Tuesday, April 23, 2019

How Do You Play It?


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HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If you ask me: “Hank, does your car have a CD player?” I would, honestly, have to think about it.  It …might.  Or—not.

If I listened to audio books in the car, I would know. But in our older car, which had a CD player, we’d try to listen to audio books, and it was dangerous, because my husband and I would both be lulled close to sleep. 

Listening to audio books is hard for me if I’m driving. I can’t focus on driving, because I’m too into the book. Or I can’t focus on the book, because I’m too concerned with driving. Now in our newer car? I'm..not sure.

(Still, I adore audio books, and I just got to help audition the actors who were being considered to read THE MURDER LIST. Our choice is awesome, I must say.  Totally brought tears to my eyes, because I thought—Rachel! But that’s another blog.)

Anyway. Quick. Don’t look. Do you have a CD player in your car?

I just rolled my eyes at myself for that question. Of course you know.

And with that car question, of course we welcome our wonderful David Burnsworth, who for a recent book, taught us the importance of choosing exactly the right car for your characters, remember that?  And now he’s got a brand new book, his sixth!, called CAUGHT UP IN IT.

Today, David is pondering the vagaries of music-and-book providing systems in cars. And he has run into (car thing ha ha) a dilemma. Maybe you’ll have some suggestions?

And a copy of CAUGHT UP IN IT to one lucky commenter!


MY CAR 
DOES NOT HAVE A CD PLAYER
      By David Burnsworth

David's actual Civic
My first car, as I’ve mentioned here on Jungle Red in the past, was an 82 Civic. It had an aftermarket (not very good) cassette player in it that sort of worked. It was a nice but used car when my Mom bought it and I finished it off, being the adolescent male that I was. My next car was eight years newer, another Civic, and it also had a tape deck.

The first car I bought with my own money (my parents made sure I had reliable transportation through college, no matter how dedicated I was to blow it up) also had a cassette player, but it had a multi-disc CD player in the trunk. Now I was in high cotton. 

It was followed by a Jeep that had migrated back to just a cassette player. After that came two Mazdas. One had a CD changer in the dash which was great because I had a 42 mile commute one way to work and listened to quite a few audio books. The other Mazda had a single CD player, but I was still able to listen to books during the long commute.

A tractor trailer took out my latest Mazda last year and I replaced it with a new Honda Accord. It’s a great car, but it doesn’t have a CD player and I’m in the process of figuring out how to get my audio books back, even though my commute to work now is less than ten miles.

I still buy used CD’s when I visit my parents in Knoxville at McKay’s Books (great used bookstore as well, with free bins out front and a bargain section inside as well as every genre you can think of). That probably makes me old school in my approach, which is fine with me. I’m a proud Generation Xer and love most types of music.  
  (Hank here, ed. note. Wait, Gen X is old-school?)

David's actual CD collection
Buying a car that can play music of my choosing without having to load a cassette or CD into it is kind of weird for me, but the more I use the latest technology, the more I like it. 


Not totally off topic, but I bought my mom a new record player for her birthday last year. She enjoyed being able to listen to her vinyl collection again. 

One of the best things about life today is we have both the old school things like records and cassettes and CD’s and we can also download songs to our mobile devices right now if we want to. Not a bad place to be, if you ask me.


HANK: Ouch! Hope you are okay after the trailer vs. Mazda incident. That sounds scary! So, Reds and readers, any advice for David? Have you heard any good audiobooks recently? Do you listen to them in the car? 

I think—we use our phones, now, and plug the USB in and play podcasts through the Bluetooth. (Don’t I sound as if I know what I’m talking about?)  

And remember, a copy of  CAUGHT UP IN IT to one lucky commenter.

The award-winning diva, C, has got a big problem: someone wants her dead. A team of mercenaries attempts to gun her down in Kuala Lumpur. Lucky for her, Lowcountry Private Investigator, Blu Carraway, is already on the job there for a different client. Double-lucky for C, they make their move when she’s chit-chatting with him in a bar. Unlucky for the mercenaries, four of them end up dead. 

The hunt is on now for the mega-pop star. Where does she go to hide out? The sleepy islands around Charleston, South Carolina—Blu’s backyard. He’s already proven himself once, so C hires the Blu Carraway Investigation Agency to protect her for real.

 The job takes Blu halfway around the world and several cities in between. The search for the truth reveals what could drive a person to want someone else dead. And Blu Carraway ends up right in the way.

David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. Caught Up In It (April 2019, Henery Press) will be his sixth. Having lived on Charleston’s Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home.

135 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the new book, David.

    I’m not too good at that technical stuff, so downloading songs to my phone or creating playlists or any of that sort of thing simply does not happen. [But I do have a record player and a significant collection of vinyl.]
    And, yes, my car [better known as Miss Phoebe] has a CD player, and I sometimes listen to audio books when I am driving to and from work. But ten miles isn’t much time to get involved in a book, so if I had that short of a commute I’d probably switch to listening to my audio books on my computer rather than in the car . . . .

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    1. I love Miss Phoebe! That is wonderful!

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    2. Thanks so much! Great name for your car. I don't think I've ever named any of mine.

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  2. Yes, I do have a CD player in my car - a 2016 CR-V. I'm very thankful, too. If I had waited to get a 2017 CR-V, a CD player wouldn't have been an option. Yes, I love digital music, but there is no way to get all the music I love on my phone or other portable device. I need a physical player, and since I do most of my music listening in the car, I need one there.

    And, yes, I also need it for my audio books. You can get digital audio books from the library via various apps. I love that option, and if it is available, that's what I go with. However, sometimes you can only get them on CD. I'd hate to be stuck with that as the only option for the book I want to listen to. Now what do you do? (And since I am rotating three authors in order, I need to listen to the next book next, you know?) You could also download the CD's to digital and then load them on your phone or other mobile device, I guess, but it is so much easier just to have a CD player in your car.

    So, they should give us a options, you know?

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    1. And how about a tape player too, while they're at? I still have some wonderful music on tapes!

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    2. So agree! Things just instantly become obsolete… We do not even have a DVD player anymore!

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    3. I was wondering when Honda started making the switch. Books on CD still seem to be available at my local library. I've since found something called Playaway which appears to be a MP3 player with a particular book on it and all you need are headphones. The selection on this platform is not great yet, but the unit is small enough to fit in my pocket so I can listen to audio books while at the gym at least.

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  3. Some years back, I spent hours, days, months ripping my music CDs to my old laptop and loading them onto my iPod. Then that iPod became obsolete, as did the laptop, seemingly hours before everybody started transferring all their music to external hard drives and jump drives. Since the old tech was obsolete, and I really didn't have all the hours it would take to re-rip all that music, and my new computer doesn't even have a CD drive, so I'd have to buy one of those . . . Yeah. All that music is now out of reach to me.

    My first Mustang had a six-disc, in-dash CD player, and it was road-trip heaven until someone tried to beat me through an intersection when I had the right of way, and that Mustang went down in flames to save my life. Heroic ending, but the new Mustang only has a one-CD player that came with a condescending lecture from a salesman about "these things called jump drives . . . " See annoyed paragraph above.

    Now Mustang #2 is in the shop for an extended time, and the loaner car doesn't have a CD drive at all. It's Sirius XM or hours spent screwing with technology when I could be reading. See annoyed paragraph above.

    I don't like audiobooks in the car--Mustangs aren't exactly quiet--but I do love to listen to them when I'm quilting. Truth is, all I really want is to be able to listen to my music in the format I already own it in, whenever I want to. Is that too much to ask?

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    1. You'd think it wasn't, but it sure seems as though it is!

      We are all grateful to your old Mustang's sacrifice for your sake, Gigi. Wow.

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    2. Exactly! So funny… We had it all arranged, then Ka-pow. See annoyed paragraphs above :-)

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    3. Another great car - the Mustang! My other protagonist, Brack Pelton, prefers them. 5.0 liters, of course!

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    4. The first one was a black '09 GT with a 4.6 litre engine. The current one is a ruby red '14 GT with a 5.0.

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    5. Granddad had a very nice, very original Mustang.

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    6. My friend had a 5.0 back in the day (80's). Fast car. The new ones are insane! Mustangs are special cars.

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  4. I do have a CD player in the car, but I don't use it. I don't have many CDs anymore, having donated most of them to the library the last time I moved. I couldn't see the need for them with most things being digital nowadays. And one of these days I will try listening to an audiobook, but it won't be in the car!

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    1. Very wise… That would not be my first choice of venue! Although some people love it…

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    2. Congrats on already making the switch! Thanks for your comment!

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  5. I do have a CD player in the car.

    I don't listen to audiobooks at all though. However, I am still a big buyer of CDs. I get new ones at the local Newbury Comics. I get used CDs from my friend's record shop.

    Now if only I could find the time to listen and review all of the stuff I have acquired.

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    1. So do you have CDs you have not listened to? That seems so strange… Although having piles of books I have not read is not strange at all :-)

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    2. Hank,

      I have lots of CDs that I've bought and haven't had the chance to listen to yet. It's not so strange when you consider that I'm doing CD reviews, book reviews and concert reviews all the time. And when you buy 6-10 CDs at a time, you can't listen to everything back to back.

      Though this last round I bought was 6 CDs and I've gone through 4 of them already. If the albums are "older", I still like to listen to them if it is the first time I've heard them and do a very brief review of them on a music message board that I'm a part of. I like to take my time so I give a well rounded opinion on what I hear.

      Oh and I have a CD player at home, in the car and at work so I can rock out anywhere I go.

      Also, my latest concert review just went live yesterday, for the L.A. Guns concert I saw on April 13th: http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=32181

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    3. Buying CD's today reminds of the time in college when I worked at a CD store in the mall. Has it been twenty plus years already?

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  6. I do have a CD player in the car but I don't use it much and I prefer listening to music rather than books while driving. A few years ago I had a longish drive coming up and so I got the audio version of Angela's Ashes. I had loved reading the book and was pretty sure I'd enjoy listening to it. Turns out that was an abbreviated version or something, just a few high spots from the book. I was so disappointed and with a lot of travel time left!

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    1. Oh, don’t get me started on abridged version’s! They are absolutely horrific… And I cringe, thinking about how the authors must feel having huge chunks of their books just hacked out. I listened to one, long ago, and it absolutely made no sense.

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    2. I agree. Not a fan of abridged versions.

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  7. Yes, I think Jay nails it - time to listen. I have always been a bit of a tech geek; first computer in 1982, worked at IBM in the ‘60’s when computers looked like a computer should, huge blue boxes with flashing lights. I don’t think my first cars had players, but by the ‘80’s, first cassettes, then CDs, now a 4 track CD player plus Sirius XM, plus Maine Public which has become the default choice. But audio books, well there’s a tale. Back to the ‘80’s cassettes and I was given “All Creatures Great and small”, James Herriott’s first book I think. I was so enthralled, not paying attention to my driving a narrow road in the wilds of Northern Westchester, that I almost drove off the road. I scared myself badly enough that audio books are banned when I’m driving. Somehow there seemed to be more time in the past, to select the music, program the car for long drives; now it's talk radio, so sad.

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    1. I am with you, dear Celia. My brain cannot handle total focus on two things :-)

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    2. I'm okay most of the time, but once during a captivating scene in a particular thriller, I think I accidentally cut someone off. I learned to be more careful after that.

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  8. Oh David, I feel your pain! I drive a lot for my work -- lots of one and two hour drives. So I am an avid audio book reader. I probably average about three audio books each month. And when I upgraded to a new Honda Civic last summer, I had to go through this same adjustment. It took a while to get used to the change.

    Fortunately, my library is part of a consortium of libraries that shares a really large database of audio books that can be downloaded. (At the end of the loan, they just magically disappear from your phone.) So that has been my solution. I listen exclusively over my phone now. This actually has several advantages -- not least of which is that my book is always with me, so I sometimes actually listen when I'm cooking or walking or doing chores now, which was less likely when I had to deal with a CD and CD player.

    Still, I just remarked to my husband the other day that I wish I had both options. Relying on the phone means I have no access to the books on CD that I already own; it means I can't pick up a discount book on CD in a used book store; and not every single title I want is available, particularly not without getting on a wait list if it is a hot title.

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    1. Susan, if you own the CD you can convert it to an e-file on your computer (if you have a CD drive), and then upload to your phone.

      It's a fiddly kind of fix, but it is possible.

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    2. Karen, you are amazing! Can you come over and do that for all of us?

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    3. Thank you, Karen! Now that you say that it makes perfect sense -- my husband has converted a lot of his music CDs to electronic files -- but I never made the connection.

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    4. I guess it's time for me to get with the program and start downloading. This reminds me of the time I got my first cell phone (five years after everyone else.)

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  9. Seems to be a lot of Honda drivers here! My first car I paid for myself (other than the '51 Chevy I bought in high school that sat out behind our house because I was too chicken to learn to drive it) was a '76 Civic CVCC, one of the first without a motorcycle engine. It was the cutest car, tomato red with black and white houndstooth interior (and okay, a rainbow in the back window). But it only had an AM radio. My daughter learned the words to all the old 60's and 70's songs by singing with me!

    Flash forward to my current Honda, a 2013 Civic, which has a single CD player, Sirius XM, and Bluetooth. I drive a lot, since two of my kids live 6-9 hours away, and enjoy listening to that same old rock music, plus books on CD, etc. I haunt the library book sale and local thrift stores for CD audiobooks for those trips. (Kind of a pain, changing CDs on the road.) The local library is a good place for electronic audiobooks, too. Download to my phone, and listen via Bluetooth. The miracle is that the narration stops when the car is off, automatically. How does it do that?

    I converted all my music CDs to e-files, years ago, and uploaded to an iPod that stays in my car, but Apple started taking away music I didn't buy directly from them, so I stopped updating my devices. There does need to be a way to listen to music we OWN, via some electronic device. I suspect there are music players we could use to do this that are not written by Apple.

    And Sirius needs to have more podcast channels. They have This American Life, I think, (also available from iTunes), but how do you jump in an out of them when you get in and out of the car?

    Hank, that's a shame about falling asleep listening to audiobooks.

    David, I've visited Sullivan's Island, it's a beautiful place. And my daughter graduated from The Citadel, ten years ago. It's always fun to revisit those areas, whether in person or in fiction.

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    1. Apple took away what you didn't buy from them? wow, that's low.

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    2. Yes, it has something to do with music rights, and the way the music files are created in the first place. There's code in the files that Apple has access to, when the files are loaded into their iTunes program.

      It seemed like a great idea at the time, to rip all those CDs into iTunes, largely because it was easier than doing it in the Windows music program. But in retrospect it wasn't worth the time-saving. One of these days I'll do it again, but what a pain. I have nearly 1,800 song files.

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    3. Thanks for your comment! I've owned 3 Hondas and all of them were (and are) great! Can't get enough of Charleston!

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  10. I buy cheap CD's at Half-Price books for the car, everything from top jazz lullabies to greatest Mozart hits and my latest find, soothing Baroque harp pieces. When we do a road trip, we alternate operas, chamber music, symphonies, and jazz.

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    1. Now that would me fall asleep. I can't listen to classical music while driving.

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    2. WHy is music on CD different than listening on the radio? Even non-commercial radio? it is, though.

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    3. Great selections for traveling, although I prefer more mainstream (and some not so mainstream).

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  11. David, I'm with you: even for a 10 minute drive I *must* listen to an audiobook! I gave up on buying them on CD when I discovered Audible. I love just downloading them to my phone, bluetoothing* my phone to my car, and driving. Will your book be available as an audiobook?

    * Now a verb, created by yours truly. LOL

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    1. Bluetoothing! Perfect! We're all going to swipe that...

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    2. Thanks for your comment! I'm hoping my books will be on audio soon!

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  12. PS we are listening to Michelle Obama's BECOMING on our drive north. It's fascinating, and she's the reader, which is even better.

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    1. SO great that she reads it herself--that'd be such a task!

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    2. I have that but haven't started it. Listening to Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, which he reads. So good.

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    3. Some authors are great at reading their work. I would probably prefer to have someone else read mine.

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  13. I had no idea that CD players were going the way of the tape cassette! I do have a CD player in my car and I use it to play music. After reading today's comments I realize I am now officially "old school." I'm not a big fan of audiobooks but I have a collection of CD's that are carefully curated to be the soundtrack for my road trip vacations.

    Karen in Ohio - It looks like I'm going to have to learn how to do a "fiddly kind of fix."

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    1. I agree with Hank. I knew someone who dubbed mixed cassettes for trips. I was never a planner to that level.

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  14. There's nothing more annoying on a road trip than constantly losing the radio station you FINALLY found. Isn't there a satellite radio something for that? Off-topic, I know.

    When I commuted I listened to books on CD that I'd get from the library. I cannot listen to a book unless I'm driving. If I try to do it at home I fall asleep. And I'm hopeless with the iPhone... earbuds fall out of my ears. I think I've got weird ears.

    I just learned that Amy McFadden, who narrated my last book YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR, has signed on to narrate the new CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. She won us an Earphones award last time and the audio book of YNKD was named one of the year's top 10 mystery/thrillers by Audiophile Magazine. Fingers crossed for the new one.

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    1. I have weird ears, too! I CANNNOT wear earbuds. But a pal once told me I might have them in the "wrong ears." apparently there's a right and left. Who knew.

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    2. Yes, that's true, Hank. And if you are deaf in one ear, you only get half the audio track. I finally found a single stereo earbud--they are made for runners and bicyclists, so that they can hear traffic. You might try that.

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    3. That's funny! I feel like if I'm listening to something at home, I should also be doing something else like cleaning something or working on something. Except writing. Then, I like to listen to music. Editing and reading, I need total silence.

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  15. David, your new book is set in one of my favorite places -- Love those islands, except for the hurricanes.

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    1. Thanks, Hallie! Also agree about the hurricanes. I think back in 2004, there was something brewing almost every weekend during the season. Not fun

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  16. I have a CD player in my car but only listen to music. A couple of years ago I listened to an audiobook in my car but found it was a too great distraction while driving, I was too wrapped up in the story.

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    1. Yup. Both things need full attention for my poor brain.

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    2. It happens sometimes, I agree - getting wrapped up in the story. Music is also good!

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  17. One of our cars has a CD which is great for road trips. My car doesn't so i listen to talk mostly and it works out well since I am only going out briefly doing errands.

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    1. Yes! I can listen to people talking in a conversation, or news, but not a book!

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    2. Short trips are not conducive to listening to books on audio, I agree!

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  18. Congrats on the new book!

    Not sure about my husband's RAV4, but my 2010 Prius (that has become The Girl's) has a five-disc CD player in it. She mostly plugs in her phone via the Auxiliary port, though. I'm pretty sure the Ford Fiesta we bought our son has a CD player.

    My new Prius Prime does not. It has an Aux port, but it also plays the audio through the sound system via the Bluetooth connection. That's mostly what I use because the commercials on tradtional radio drive me crazy and I got sick of playing for satellite radio. So for audio books, my option would be to download them to my phone, possibily via something like Audible, and play through the car.

    If I listened to audio books when I drive, which I don't, because I have the same attention issues Hank does.

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    1. Either have an accident or constantly lose your place in the book. Neither is attractive, especially the former!

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  19. I am still in the age of CD's and don't want to relinquish the comfort or their ease. This will continue for me as I will keep my present car for a long time and enjoy this method.

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    1. I'm part of a CD fans group on Facebook and the people who post photos of their massive collections make me look like an amateur. I saw one guy's attic music room that has 31,000 CDs!

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    2. There are still new cars out there with CD players, but I would say within 5 years they won't be available as new.

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  20. Dear all, here is a site with directions on ripping audiobook files to MP3 format. This site covers several different programs, including iTunes and Windows Media.

    https://www.drmare.com/drm-audiobooks/rip-audiobook-to-mp3.html

    Once you've done this, you need to copy it onto your phone, and listen via an app of some kind. For iPhones the obvious app is iTunes, but other devices have different options.

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  21. My first car was a used, 1967 GTO (red with a black vinyl roof) that had AM/FM radio AND and 8-Track tape player -- I was living the good life. Now I drive a Saturn Vue with a CD player and an Aux port for my iPod. I love listening to audiobooks while on trips, running errands or picking up carpool, although once on my commute to work, I was listening to The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin and there was such a tense moment, I missed my exit and almost had to pull over! Congratulations on your book release and thanks for visiting Jungle Reds!

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    1. There. I had to actually search the comments with the word "track" until I found yours, Celia. Yes! My first car (73 Dodge Dart) had an 8-track player, and I loved blasting out Neil Diamond on the road.

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    2. I can picture that, Celia! Which is why I think what I think. But if I listen to an audio book just sitting on a plane or at home, I instantly fall asleep. Housework might be a good thing to do while audiobooking, but ah, is that worth it?

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    3. Great to meet a "goat" fan! Love love love GTO's! Thanks for your comment!

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  22. Only time I use anything close to an audiobook are the books on tape. When I listen to books on tape, I also read a book and read along for auditory training.

    When I drive, I cannot talk at all! I turn off my mobile phone. I turn off the car radio.

    Diana

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    1. You read along in the book? That's so interesting! To learn..what?

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    2. Hank, I am learning how to distinguish the sounds and how to recognize words like "how are you?" I would read the words and listen for the differences between words like "bat" "mat" and "pat". Although I am reading grown up books like Maisie Dobbs and listening to the unabridged version now.

      Diana

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    3. Diana, that is so interesting. And ingenious, really.

      My middle daughter learned to read when she was 2 1/2 and I had my jaw wired shut to repair a broken jaw (dental surgery gone very wrong). Since it was hard for me to talk I bought her some books that had cassettes of the text, and she would sit on my lap while the tape played. I followed along the text with my finger, and she learned to recognize those words. We had a whole set of them, and when her little sister came along she learned to read with the same books.

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    4. Diana, thanks so much for your comment. Ingenious system you have there! I hope to have my books on audio soon.

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    5. David, welcome :-) . I have seen your name often on the bookshelves at indie bookstores and at the library. Thank you for your comments.

      Diana

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    6. Karen, to quote David, that is an ingenious system you have there! I bet your kids loved listening to the audio and reading with you.

      Diana

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  23. Oh I still have CDs! Currently playing P!nk's latest.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment, Rowe! There's something about seeing the CD's on the shelf, not that mine are organized (see the pic above).

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  24. And you know this is all making me think--I kind of cherish the silence in a car. It's sort of--thinking time. But I could listen to Broadway show tunes forever.

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    1. And sing along, which is why it;s a good thing that I'm alone.

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    2. I loved this week's Game of Thrones episode when Tyrion asked Ser Davos about singing a song and Davos replied, "You'd pray for a quick death" if he sang. That about sums up my ability to carry a tune.

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    3. I was an only child so I kind of like background noise, especially if it's good music.

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    4. Yes, Jay, that was funny! Is that a real song. or did they write it for the show, do you know?

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    5. Hank, it is a bit of both. The first part of the lyric came from the books and the producers made up the rest as well as the melody. At least that's what I read online after the show aired.

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  25. Oh, this is a hot topic in our house. I have an '03 Jeep Liberty, evidently an antique now. It came with a radio/CD player/clock combo. I listen to music CDs in my vehicle. And books on CD on trips. My sister and I took a road trip to the Black Hills a couple of years ago and listened to book cds she'd borrowed and I'd checked out from the library. My setup was too old for Bluetooth so no listening through the phone. It was fine except for a few times I would equate to a record skipping. Then my player started rejecting some of my music cds. I got the hint I needed to fix it or get something new. My hub nixed fixing it. Just get a new one, he said. I mulled it over for months and finally he said he'd buy it and have it installed as my Christmas present. After the holiday we went to a big box store, saw all the choices, couldn't get waited on and left. Tried a second store. Same deal. In the meantime I had a meltdown over all the "stuff" that comes with the unit these days. Our neighbor told my hub where to go to buy something and have it installed; as in that is all that business does. I told him I couldn't handle it. Go buy the simplest thing they have. I just wanted a CD player, a radio, and a clock. His simplest unit has a hell of a lot more, including Bluetooth capabilities. He promptly fixed it up so he can answer his phone through it even though he is never in my Jeep. I can listen to music and books, but I can barely carry on a conversation if I'm driving. So my phone is not hooked up. In fact I like the fact that my Jeep is a safe zone; no phone calls allowed! I had a near meltdown the other day. I couldn't figure out how to turn the damned unit off. If a CD is playing the clock doesn't show. When it shows you can't read it anyway because of its location and size. And now I am thinking really bad thoughts. . .
    I don't do books on CD at home; I get too distracted and miss too much. My husband has all the bells and whistles on his two vehicles (yes, two. He has a fleet. Another sore point.) Both have a CD player so we can listen to books on road trips. He has Sirius/XM so he can listen to those godawful radio programs with the wisecracking PI like Johnny Dollar. The upshot is I listen to CDS, have lots of them, still have LPs and a record player which hasn't been used in a long time. My son told me I could put my music on sticks, flash drives, whatever and listen in my car. Who wants to take the time to do that? Not me. He and my husband have ipods they no longer use. Didn't fall for that. Bleah.
    On a different, happier note, congrats on your latest book David! I am totally envious of your living on Sullivans Island. We spent a week in Mt Pleasant last fall and were one mile up the highway from Sullivans. We spent a lot of time there and had many breakfasts too!

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    1. PatD, I am laughing so hard! You are SO right! The people who make these things must never actually try them out..

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    2. I loved living on Sullivan's. I currently reside about 200 miles inland which is also a nice place to live. I'm trying to do some math here. If your husband has two vehicles with working CD players and he can only drive one at a time...

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  26. I have a CD player in my car. I have a portable CD player in my office, to listen to meditations. I still have a Walkman! My son thinks this is hilarious. I have piles of CDs and no plans to get rid of them. I only listen to music and meditation, however, no audio books. (Sorry, authors.) I never retain what I hear--I am a visual learner. When I go to the gym, I listen to Hamilton on my phone, but I never listen to the Hamilton CD in my car. I live by weird rules of my own making.

    My mother, who is 87, told me not long ago that she needed a new car because the cassette player no longer works.

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    1. SO perfect. She needs--not a new cassette player--but a new car. Well, ya know? Probably she does.

      And yes, the rules. We all have them.

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    2. I chuckled at the comment about your mother. Apparently she no longer has to worry about any device working in these new cars except the infotainment system.

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  27. All discussion of CDs aside, David, your new book sounds terrific! I'm wishing you all success with it.

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  28. David is trying to post...more to come!

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  29. Yes, I do have a CD player in my car. And in my bedroom, living room and stained glass workshop. We also have a record player (lots of old vinyl here). We were driving our oldest daughter to college in San Antonio several years ago and listening to a Sick Francis book and my husband was so engrossed in it that he took the wrong road and none of us noticed until we ha gone more than a hundred miles out of our way. So, no more audio books in the car for us! This discussion is so fun! We also have one portable cassette player so we can listen to all our old tapes.

    David, your new book sounds terrific. I will check the library for it.

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    1. That's Dick Francis, of course. Autocorrect hates me!

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    2. oohhhhh autocorrect has a very sick sense of humor...

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    3. Thanks so much! Let me know what you think once you've read it!

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  30. My Honda Accord is ten years old--wait, make that eleven--so has a 6-disc changer. But I have to admit I hardly ever listen to music in the car. I'm either making five to ten minute drives to run errands, or I'm driving in crazy fast freeway traffic which takes all my attention. Ditto audio books in the car, except on road trips, when they are great.

    I have an Audible subscription, so I could actually use the AUX function in my car or listen to my phone with my bluetooth headset. Mostly I listen to books in the bath. It seems like the one time I can really concentrate and no one interrupts me! We have a nice CD player in our kitchen, but I'm wondering what I did with my old portable player, as I just bought some audio books for the granddaughter...

    David, your book sounds wonderful! I'd love to know more about your part of the world!

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    1. Yes, David is TRYING to post! Grrr...the google bug...

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    2. Hondas are great! So is South Carolina! Today it's 85 in the upper part of the state. Visit Charleston first! Make sure you eat shrimp and grits and walk along the Battery and then head to the beaches.

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  31. With my latest vehicle, a 2016 Ford Escape, I can listen to audio books from my Audible account via my phone via the car through all that Bluetooth and accommodating linkups. And, the volume is great for my hard-of-hearing self. However, I did something, pushed something last week when I was listening to a book, and I haven't figured out what I did or what I need to do to get my book hook-up back. I haven't tried to listen to one since I messed up, so I'm hoping it will have just reset itself. And, yes, Hank, I do have a CD player in my vehicle, too. I also have a Bose CD player in the living room, but I barely use it anymore. I need to rectify that. In one of the bedrooms I have a unit with a CD player, cassette player, and radio. I like to hang on to at least one cassette player being available to me.

    David, Caught Up in It and Blu Carraway sound like a great read. I would love to read something set in South Carolina, as it's somewhere I'd like to visit more. I've only been to Hilton Head, but I'm itching to get to Charleston and other places.

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    1. Absolutely, Kathy. Appliances always fix themselves. I rely on it. I am serious! Xxx

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    2. I strongly recommend Charleston as a vacation destination! Great city!

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  32. Hi, David! Caught Up In It looks fabulous! I love the setting of Charleston. Congrats on the release!!! As for cars, I have two teens driving now - I am so over cars/car shopping/boys and cars. So long as they stay away from my pickup truck, we're all good.

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    1. Jenn, I do want to see you in your pick up truck :-) xx

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    2. Thanks so much! Charleston is one of my favorite cities. I'm guessing your teens know to stay away from the truck!

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  33. So sorry it has taken me so long to log on! I had connectivity issues with my phone. Thanks so much for having me here today. I'm going to be replying to comments now and will be here at the post for a while.

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    1. BTW: I just realized the irony of having technical difficulties in relation to this particular post. :)

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  34. Caught Up In It sounds like my kind of book. That's said, I won't be listening to it. I'm visual not aural and well, I've tried listening to books in the car and it never worked out. I ended up fast backing to the last place I zoned out. By the way, I'll see your Civic, raise you a Mercury Zepher and we won't talk about the 8-track player it had.

    Best with the new release.

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    1. My friends had Ford Fairmonts which I think is the Ford version of the Zepher (?). Thanks so much!

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  35. I have a CD player in my car, and listen to books that I love and have already read. That way I don't need to pay strict attention to the story line, and can pay more attention to the traffic around me. However, I am someone who can re-read books and re-listen to audio books and still get much enjoyment from them - so this wouldn't work for everyone.

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    1. I love listening to books I've already read! Give me Harry Potter, or a Dick Francis novel! And I have to admit that I love listening to the audio versions of my own books. It's a great way for me to get back in touch with my characters and settings. Right now I'm listening to Gerard Doyle reading And Justice There is None, and he is so good!

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    2. I hadn't thought of that. It makes sense because I've found myself having hitting the reverse button when I miss something, which of course takes me back to the beginning of the track, some of which are 20 minutes long.

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  36. Shalom Reds and fans. I don’t own a car. I don’t drive. I never drove. However, when I walk, which I do a fair amount of, I listen to music, or podcasts or audiobooks. I do this all on my phone, mostly connected to the internet. I can’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks when I am otherwise engaged at something else. I end up “rewinding” over and over.

    That said, I have listened in the past month, the book called Maid by Stephanie Land. It is a memoir about a young woman who longs to be a writer but who must make a “living” to support herself and her young daughter.

    I also listened to Spies of No Country by Matti Friedman. It was given to me at the end of last year as an advance reader’s copy and I found the audio available on the library service Hoopla.

    Speaking of library services, if you have a library card these days, there is a good possibility that your library will offer materials to borrow for free. Hoopla lends e-books, audiobooks, streaming music albums, movies and television shows. RBdigital is what has become of Recorded Books. They also in addition to audiobooks, they offer magazines to read on a tablet or even a phone if you have good eyesight. Libby has books. E-books and audiobooks. For popular new books you have to queue up on a waiting list. You can have more than one library. I have a card from the county library in which I live, as well as one from the Free Library of Philadelphia which they will give to anyone who lives in Pennsylvania. CL is short for Cloud Library. They have a good selection. The only downside to all this is that most of these services are only available on Android phones or iPhones.

    I also admit sheepishly that when a craving occurs, I will buy on Amazon, but I mostly get hardcovers and paperbacks from them.

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    1. Oh, yes, yes, good reminder to go to the library!

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    2. Congrats on not having to drive! Some days it is not worth the hassle! Except I love cars too much. Thanks for the tips about libraries! And yes, Amazon makes things way too easy sometimes. Odd purchase: insert for my Delta faucet.

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  37. YAY David! So great to see you--you are SO tough and persistent!

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  38. Congratulations on the newest release David--it sounds great. And everyone's first car! Mine was a 1976 Honda Civic, silver, named Fizzle (from the FZL on the license plate). Friends would joke that if I had trouble parking it, I could just stick it in my purse. Ok, it was tiny--but a trouper! And I do listen to audiobooks on my commute to and from work. Which is slightly pathetic since I work for an audiobook publisher. Ah well.
    -Melanie

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    1. Another Civic owner! There are things I miss about that first car. It really was small! Regarding audiobooks, what's wrong with enjoying what you do for a living?

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  39. First car was a Geo Metro and I think radio was an upgrade. I remember using a cassette p!at when I drive up to Fort Bragg, but around the town, I didn't miss it. Second car was a PT Cruiser - AM/FM with CD player. FM around town for music. AM for ball games and CD for longer distance expect solo driving and changing CDs can be hazardous. New car is a CMax and same entertainment system. I still have records so about 5 years ago I got a combo unit - radio, records, CDs and cassettes. Nothing fancy but I can now I can listen to our old Readers Digest record sets. I think I have Loren Green singing White Christmas. 😊

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    1. There's something about being able to listen to music on all the different platforms! Thanks for your comment.

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  40. I am on my third Honda Accord. This one finally has a CD player! I still have all my albums too! lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. My new Accord is my first. Two Civics before that along with a few others. Something about how it drives down the road. It's a solid car.

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  41. Our '18 Equinox does not have a CD player, but I'm home a lot and don't drive much. I listen to books on CD constantly, while I sew and quilt, many by the JR authors. Yes I can pay attention to both. I have a portable player I carry in a small pouch over my shoulder and use ear phones. I order and check out all of them from the library down the street. It's my favorite way to "read". David is a new to me author, I'll have to check out his books.

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