Despite how great CDs are, many people still prefer audiocassettes to them, especially when it comes to listening to audio books.
Below are some of the reasons why:
One, Audio books in a CD format cannot contain more than 75 minutes of content but audiocassettes can hold as much as 90 whole minutes (and, in many cases much more) of narration.
I agree you can have the entire audio book spread out in several CDs, but not many people like to carry around too many CDs.
So, while you might need just a few audiocassettes for a particular audio book, you will probably need many more CDs for that same audio book.
Two, most people don't like to spend extra cash buying CD audio books when they can get the same audio book cheaper in audiocassettes.
For example, while an unabridged version of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on 12 audiotapes can be bought for just $31.96 on the Barnes & Noble website, the CD format from Barnes & Noble costs almost double that amount - exactly $55.96 for 17 sets of CDs!
Of course, its not that they want to rip you off - it's simply because it costs much more to produce CDs than it does to produce audiocassettes.
Three, when you turn off your CD player while listening to an audio book, you won't be able to resume from the particular spot you left off. With a cassette, you can begin from the exact same spot you left off.
Today, with the invention of the iPod, all these negatives are eliminated. Plus you can also eliminate shipping cost of the CD's/audiocassettes since there are now audiobook stores which allow you to download the mp3 files straight to your computer and from there to your iPod or mp3 player.
iPods can store dozens of hours of audio files and allow you to listen to your audiobooks anywhere you go, were it in the car, during lawn mowing or even in the bath tub
And when you have to interrupt listening for whatever reason, you can pick it up at the same spot from where you stopped.
What an invention! I wonder what will be next.
