Posts Tagged Audio Books

June is Audiobook Month! Who Knew?

Posted by Rachel Feltman in Publishing on June 17, 2010

Audiobooks have been around in the US since 1930. Their original purpose was to provide the blind with access to books that weren’t printed in Braille. In fact, we recently collaborated with the Jewish Braille Institute to produce an audio version of the JPS Tanakh.

Over time, audiobooks have become an important media of their own. Many audio books enlist actors and add soundtracks to make the listening experience as engaging as possible. Now, audiobooks represent an industry worth almost 900 million dollars. From long car trips to preschool classrooms, audiobooks have become an entertainment staple. They even have their own award!

The Audies are awarded every spring by the Audio Publishers Association to recognize distinction in spoken-word entertainment. A frequent winner (and now a Hall of Fame member) is the Harry Potter series, narrated by the iconic Jim Dale. His brilliant narration and voice acting has brought the books to life for children all over the world. His work is an excellent example of how the audiobook has evolved: far from simply reading the text, Dale has created 146 unique character voices for his recordings. This year’s Audiobook of the Year went to Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales, which featured the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Helen Mirren, Don Cheadle, and Alan Rickman.

To learn more about audiobooks and the Audio Publishers Association, check out http://www.audiopub.org.

Also, check out Associated Content’s article on the positive impact audiobooks have made around the country.

Happy listening!

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The Complete JPS Audio Bible is Finally Here!

Posted by admin in Jewish Innovation on March 9, 2010

The JPS Tanakh is considered the authoritative translation of the Jewish Bible and is certainly the most widely read English edition.  That said, we’ve always known we wanted to make our Bible available to everyone, in any format that a person would want to use. Thus came the idea for an audio version and the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) was the clear partner for collaboration. After 12 months of recording the 2,000 pages of the Tanakh into 60 hours of audio using 13 narrators, the Audio Bible is finally here! Last October we gave readers a sneak peek with our free weekly Torah portion (widget-version below), but now readers have the option to purchase the entire TANAKH, only the Torah, The Five Megilloth and Jonah, or any of the other 36 books of the Bible.

The JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version even makes it easy for you to bring the text wherever you go, and whenever you want. Offered in both MP3 and iTunes download formats you can listen on your iPod or MP3 Player on the road or anywhere on the go.

To celebrate the release of this landmark project, we are offering a special introductory offer – purchase the download of our audio version of the complete JPS Tanakh or Torah and we will send you our Torah eBook FREE of charge!

We could keep going on about how excited we are about this audio Bible, but our Interim Director, Carol Hupping, sums it up best in this recent Q & A session.

Q: How did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI) and The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) come to partner on the JPS Tanakh: The Jewish Bible, audio version?

A: JPS had wanted an audio version of its Bible for years, but we knew that producing it would be very expensive. We’re talking about 2,000 book pages, about 60 hours of listening time. We had gotten a bid from a commercial audio book producer, but it was much more than we could afford. Then we recalled conversations we’d had with JBI a few years back about publishing a large-print Bible and remembered that they also produced audio books. We asked if they would be interested in collaborating on the project. Indeed they were.

Q: How does this project fit into the new direction JPS is taking?

A: For the last 120 years, JPS has been primarily a publisher of print books. But that’s changing now, because the Internet and handheld devices like smart phones and ebook readers have changed the way people access and use information, and the way many people read books. So, in addition to print, we’re now offering ebooks and also audio, starting with this audio version of the JPS Tanakh, directly through our website and via many other distributors. We want to reach as many people, in as many ways, as possible.

Click here to read the rest of the interview with Carol, as well as a Q & A with JBI President and CEO Ellen Isler and several of the Audio Bible narrators [73K PDF]. Feel free to link to the complete Q&A or to excerpt from it, if you wish.

Also, for more information about the JPS Audio Bible go to http://jewishpub.org/books/audiobible/about-bible.php.

-Jill Finkelstein

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Audio Bible is now Widgetized!

Posted by Sarah in Jewish Books, Jewish Innovation, Jewish Knowledge, JPS Books on December 8, 2009

Probably one of the greatest parts of the latest revamp of the JPS website has to be the audio Bible. Have you had a chance to check it out? If not, you should definitely take a look.

Or, maybe you’ve experienced the weekly audio portions and have been dying to share it with others! If you’ve been wishing you could put the audio Bible on your site, today is your lucky day!

Why? Because the audio Bible has officially been “widgetized”! Just copy the code below and embed the audio Bible in your site, sharing it with all your browsers.

Here’s what the result will look like:

The best part? It updates itself! Each week, the audio segment will automatically change to reflect the correct Torah portion for the week, making your life that much easier!

Enjoy!

-Sarah

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The Three Weeks, Tisha B’Av, and a Jewish Audio Book Joyride

Posted by Naomi in Jewish Books, Jewish Knowledge on July 28, 2009

driving

Source: htt://www.funnytimes.com

After five years of determined city living, this week I’m going back to my roots: the suburbs.  That’s right.  Quiet, uncrowded streets, picket fences, and Donna Reed look-alikes everywhere!  Now, this is only a two-week stint of house (and dog and teenager)-sitting, but it’s already had a dramatic impact on my daily routine.  There’s the dog-walking and the much, much longer walk to the nearest coffee shop.  There’s also the longer morning commute – no more walking to work, or hopping on a bus.  But therein lies something truly wonderful.  In my five years of living a city life, I had almost completely forgotten something integral to my personality: I. Love. Driving.  I love it!  The freedom to go wherever I like, whenever I like – bus schedules be darned.  There’s the thrill of doing 60mph on the expressway, singing along to the radio…

… Wait.  Problem. This week isn’t just any old week.  Thursday marks what is perhaps one of the most somber days in the Jewish calendar: Tisha B’Av.  It’s a day of fasting and mourning, a day that marks not only the destruction of the First and Second Temples, but also the many other major disasters that have befallen the Jewish people.  It’s such a serious day that a tradition has arisen to extend the mourning period for the three weeks (or nine days) prior to the holiday.  For many people, that means three weeks of no weddings or parties, no new clothes… and no music.

arch_titus.relief

So what’s a driver to do?  I can’t just drive in silence!  That’s when it hit me: Hey!  I work for a Jewish Publisher!  What about Jewish books – audio books?!  I can simply combine two of my favorite things – driving and Jewish learning – into one super-awesome activity!

JPS, in cooperation with the Jewish Braille Institute, has an audio Bible in the works.  In the meantime, here are some great Jewish audio book resources for you to enjoy during the Three Weeks and beyond:

audio-learning

Source: http://i.ehow.com

● Audible.com offers about 60 Jewish-content audio books, ranging from “Maimonides and Medieval Jewish Philosophy” to “Yenta Unplugged (Excuse Me, I’m Talking).”
● ClassicSinai.com has 26 fascinating (and free!) mp3 downloads on topics like “Genesis and the Big Bang,” “The Matrix and Jewish Reality,” and “Crash Course in Jewish Holidays.”
● Want to learn about Judaism from the best the academic world has to offer?  The Teaching Company offers entire audio courses by renowned professors on subjects such as “Beginnings of Judaism,” “Jewish Civilization from Mohammad to Spinoza,” and “Jewish Intellectual History: 16th to 20th Century.”

Happy driving!
-Naomi

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