Traveling music.

About 10 years ago, I finally got a CD player put into my car, so I could listen to music on long-distance trips without having to look for local radio stations every 50 miles or bringing along a stack of cassette tapes. With an in-the-trunk-mounted player and a cassette of six discs, I could drive a fair distance before having to stop and put in new discs. Depending on what kind of trip I was on, I'd measure a day's travel by going through the stack of six discs - if I was already at my destination and was just noodling around and finding interesting places, finishing the sixth disc was the sign to find a place to stop for the night. And if it was a day when I was trying to get to my destination, finishing the first stack of discs indicated I should stop for a meal, and then get back on the road to drive another stack's worth.

About 4 years ago, I discovered that music wasn't the only thing I could listen to on long drives: I could listen to recorded books. I quickly discovered that, just as when I'm reading a book, I much prefer listening to an unabridged book rather than a condensed version. I never had much luck listening to taped books - the tape was thin, and seemed often to be stretched, so that the voice sounded odd - but about 3 years ago, a lot more books started coming out on CDs.

Listening to a recorded book while driving is a different experience from reading the same book. You aren't paying as much attention to it (at least, you shouldn't be, if you're driving), so books that are not terribly well written can still be enjoyable. (For me, one example of that is anything written by John Grisham. I've listened to a half-dozen of his books on disc, and they're a fun way to while away the miles. You're paying sufficiently little attention to the story that you don't realize how bad the plot is or how poor the characterization is. You'll get caught up in the excitement in the reader's voice, and then it's over. Actually having to read his books, where you're giving the story a lot more of your attention, is torture.) And you're forced to experience the entire book, at a fairly steady pace - you can't easily skip ahead or read faster, if you want to.

Over the past few years, I've listened to a lot of books, from All Quiet on the Western Front to various science fiction books (which don't really work for me as well in a recorded format) to thrillers and mysteries. (I've heard most of the Alex Cross series from James Patterson on disc, for instance.) I'm currently listening to Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country, and enjoying it immensely. I've read the book before, but it's a new and different experience to hear the author reading the book.