On the Road Entertainment

I imagine that there are any number of people who like me don't listen to the radio while driving. An even worse problem is taking and using books while flying.

Well, in the past I tried to solve the flying problem by taking a laptop loaded with electronic books (ebooks or eBooks if you prefer) and mp3 music or audio books. The problem with this solution is lugging around ten pounds of laptop, case, recharger, etc. In addition, there are the problems of limited battery life and airport security hassles.

Now I believe I've come up with the perfect solution -- at least for the present. I've purchased an mp3 player that accepts micro SD cards and a dedicated ebook reader. Neither is the perfect solution, but they get the job done. The mp3 player allows me to listen to audio books and my music while driving or flying. The ebook reader provides me with books to read while flying or while stopped for lunch and in the evenings since television is a bore.

The ebook reader is good for about 16 hours of reading on one charge -- good for long flights. The mp3 player will last about the same time on a single AAA battery. With a couple of micro SD cards for additional content and a couple of spare AAA batteries, I have hundreds of hours of entertainment in a package that weighs in at just under a pound and easily fits into a briefcase or even my pockets.

You might be asking yourself, "Doesn't this cost a lot for the media?" My answer is not really. If you are willing to invest some time and effort to search the internet; you can find many free sources for music, audio books and ebooks. Some of my favorite sites for these freebies can be found at the following sites.

Free ebooks in many formats:

For classics in the public domain try: Project Gutenberg
For science fiction and fantasy titles try the: Baen Free Library
For free current fiction in many genre try this page from Starry.com

Free audio books in mp3 format:

My favorite site is Podio Books

Free music in the public domain:

MP3 for you is one of the best whether your tastes run to hard rock or classical or anything in between.

Here are just a few selection that I'm currently using on my mp3 player and ebook reader.

The May Day Murders audio book from Podio Books.
The Pocket and the Pendant audio book from Podio Books.

1812: The Rivers of War electronic book from the Baen Free Library. I use the rtf file for my ebook reader, but many other formats are also available.

Mr. 88 is a latin jazz work for you in mp3 format.

Enjoy, and leave me a comment if you find other sources that I may not know about. I'd like to try them out.