I was requested to post a hit. Here are the response I got for
audiobooks vs playaways.
**Dr. Sheneman has some in her library. It is an MP3 player. You can
stop and play at any point in the book. It is good for those children
who want to read a thick novel but normally wouldn't because it is out
of their reading range. She said she'll do anything to get kids reading.
**Playaways are very popular with our students. We use disposable ear
plugs. Increases literacy enjoyment options.
**Mason: We began using Playaways last spring here at our 5th-6th grade
campus. The kids love them! They stay circulating constantly and kids
will listen to stories that they would never choose otherwise just
because they want a Playaway. The benefit is portability and ease of
use. The kids don't need any equipment to play it on and with CD's they
often leave one in their personal CD players or lose one. On the
downside, they have not held up well. Many have already broken. There
is a one year warranty, but I hate hassling with rounding up the
paperwork to try to get things replaced (especially when I still
consider the item "new"). The cases are also flimsy and don't hold up
well to circulation. The batteries wear out frequently. I've spent
about $100 on rechargeable batteries and battery chargers. My
rechargeable batteries often disappear. I think the kids toss them at
home when the batteries need replacing. Overall, as much as I think
they are terrific devices, I'm not planning to purchase any more until
the audio units are redesigned to last longer and they are packaged with
more durable cases.
**The only thing about Playaways is that we don't let the girls reuse
the earbuds. We bought a bunch of cheap ones and sell them for $1.00 if
the girls don't have their own . . . which most of them do. We don't
have many but what we have we put them with our audio books. They are
not wildly successful!
**We have both types. Playaways have advantages and disadvantages. Pros:
you can bookmark them multiple times and they cant be scratched. Cons,
earbuds for each user, small can be stolen easily, can be lost or
broken. But you can say the same for tapes or CDs.
**We purchase Playaway when there is an option. Advantages are it's on 1
self contained unit, and the student doesn't have to have a cd player to
listen. We provide the batteries and encourage them to use their own
headphones. If they don't have any, we have purchased a bucketload of $1
headphones in case of loss or breakage.
**We have Playaways at our Public Library and are discontinuing them
because they never have worked as smoothly as we wanted. I found that
they would get stuck and replay certain parts or not bookmark the part
like they were supposed to and it was difficult to get back to the spot
** didn't get Playways because there weren't many titles that I thought
junior high students would want to read. We got several iPods and
downloaded books from audible.com with a Platinum account and that has
worked well and since they can be loaded onto multiple iPods, it was
very affordable. Students may check them out with a permission slip
from parents and they are used for classroom listening and for reading
tests to students who formerly needed a one on one para to take tests..
We have a few audio tapes & CDs, but they are not checked out often,
mostly for classroom listening. We have Destiny and are getting eBooks,
but again, not many titles that junior high kids are going to want.
Audible.com has the best selection for this age group.
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Mason Teresa
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 3:05 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: audiobooks or playaways
Can you tell me whether your school uses playaways or audiobooks? Are
there any benefits to playaways?
Thanks
Teresa Mason
Oak Mountain Academy
Carrollton, GA 30116
T
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