Loud, Proud, Unabridged: It Is Too Reading! (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/fashion/thursdaystyles/26audio.html?ex=1274760000&en=e53139c0eb2886c1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print)

JIM HARRIS, a lifelong bookworm, cracked the covers of only four books last year. But he listened to 54, all unabridged. He listened to Harry Potter and "Moby-Dick," Don DeLillo and Stephen King. He listened in the car, eating lunch, doing the dishes, sitting in doctors' offices and climbing the stairs at work.

I think that the emergence of portable music players has hastened the want for content. Sure, cassette players were all the rage, but carrying cassettes is too bulky. With digital content people can move it easier and carry more. And the eMarket model for purchasing digital content has made acquiring more content absolutely sinchy.

Now that people can take their content everywhere, why not listen to whatever whenever? I think audiobooks (and spoken word podcasts) will emerge as the killer app. to the masses in the years to come. Several barriers to entry are being forded, like hardware prices and access to computers and the internet, and the masses are responding.

I think that those of us who recognize the needs of the masses before they do will ride out this next wave of technology in style.
POL9A