mp3cd in 1 lesson

I love my iPod. I rarely use it for music. I love audiobooks and downloadable talks and lectures. These are great for long drives, long walks, housekeeping, cooking, etc.

For audiobooks, I mostly buy CDs and rip them to MP3, but it saves a lot of time if you can buy an MP3CD -- a data CD with the MP3 files already on it. I sometimes buy from Audible.com. Their books are cheaper and you can download them and listen to them immediately. But they're encrypted to prevent piracy, which can be a pain in the ass. For one thing, it means you can't lend your audiobooks to friends, and lending my audiobooks to friends has proven very rewarding:

[...] begin with Henry Hazlitt. That's how I stumbled into all this. But I didn't read the book. Being only semi-literate, I knew I'd have an easier time listening to the audiobook during my 2 hours a day commuting between Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia. (This was a couple of years ago, when I was still a productive member of society.) I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that Hazlitt changed my life. Certainly changed my view of the world.

I lent the CDs around to my friends, all of whom responded favorably. One of my friends said, "He makes it so simple." That friend gave the book to his leftist dad, who was apparently less impressed, but we can't really tell how carefully he read it.

Unfortunately, while the print book is only $10, the unabridged CD audiobook is almost $50. I'm completely satisfied with my own purchase at that price, but I can hardly recommend someone shell out that much for an introduction. You can download the audiobook from Audible.com for less than $30.

If I were a dying millionaire, I'd buy the rights to Hazlitt's book and distribute it for free.

-- where to begin?

For some reason it is very hard to shop for MP3CDs at Amazon. They aren't always listed under other editions, and sometimes I can't even find something through a direct search.

But I've discovered a way to shop for bargain MP3CDs:

1. shop around at Audiobooks Online or Blackstone Audio;
   
2. copy the ISBN of the audiobook you want -- 0786196025 in this case;
3. paste the ISBN into the search field at Amazon.com;
4. optional: click on the "used & new" link.

At the moment, this method will get you an unabridged MP3CD of Hazlitt's great book for about $15!