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!