Playaway

Preloaded digital audiobooks

By Jeff Hastings -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2007

Follett Library Resources, Inc., 1340 Ridgeview Drive, McHenry, IL 60050 (888) 511-5114 www.titlewave.com
Individual titles range between $34.99 and $59.99

If you’re looking for a modern way to deliver audiobooks that isn’t a total nightmare to manage, Playaway—the audiobook preloaded into a neat little digital player—could be the answer.

Playaway looks like a little book on one side, complete with authentic jacket art. On the other side, it resembles an MP3 player, but with a simpler set of controls that are intuitive and large enough for even very young children to use. Among these controls are two that are uniquely useful for audiobooks; a bookmark button lets users virtually dog-ear up to 50 passages, and another button lets listeners increase the narration’s playback speed without making Wuthering Heights sound more like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Playaway comes with a lanyard and a set of earbuds, so kids can hang them around their necks and look electronically au courant, even while listening to a velvety-voiced Michael York read them another chapter from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The player, accessories, and spare AAA batteries (life expectancy 12 hours) all fit snugly into a padded plastic videocassette case—a nice packaging idea that lets librarians neatly integrate Playaways onto shelves and into existing media collections.

Because Playaway uses a standard 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack, listeners can use commonly available adapters to hear selections through their home or car audio systems, and patrons who have them can use their own earbuds or headphones with the units. Along with the challenge of keeping a fresh supply of batteries on hand, the biggest obstacle in circulating Playaways may be deciding how to avoid the yuck factor associated with sharing earbuds. If the students you serve typically don’t have headsets of their own, it’s worth knowing that Follett offers earbud sets in packs of 50 for $39.50 and earbud covers in packs of 250 for $72.50. Other available accessories include an FM transmitter ($24.99) and a portable speaker system that plugs into Playaway units for group listening ($19.99).

While circulating Playaways does entail dealing with batteries and earbud sets, if you consider the fact that there are no CDs to scratch, tapes to rewind, or downloads to manage, the Playaway may be the most convenient means available for getting audiobooks to your students. Follett says to expect about 25 Playaway titles per month to be added to their K–12 catalog.