podbooks dot org

A podbook is an audiobook in a format usable by a portable mp3 player.

I like the term over audiobooks because an audiobook can be on many other forms. I think podbooks could help people in net searches because few of us want to scour the net for a book and only find it existing on some old cassette tapes on EBAY.  

Another term PODIOBOOKS is pretty useful also.  I think it is a touch too narrow for my application.  Podiobooks are “books delivered in serialized audio format via XML fees and the tag.”(reference)  Basicly they are books made available in podcast format.”

So Podbooks makes a touch more inclusive, allowing for other download forms.  

A couple objections to the use of “podbook”.  It connotes “Ipod only”.  I think pod has become a term like coke or Xerox.  Very popular brands become a term for an entire class.  

The second objection is that podbooks might also apply to books that are read from the ipod screen.  I consider these to be ebooks a broader term that includes books across more devices.  

 *mp3 is popular but certainly not exclusive other compact formats as ogg would be perfectly acceptable even though not as widely adopted.

*some use on the net denotes that podbooks are like ebooks for the ipod. I think this use is already well covered by the use of ebook and etext. There are many similar products that are ebook readers.

*podbooks are not to mean exclusive to ipods. just as phones are not exclusive to apple just because there is an iphone.