These audio files can be played on any Windows XP system and many portable MP3 players.  For a complete list of supported devices, please visit the playsforsure website.

However, they cannot be played on Apple iPods and they cannot be burnt to CD.  The publisher of these works, NetLibrary, has chosen Microsoft's version of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to control the distribution of these audio files.

For more information, check out our "Downloadable Audiobooks QuickStart Guide" [pdf].      .

An audiobook is a recording of the contents of a book read aloud. Both fiction and nonfiction works are produced in audiobook form but novels make up the bulk of the collection.

Sometimes audiobooks are narrated by the author of the printed work, as in the case of Bill Clinton reading his book, My Life.  More often, audiobooks are read by professional voice actors.  For example, we have over 200 recorded books narrated by George Guidall, a prominent voice actor in the field. 

Audiobooks are usually distributed on compact discs (CDs) or cassette tapes.  An average audiobook has a running time of 8-12 hours and is contained on about 10 cassettes or 5 CDs.  You can browse our collection of Books on Tape here, or you can browse our collection of Books on CD here.

Audiobooks are published by many vendors but the library acquires most of its collection from Recorded Books, LLC.  This publisher sells primarily to the library market and is well known for the quality of their recordings and the talent of their voice actors.  They primarily produce unabridged recordings of the printed book, thereby capturing the complete expression of the author's work.

Downloadable audiobooks are digital versions of audiobooks that are made available for downloading to a personal computer connected to the Internet.  The digital audiobook is downloaded as a WMA file (see this Wikipedia entry for a full explanation of the format) that can be played on Windows Media Player and compatible portable devices.  For a full list of these portable players, please visit the playsforsure website.  Unfortunately, the WMA file format is not compatible with either the Mac operating system or the iPod player.  At this time, there are only two major vendors selling downloadable audiobooks to libraries.  Neither vendor licenses content that can be played on iPods.  Because our audiobooks are such a favorite with the community and because there is often a long waiting list, the library has nevertheless decided to subscribe to NetLibrary. We will continue to monitor the offerings from the major library vendors and continue to search for collections and licensing terms that support the greatest variety of computer systems and portable players.  You can find a complete listing of the library's downloadable audiobooks here.

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