Ive heard that the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) is planning to change talking books to a “digital” format. What does this mean?
For nearly thirty years, the primary format for talking books has been cassette. Before that, they were recorded on phonograph records. Both of these formats are “analog,” meaning that the records and tapes physically store a replica of the sound of the narrator’s voice. Specifically, when the narrator’s voice got a bit louder, the groove of the record actually moved farther from side to side, and, on a cassette, more magnetic particles lined up in the same direction. In a digital format, measurements of the narrator’s unique sound waves are stored as digits-ones and zeros-the way computers operate. The Internet, CDs, DVDs, and memory cards for digital cameras all process and store information in digital form. Advantages to storing audio recordings as numbers include the ability to improve audio quality, the ability to use the same recording in a greater variety of ways, and the ability to integrate recorded information into a wide range of systems.
