Alfred popped the audiobook into his stereo-well, after a fashion. What Alfred truly did was reach into the glove compartment, pull out his mp3 player, plug it into the radio transmitter he'd acquired a couple of days before, tuned the transmitter to 91.1 FM, tuned his automobile radio to 91.1 FM, found in his free mp3 downloads the audiobook file on his mp3 player and hit play. The result? Pure auditory (and literary) bliss as he started the thirteen-hour drive from Salt Lake City to San Francisco.
Hey, driving thirteen hours can be pretty mind-numbing (and that thirteen hours is even ignoring the occasional break-and presuming all Al has for lunch and dinner are the snacks in his front seat ). Take doing the dishes, for instance, or commuting, or-in Alfred's case-driving home for Thanksgiving. Whatever the satisfaction of the clean kitchen, the large paycheck, or Grandma's stuffing recipe, sometimes it takes a little nudge to get things started.
He'd been willing to pay for an audiobook, of course, but when he came across this best of the available free mp3 downloads, he knew that was the way to go. Often, free mp3 downloads are free because they are promotional-while to some customers, that word (promotional) may carry too large a host of negatives, for Alfred, it was no biggie. He knew that promotions regularly are the most cutting-edge and fascinating of what the market has to give. Sure, often the promo is shortened or abridged, but Alfred's careful Internet searches had led him to exactly the right one of the many free mp3 downloads for his trip. Now, he thought to himself as he altered the volume, that isn't to assert that this is the first book I would pick.
No, he suspected, the first book I'd pick was the one that cost more than I had on hand to pay for the download. But this was the best of the free mp3 downloads-and the reviews were good.
And they make certain to grab them when they can. And then, when they park in their parents' drive, they still slump over the steering wheel from exhaustion-but there's a bit of delight, too.
So the message of the story is to do as Al did. Let the down times in your day be the times you use those new free mp3 downloads or audiobooks. Listen while you do the dishes. Listen while you commute. Listen while you stand in a queue at the post office ( post offices are peculiarly designed for this reason ; if you forget your audiobook and are forced to stand alone, you will discover new levels of boredom or else make buddies in line [or get made chums with in spite of your best attempts to the contrary!] ). Listen on those long drives, and download-shoot for a free download if you can, any other mp3 download if you can not, plug it in and start it going. Just like for Al, it makes the turkey taste even better. Spend noticeably less time in the pan.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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