Audio Go: How newspapers could be leading the audio book revolution

Only a few years ago, a string of TV adverts would flash up with the news that the Sunday paper was giving away a free CD - invariably featuring some of the greatest hits from Tom Jones or Rod Stewart. Now, more than ever, they are offering audio books, which could well be the catalyst that turns a whole new generation onto the delights of the audio book.
In the past, of course, audio books used to be clunky boxes filled with a few score cassettes hiding away in the murkiest depths of a bookshop. They would then require you to stay perfectly still within earshot of the hi-fi so you could hear it and ensure you didn't miss any of the plot.
Now, of course, they are little more than strings of 0s and 1s that take up as much space in your house as the device you have put them on. All you then have to do is pop in the earphones and voila. No changing of cassettes, no carrying around your hi-fi; just one, uninterrupted stream of audio that can run from start to finish if you so wished (and had the time to let it run its course).
This technology has been around for quite some time, of course, but its newest adoption by the national papers could well see it taken up by many more avid listeners.
With adverts given as much front page space as the headlines themselves ('Inside: Free audio book. Download yours today!') it will be little surprise if the audio book itself doesn't benefit in the long run.
Of course, the book being given away for free will see the most benefit at first, with hundreds rushing to take up their free download. But then, it's hard to imagine that all these people who download the audio book will then turn their back on the idea as a whole and never download one again.
So free CDs in your Sunday paper might be giving way to a new kind of listening experience and it could well lead to larger changes in your buying habits, too.

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About the Author:
Welcome to AudioGO, the UK's leading audiobook publisher providing download for audio books and to a broad, diverse and inclusive range of spoken word and large print titles. AudioGO was formerly known as BBC Audiobooks, which won Audio Publisher of the Year six times.