I've looked at BCPL's Overdrive e-audiobooks and Gutenberg's audiobooks, and now feel much more confident about explaining this service to customers. So far, though, I've found that most customers interested in e-audiobooks are pretty digitally savvy, and don't need much help beyond telling them that these are available and showing how to get to the page.
I do have a friend who often listens to audiobooks and was disappointed to find after she'd checked out her first e-audio (quite a while ago, now) that she couldn't use it on her Mac (this is now stated much more clearly on the BCPL site, I'm glad to say). She felt bad that she was depriving other borrowers when she couldn't "return" the download that she couldn't use immediately!
It's interesting to see that Overdrive lists the narrator in a way that implies co-authorship; but I suppose that users figure that oddity out quickly. I also was interested in Gutenberg's little "okay to burn a copy" icon. This would certainly be useful for listeners who for some reason want to listen from a CD rather than a computer.
I checked out an "always available" mystery title in Overdrive, but don't really have the equipment to listen to it (reminder, I'm the one with the rotary-dial phone nailed to my kitchen wall). That's why I chose an always available book - didn't want to hog a limited circulation for no purpose but training.
There certainly seems to be a wide range of titles out there for downloading - something for everyone, I'd say. It's almost enough to make me want to go out and buy a computer of my own!
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