Thanks to the ubiquitous iPod, just about anything audio can be made available online. The latest offering? The audio book.
An uncle who lost his eyesight was a tremendous fan of audio books, for the man was once a voracious reader and could not get the knack of Braille. On a long car trip, we once brought along a couple of audio books. Never did I see hands fly to the eject button so quickly as that day in Iowa, when a spy thriller ran off into the requisite steamy sex scene. The wee ones were in the back seat, wouldn't you know. Surely there should have been some sort of label on the wrapper, to give parents a warning. Or could they not make two versions available? One rated G and the other whatever, but at least we'd know better. Christ, that was an awkward moment.
Once the province of the illiterate or the blind, audio books are entering a new phase, and it's all due to the success of Apple's invention. Commuters who regularly pop in their ear buds can listen to a book, rather than music, and there's no hunk of paper to cart around the subway. With an iTrip, the driver can be read aloud to while dodging traffic, making the commute somewhat pleasant.
What sorts of books are popular downloads these days? What else but pornography, erotic romances and readings from Penthouse. So impersonal, to surf the Web and find the dirty stuff; so invisible to copy to the iPod and listen in the privacy of one's home. As if the World Wide Web was invented to make porn more readily attainable, the audio book has joined the sex parade.
The phone sex market is in a panic. Competition is getting fierce.
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