It’s becoming more and more common now for libraries to move into the digital age and offer books on MP3 format for patrons to access and download via their websites. It’s a great way of reaching more people who would otherwise not consider using the library, and introducing more children and teens to books they would otherwise never have experienced.

The Baxter County Library in the US is the latest library to offer its books as MP3 files. The Baxter County Library has introduced something it calls ‘Playaway’, which is an MP3 player ready loaded with a digital audio book.

Fourteen-year-old Alex Anderson for example experienced Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare through the new Playaway system. Alex says that by reading the book while listening to the MP3 reading he is better able to understand the meaning of the play.

If I was just reading the book it would have taken me a week to get through Act 1.

It gets your imagination going more. If I was just reading it, I would have thought of Romeo as a normal lovesick boy but he sounds more life-like as Shakespeare intended.

Even the merging of Shakespeare with the technology of MP3 however can’t make your average fourteen-year-old enjoy the bard:

I wouldn’t say I like Shakespeare, but I can handle Shakespeare better.

The Playaway system itself is very small, about half of the size of a pack of playing cards.