How Audiobooks and Amazons Kindle improve reading skills
January 31, 2008
How many books do you have congesting the shelves of your library? Can you imagine to remove them all and holding over 200 titles in a little device, which is lighter and thinner than a typical paperback and weighs only 10.3 ounces.
This new device (released in November of 2007) can download text in a variety of formats from Amazon and other places. The ebooks or documents can be read on the screen of the kindle, or they can be listened to on the device.
If you would love the ability to read along with an Audible book, you will find out that this feature is not possible right now. In any event, since there is one feature that allows (music) MP3’s to be played while reading, this would also work with MP3 Audiobooks. (Search for MP3 Audiobooks on Audado)
For the sake of completeness I would like to mention that due to the fact that MP3 files are larger space may become a consideration.
Amazon has created their own file format for the device (AZW). Anyway, it can also read .txt files and some .pdf files (although .pdf files are not fully supported at this time). On ‘opening day’ Kindle had 88,000 titles available through Amazon.. One can read fiction or non-fiction books as well as everything from best sellers to more obscure titles.
Another benefit of Amazons Kindle in combination with audio books is that they can play a vital role in developing fluency and comprehensions skills of children. If you let your kid hear audiobooks and follow along in the Kindle ebook version it will build decoding skills and vocabulary that are essential for improving reading accuracy and rates.
The Kindle is a breakthrough device, in many ways analogous to the first iPod. Just as the iPod brought MP3 players to the masses, the Kindle will be the device that introduces ebooks and audiobooks to many people.
Amazon’s Kindle
January 31, 2008
How to read and listen to books simultaneously
January 31, 2008
How many books do you have congesting the shelves of your library? Can you imagine to remove them all and holding over 200 titles in al little device, which is lighter and thinner than a typical paperback and weighs only 10.3 ounces.
This new device (released in November of 2007) can download text in a variety of formats from Amazon and other places. The ebooks or documents can be read on the screen of the kindle, or they can be listened to on the device.Audiobooks are the most popular type of file that are used on the device.
Amazon has created their own file format for the device (AZW). However, it can also read .txt files and some .pdf files (although .pdf files are not fully supported at this time). More than 90,000 books are now available, including more than 90 of 112 current New York Times Best Sellers. One can read fiction or non-fiction books as well as everything from best sellers to more obscure titles.
While the Kindle sold out within a matter of days since its launch, skeptics wonder whether the Kindle’s price is still too high. Amazon Kindle retails for $399.
Whispernet is Amazon’s wireless system that allows users to search for content, find what they want, download the content, and read it, all without ever stopping to find an Internet connection. Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phonesso you never have to locate a hotspot Every Kindle account has an email address. Send a file to that email address and it will appear on the kindle via Whispernet. .
One of the amazing parts of this device is the fact that Amazon has a back-up system that keep all of a users previously bought files on hand. So, should the device malfunction or should the user run out of room, all of the files are still accessible.
NoPaperback is the blog of Audado.com. Audado offers over 5,000 downloadable audio books and spoken word material Books are organized by categories like biography, fiction, history, humor, religion, and self help.
- Ruben Alvarez
And a little more for “over 10s”
January 23, 2008
Here is another audiobook for your children.
“Trouble Twins” Dallas and Florida have been shuffled between foster families and the orphanage all their lives. All they want is a loving place to call home, but they are mistrustful that one exists for the likes of them.
Tiller and Sairy are a sweet couple who are each restless for one more big adventure while their bodies are still spry enough to paddle a canoe or climb a mountain. Their own children have grownup and moved away, so they’re each looking for someone to help them and keep them company on their last exciting journey.
And Ruby Holler is the beautiful, mysterious place that changes all of their lives forever. When Tiller and Sairy invite Dallas and Florida to stay with them and keep them company on their adventures, the magic of the Holler takes over, and the two kids begin to think that maybe, just maybe, the old folks aren’t that bad . . .
On Audado. Ruby Holler
Another audiobook for “over 10’s”
January 22, 2008
The powerful Newbury Award-winning classic.
A landmark in children’s literature, winner of the 1970 Newbery Medal. In this audiobook Sounder traces the keen sorrow and the abiding faith of a poor African-American boy in the 19th-century South. The boy’s life is changed forever when his father is caught stealing a ham to feed his starving family. His dog, Sounder, is wounded in the incident and waits faithfully for his master to come home.
Read by Avery Brooks, this timeless and compelling parable will move listeners of all ages.
” Blues riffs and Brooks’s soulful singing set the tone and enhance the tale. This bittersweet saga, richly told by Brooks, will remain in listeners’ hearts and minds long after the final line is heard . ” — AudioFile
William H. Armstrong grew up in Lexington, Virginia. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and did graduate work at the University of Virginia. He taught ancient history and study techniques at the Kent School for fifty-two years. Author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, he won the John Newbery Medal for Sounder in 1970 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Hampden-Sydney College in 1986.
Avery Brooks is an accomplished actor, director, musician, and teacher. His credits include the television role of Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . He served as the National Black Arts Festival’s Artistic Director throughout the 1990s and is an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Rutgers University.
On Audado: Sounder
If you let your kid follow along in the print version of Sounder it will improve reading skills.
