmes, Around the World in 80 Days and many more at TheMercuryTheatre.

Happy Listening!

Free Old Time Radio Shows

Once upon a time, audio was king. People from all over would listen to radio broadcasts. And they weren't just listening to music. Radio programs would tell stories and there were audio plays, audio soap operas, audio adventures and audio children's stories. Some programs were one time events and the whole story would be told. Others were serialized and a little of the story would be told each time the program aired. These radio programs were very popular and whole families would sit around the radio to listen.

Then along came the TV and it replaced the radio. Stories were still told, only there were video pictures to go along with them. And today you can find the same types of programs to watch on your TV that folks used to listen to on the radio.

Fortunately some of these radio programs have been saved from extinction. And now you can listen to them again. RadioLovers is just one site that has collected many of the radio programs and you can listen to them online or download them for free.

These are great to take along on long car rides to keep the whole family entertained. They are also a way of getting some entertainment while doing something monotonous like housework or exercising. You don't always have to be listening to those self-improvement titles, you know :)

Happy Listening!

More Places to Travel with Free Audio

I must have been bitten by the travel bug. I have been searching for more travel audio guides and have found quite a few. Here are two of them for you today.

Ireland. Oh, one of the many places that I want to go! For now I will settle for listening to a free audio guide of Dublin. There are a full dozen different "walks" that you can listen to and some even have brochures that you can download, print, and take with you. Or just look at if you are traveling virtually like me :)

And how about Boston? It is the home of the Celtics after all! And now you can get the Boston Freedon Trail audio tour. 14 different sites on a 2 1/2 mile tour. Its almost like going. Sort of.

Even if you don't want to travel (real or virtually) these audio tours are a great way to learn the history and culture of a place. Which means you can force them on your children! After all, just because it is summer doesn't mean they shouldn't learn something! :)

Happy Listening!

Traveling with Audio

My family and I just got back from a camping trip, which is how our family takes vacations. Mainly due to cost. Traveling is expensive, especially when you are taking three kids along. And while camping is a great way for our family to spend time together away from home (without spending a fortune) it doesn't stop me from dreaming of going to more exotic places!

Now I can! Sort of. One of the new things in travel is audio guides. They are mp3 files of travel destinations designed to be listened to while you're at typical tourist spot or on a suggested walking tour. Kind of like having tour guide, only you can turn them off whenever you want :)

ItalyGuides has free audio guides of Rome, Venice and Florence. Each city has 3-4 audio guides of different locations, including the Coliseum, Michelangelo's David, and St. Mark's Basilica to name a few. In addition to the audio guides, there are numerous pictures, interactive maps and virtual panoramas to make your vacation more real.

So head on over if you are like me and aren't going to Italy but would really like to. And if you are going to Italy, then you should head over too and get the audio guides to take with you. Either way, have a nice trip!

Happy Listening!

Listen to the Voices of the Authors

For years, Don Swaim had a CBS radio show called Book Beat. This show aired a 2 minuute interview with writers. But in order to get that 2 minutes, 30-45 minute interviews were taped. Now you can listen to all of the unedited interviews for free at Wired for Books.

These are interviews with some of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. They include: Maya Angelou, Isaac Asimov, Margaret Atwood, Mary Higgins Clark, Tom Clancy, Christopher Buckley, Kurt Vonnegut, Calvin Trillin, Paul Theroux, Amy Tan, Anne Rice, Alison Lurie, Andrew Greely, Janet Daily, James Dickey, Dick Francis and way too many more to list fully.

Wired for Books' mp3 page has an alphabetical listing of the interviewed authors in addition to some free audio books that include Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol, In the Land of Men, The African American Oral Tradition, The Illiad in ancient Greek, the Aeneid in Latin, and some of Shakespeare's works.

Happy Listening!

Free Fiction Audio Books

It can be pretty hard to find full length fiction audio books for free. But it can be done. Your best bet is to head over to Podiobooks.

Podiobooks is a collection of serialized audio books which are made available in podcast format. What's this mean? Well, you get a section (usually a chapter) of an audio book sent to you automatically at the interval of your choosing (once a day, once a week, etc.) You can also get the entire book sent to you all at once. For more information read Podiobook's FAQs.

You'll need to sign up for an account in order to get the audio books sent to you. But there is nothing to pay ever, unless you choose to make a donation to the author for a title that you particularly liked. Most of the audio books are from new, or relatively new, authors that are trying to get more exposure for their work.

You can also download chapters directly from Podiobooks if you are willing to take the time and/or don't want to set up a podcast.

There are 117 titles to choose from in a variety of genres, including fantasy, horror, children's, historical and more. So spice up your listening with Podiobooks.

Happy Listening!

Memorial Day Audio Books

It's Memorial Day here in the US. What has become a long weekend of picnics, BBQs and camping. But it was set aside as a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

What better way to remember their sacrifice than by celebrating freedom? Below are two great sites that have audio versions of speeches and works dedicated to freedom.

FreeAudio is, in their words, "a non-partisan organization dedicated to the spread of liberty." Works that you can find there include Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the Bill of Rights. It is a wonderful site and I encourage you to head on over and add some liberty to your day.

AmericanRhetoric is a large collection of speeches (over 5,000) in text, audio and video formats. You can listen to a huge variety of speeches including presidential (past & present) and other great American statesmen.

So show your appreciation to all those who have served our country by enjoying, celebrating and increasing your freedom.

Happy Listening!

Free Audio Documentaries

I'm fortunate enough to live in a country where I can freely express my views and opinions. Even better, others can do the same. And I've found a place where you can listen to some of those thoughts for free.

SoundPortraits has free audio documentaries that you can download and listen to. They are dedicated to bringing the stories of neglected American voices to a national audience.

Most of the feature documentaries at SoundPortraits are less than a half hour long and a lot of the "American Talkers" are less than five minutes long. If you normally listen to fiction audio books, you now can have a quick break from the usual and if you already listen to nonfiction, now you can listen to stories that aren't often told.

Just head over to the "On Air" link for the audio files or go there directly from here.

Happy Listening!

Traveling with Kids and Free Audio Books

Lots of people, at least here in the US, are traveling this weekend. And traveling with kids too. This can be at times pretty darn painful. But audio books aren't just for adults. Put one geared for kids on and see how they quiet down and listen to a good story.

Storynory has free audio stories for children. Titles includes Cinderella, The Billy Goats Gruff, Snow White and The Gingerbread Man. They are also in the process of making Alice in Wonderland available chapter by chapter. Storynory also has titles in sections for Christmas, modern stories, longer stories and more. A new story is added each week so you should be able to find something that suits your needs.

So if you are going to be traveling with kids any time soon, check out Storynory and get something for the kids to listen to. The kids will enjoy it and you will all arrive at your destination just a little calmer, happier and maybe with more of your sanity intact than if you hadn't.

Happy Listening!

504 More Free Audio Books

You can get 500 free audio books at LearnOutLoud. And they offer a new audio book free each month. In order to get your free audio books at LearnOutLoud, you'll need to set up a free account and when you do, you'll have the option to receive a free audio resource of the day from them. Now you can get even more free audio content!

May's free audio book of the month is Wallace Wattles' The Science of Being Great. I was absolutely tickled to get this as it was his first work The Science of Getting Rich that attracted me to audio books in the first place. Better hurry over to LearnOutLoud to get your free copy today, May is almost over!

Most of the free resources I have given you so far have pretty weighty audio books, mostly classics and self-improvement titles. So here are 4 short story audio books for you to sit back and enjoy. Although, judging from the cover art, they aren't light hearted stories! You can get them here.

As an aside, LearnOutLoud has a great selection of educational and self-improvement audio books, including a lot of exclusive material. You can buy their titles in CD, cassette and downloadable mp3 format. And at some pretty great prices too. Check them out. Chances are LearnOutLoud has something that you've been looking for.

Happy Listening!

Where to Find The Free Audio Book Downloads

The Internet abounds with free resources, but tracking them down can be a time consuming job. Fortunately some people have made the job a lot easier.

Due to the wonderful ideas of a few and the hard work of many, it is possible to get access to a lot of public domain material. Public domain material is that which copyright has expired and is now freely available to the public.

The hard part used to be getting your hands on it, but now a few sites have made a wealth of public domain material easily available to the public. These include Project Gutenberg, Librivox and Literal Systems.

Project Gutenberg has over 20,000 free books in their catalog that you can download and read. They also have free audio books, although their selection is smaller. They have computer read books available here and human read ones here.

Librivox is on online collection of public domain audio books. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as audio books. Is that a great goal or what? Right now they are well on their way with over 600 titles available as of this writing. And in case you were wondering, all of the material is read by real human beings who have generously given of their time and efforts.

Literal Systems is another site dedicated to providing free public domain audio books. Their list of titles isn't as huge as Librivox, but they still have some material worth listening to!

So if you have any classic material on your "to listen to" list, head on over to the above sites and start whittling it down for free! If you don't have any classic material on you list, then consider adding some. Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Daniel Defoe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Aesop, Frank L. Baum, Charlotte Bronte and more await you.

And if any of the above sites make a significant contribution to your life consider a donation and/or volunteering some of your time to them to keep them going.

Happy Listening!

Introduction to Free Online Audiobooks

Sometimes (OK usually) I come a little slowly to the benefits of new technology. Its not that I don’t understand how it works, it just takes me a while to really see how it will make my own life better. Take MP3s for instance. Sure, I thought, handy little device, no more CDs to get scratched and you can take it anywhere. But I’m not a teenager who has to constantly be listening to music. In fact, I’m a stay at home mom so when I want music I turn on the radio. Why would I need an MP3 player?


Then one day I got an audio book that I wanted to listen to repeatedly. Unfortunately, not everyone in the house felt the same way. So I figured I would pick up an inexpensive portable CD player and all of my problems would be solved.


Well, it didn’t quite work that way. Every time I moved, the player would skip. And since I was usually cleaning while listening, there was a lot of skipping. This of course was too annoying to tolerate. My first plan was to buy a better quality CD player. But then it hit me.


Why not rip the sound tracks to mp3 files and load the whole book onto an MP3 player. (Aren’t I a genius?) The advantages seemed pretty appealing – no more worrying about scratched CDs, no more having to switch CDs in the middle of the book, no more skipping and the player would be a lot smaller to carry around. Small enough to fit in a pocket or on a handy armband. They cost a bit more than I really wanted to spend, but the advantages made it seem more than worth it.


Yep I finally realized how this new technology would benefit me personally. So I convinced my husband that I needed one for my birthday.


For a while, everything was great. In fact, it was so nice that I found myself listening a whole lot more. And after a while I wanted something new to listen to. Boy was I in for a shock. Sure there were a few audio books out there for around $10, but most were in the range of $25-40. Being a one income family with three kids to keep in clothes, shoes and sporting gear, that was a pretty hefty expense for me. Even if I was “improving my mind”.


So off I went on a journey to figure out how I could get more content without depriving my kids of new shoes. And I found so much great stuff that I wanted to share. After all, everybody should be able to improve their mind while still getting their kids new shoes!