I took Abby to the library yesterday and I headed straight for the audio book section. I love listening to books on tape in the car. I found some that really interested me, but in the summer I don't drive much, so I decided to skip the audio books for now as most are 10-14 hours in length. However, as I browsed the library a little more I happened upon a new section. A big sign announced something called "PlayAway Books". My curiosity got the best of me and I just had to see what these were. As it turns out, PlayAway Books are audio books, but they are not on tape or CD. They are small, self-contained audio players (think MP3 player about the size of a large matchbook). The player comes with all the buttons (play, rewind, fast forward etc...), a set of ear buds and a spare AAA battery. All of this stuff comes in a case the size of a VHS tape. It's quite the nifty little set up. Now I can listen to my audio book ANYWHERE, not just in the car. Hence the name, PlayAway Books. I repeat... WHY DIDN'T SOMEBODY TELL ME ABOUT THESE THINGS SOONER?????
Many of you may already know about these nice little advances in technology, but they're new to me. Admittedly I haven't been to the library in a long time. I guess that's evident.
My current book is a non-fiction selection called "Scorpion Down", by Ed Offley. It's the true story of the submarine USS Scorpion. The Scorpion was sunk by the Soviet Union in May 1968. The sinking was tragic enough (99 Navy sailors killed), but it became even worse when the Pentagon covered up the whole tragedy by simply claiming the Scorpion was lost at sea. I'm only in the first chapter, but it's already a fascinating "read".
I can't wait to check out more PlayAway books. I'm quite pumped about this new discovery.
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