Audio books have long been a popular source of entertainment for people with vision problems and young children. The rise of in car tape players,cds, mp3s and ipods has meant an increase in the popularity and use of audio books. While most people will listen to music in their cars and on the move an increasing number are using ipods, mp3s and cd players to listen to audio books and consequently the number of audio book stores is beginning to increase.

Put simply an audio book is the recording of the contents of a book that have been read aloud. Generally speaking audio books meant books that had been recorded on audio tape but with the rise of digital equipment audio books are now available on cd or in other digital formats. Since 2006 an increasing number of audio books are now available in downloadable form and are therefore instantly available from audio book stores. Recent estimates of the audio book business have been put at somewhere in the region of two billion dollars.

Audio books come in a number of different forms. Some of them are abridged or shortened forms of the original book and some are unabridged, presenting the original text in its entirety. Some books are produced as dramatized audio books with different voices and often a musical accompaniment. For many years books and longer stories have been serialized, particularly on BBC radio stations. Occasionally such series use the voice of well known actors. Just as there are book shows and book awards with money and prizes for award winners, so there are audio awards with prizes for the best performance/reading of different genres.

The increasing popularity of the audio book means that there are now an increasing number of titles that can be downloaded from online audio book stores. Audio books are a boon to those with sight problems or who, for one reason or another are unable to read the printed version for themselves. But more and more people are also discovering the great advantages of downloading from an audio book store and immediately being able to listen to one of the thousands of titles now available.

There are now an increasing number of books available in online audio book stores. Some websites are devoted entirely to selling audio books and sometimes there is an option to download straight away rather than wait for delivery. With different formats and an increase in the choice available it seems fair to say that the growth of audio book stores will continue and their products will continue bringing people pleasure for some considerable time to come.