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teenMost people think of listening to music on the Internet, but there are many other kinds of remote audio materials. Explore digital audiobooks and other sound recordings.

Digital Audiobooks

Books-on-tape and CD have been popular for many years. Now it's possible to download books, magazines and other auditory materials directly onto your computer or hand-held device. If you use iTunes, you can purchase and download books through the store.

For audiobooks there are both free and fee-based services. One of the best known services is Audible.com. Others are also listed below.

Audio-Rich Electronic Books

In the same category as audiobooks are stories and other web-based materials containing audio narration. For example, you can find online picture books with accompanying audio. Many of these require the Flash plugin.

checkRead the off-site article Digital Audiobooks Can Help Kids Learn (2000) in School Library Journal about the use of MP3 digital audiobooks. Do you think people will be using digital audiobooks rather than audiotape or CDs in the near future? Why or why not? What are the advantages and disadvantage to this format of audiobook?

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonIf you have been following the roller-coaster ride of electronic books lately, you may have counted them out as a significant technology. A few years back, people were predicting their death. But e-books keep making a comeback. For more information, read David Pogue's New York Times article (Oct. 2006), Trying Again to Make Books Obsolete and E-Books:
Why They Matter for Distance Education—and How They Could Get Much Better by David Rothman (2006) at Innovate.

Digital Sound Recordings

From bird songs to author interviews, the web contains a wide variety of sound recordings. Some materials can be found info audio collections. For example, some websites contain audio files on topics such as noises, movie trailers, or animal sounds.

Many of the audio files are not part of audio collections, but within content area websites. For example, the POTUS website from the Internet Public Library contains information on the US Presidents as well as audio and video clips.


Search Tools. Although you may be successful with traditional search engines, there are other tools designed specifically for locating audio materials on the web. In addition, look for audio search tools within your traditional search engines. A few of these tools are listed below:

Digital Audio Collections. Explore directories.

Digital Audio Clips. The following examples contain audio clips on a wide variety of clips.

Looking for free sound clips to use in a multimedia production. Want something that can be publicly shared? Visit the Freesound Project, a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. As CC says: Share, reuse, and remix - - Legally. Freesound contains only sound clips, not songs. This is what sets Freesound apart from other audio libraries like ccMixter. Read the What is Freesound page to learn more!

Also find sound clips at the Wikimedia Commons, a database of over a million media files (images, sound and video) to which anyone can contribute.

tryExplore the wav files above. Select one that might be useful in a document or presentation. Download the file and insert it into Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Be sure to create a citation for the sound you used.


Digital Audio Collections

Many of the best resources are found in digital audio collections. Explore some examples below.

Historical & Interviews

Language

Nature

Radio Archives

Science

Speeches and Interviews


trySelect one of the audio collections. Evaluate the collection and presentation of the collection. Discuss who might be interested in this collection. How might it be used in an educational or entertainment setting? What would you do to make it more effective?

 

 

 

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