GIFT BUYING TREND: Old Books Create New Memories this Christmas with the help of a Canadian website

(PRWEB) November 10, 2002

With so many choices in today’s consumer world, giving a unique gift—-even if it’s secondhand-—shows that time and thought have gone into its purchase. This holiday season many shoppers are turning to used and secondhand books.

Parents are buying out-of-print books they read when they were young to share with their own children. Avid readers and bookclub members are giving their friends unique signed first editions of best-selling authors. And spouses are searching for that special book of poetry that they first shared when they were dating in college.

Where to find rare books?

How do shoppers find rare or old books that are often out-of-print? They turn to Abebooks.com, a Canadian Internet site that lists the used, rare and out-of-print books from 10,000 bookstores around the world.

Abebooks began as the secret online source for book collectors searching for rare books but has grown to become a favorite site for groups such as:

·gardening buffs looking for out-of-print gardening classics

·cookbook collectors looking for signed copies of “The Joy of Cooking” and other classics

·avid readers searching for cheap bestsellers

·students looking for secondhand textbooks

I don’t remember the title, but there was a dog named…

Can’t remember the title? Try posting the details you can remember (such as a character’s name) on the Abebooks “BookSleuth” board. Readers from around the world write in to solve your book question. “BookSleuth” is a free service and a fun place to visit—see if you can help “solve” someone else’s puzzle.

Is “used” a bad word?

Some people wonder if it’s okay to give a “used” book at Christmas. Yes, especially when it is a rare signed edition. These gifts are special because they are truly “unique”—no two copies are exactly the same. Prices range from outrageously cheap to outrageously expensive. For example, there are 3956 copies of “Winnie the Pooh” on Abebooks.com. Prices range from a ten-cent copy listed by a bookstore in Hopatcong New Jersey, to a $ 45,000 first edition in its original book jacket offered by a bookstore in Varen, France.

Thoughtful gifts—quick purchases

People don’t have time to browse used bookshops in person but they can browse for used books online. Online shopping lets you shop from home or the office and Abebooks makes it possible to browse the bookshelves of 10,000 bookstores in less than a minute. Once a book is purchased (through secure online credit card processing) the book is mailed from the bookstore to the buyer, or sent directly to the gift-receiver.

Gifts with interesting stories: “I bought it for you in Paris!”

Part of the fun of giving secondhand books relates to the stories and histories that these books carry. When asked where you found such a treasure you can say “In a small bookshop in Paris,” or “Somebody’s garage in New Zealand.” And you won’t be lying! Over two-thirds of Abebooks’ ten thousand booksellers sell books from their home.

Buying a book from a different country adds a nice story to a gift and makes the receiver feel that you searched the globe to find such a one-of-a-kind book. A suitable effort for those one-of-a-kind people on your holiday shopping list this year.

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Background: The Abebooks Story

Abebooks began as the Advanced Book Exchange in 1996 as a mere scribble on a notepad. Keith Waters, then a government web programmer, and his wife Cathy were running a used bookstore in Victoria, BC. Cathy often spoke of how difficult it was to find certain out-of-print titles for her customers. She knew the books were available in bookstores somewhere, but how to find them?

A short time later, during a dull business meeting, Keith began to scratch out a solution, one that combined books, databases and the Internet. He sought the help of a friend and together they came up with Abebooks, a collective of independent booksellers united by the Internet through a massive searchable database.

Abebooks found immediate success and quickly grew from a group of four booksellers to a network of ten-thousand booksellers offering 40 million books.

Today Abebooks is a global company based in Victoria, BC Canada with sites dedicated to book buyers in North America (Abebooks.com), the UK (Abebooks.co.uk), France (Abebooks.fr), and Germany (Abebooks.de) and strategic partnerships with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and eBay/Half.com.

Media Contact:

Marci Crossan [e] mcrossan@abebooks.com [t] 250.412.3258

Learning Ally Version 2.0 Audiobook Player Brings Accessible Books to Apple Devices for People With Disabilities

Princeton, NJ (PRWEB) August 16, 2011

Learning Ally, a 63-year old nonprofit organization serving over 300,000 individuals across the U.S. with learning differences, visual impairment and reading disabilities, has released an upgrade of its popular iOS application, which enables the entire Learning Ally library of downloadable DAISY-formatted audiobooks to be played on Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The upgraded app, renamed Learning Ally Audio following the organizations name change earlier this year, is available to Learning Ally members for $ 19.99 via the Apple iTunes store. It offers advanced accessibility features for ease of learning, including page and chapter navigation, variable speed and pitch control, bookmarking capabilities, and Apple VoiceOver compatibility. Users will also enjoy significant new features, including:

Play while locked. The new version can continue playback after the Apple device locks and turns off the screen to save battery life. This function can be turned on or off through the iOS Settings app.

Open with last book played at last point played. The new version resumes reading where users left off the last time that they ran the app. This feature can be turned on or off through the iOS Settings app.

Remember speed control and other settings. When these settings are changed, they will be remembered across all books and sessions.

Our members thrive on the ability to access content for learning and enjoyment on the devices they use in everyday life, says Andrew Friedman, Learning Allys President and CEO. With the new version of our app, we continue our commitment to develop technology that makes reading accessible for all learners. And more exciting things are coming down the road.

Looking ahead to this fall, Friedman continues, the Learning Ally Audio app will include text to speech functionality, enabling our learners to enjoy the best of both worlds: human narration as well as text content of their books and reading materials.

Transitioning to the upgraded player is easy for Learning Ally members who have the previous generation player (known as RFB&D Audio). They will simply be prompted that an upgrade is available; no re-authentication is required and the books currently in their collection will remain intact.

Learning Ally Audio is fully compatible with all iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS models, and iPod touch second generation and above devices. For visually impaired members, the app takes full advantage of Apples VoiceOver technology. Members can select from Learning Allys library of more than 65,000 titles available online and easily download books to their PCs and Macs. From there, they can use iTunes to easily transfer the files to their devices.

The app works seamlessly with Learning Allys individual and institutional school memberships, and is an easy, affordable way to access and enjoy the organizations vast collection of textbook and literature titles. More information, frequently asked questions, a quick start guide, and customer service contact information to support the Learning Ally Audio app are available at http://www.LearningAlly.org/apple.

About Learning Ally

Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, as well as veterans and lifelong learners all of whom cannot read standard print due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. Learning Allys collection of more than 65,000 digitally recorded textbooks and literature titles delivered through internet downloads and various assistive technology devices is the largest of its kind in the world. More than 6,000 volunteers across the U.S. help to record and process the educational materials, which students rely on to achieve academic and professional success. Learning Ally, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is funded by grants from state and local education programs, and the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations.

For more information, call (866) 732-3585 or visit http://www.LearningAlly.org.

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