MP3 players, remember those? Photograph: Sarah Lee/The GuardianĪudible may have lost interest in old-school MP3 players – ones without wifi – but they are still an option.

Unfortunately, removing internet access completely would now eliminate all the products that Audible lists on its “ how to listen” page, which nowadays doesn’t even mention MP3 players. But none of these stopped a flood of evil videos from being shown to young children on YouTube, for example, and even good content can have bad effects if used unwisely or to excess. I guess you are supposed to protect children via a mixture of the UK’s sometimes heavily censored internet, services like OpenDNS’s FamilyShield, blocking specific IP addresses on your router, and device-level parental controls.

However, the trend is towards synchronising devices with the cloud, and streaming content from online services such as Spotify and – yes – Audible.Īmazon, which bought Audible in 2008, runs the world’s largest cloud in the form of AWS (Amazon Web Services), but you can still download Audible files for offline use. You can still turn back the clock to a time when people used cables to transfer files – including ripped CDs and DVDs – from PCs to handheld devices such as PDAs, phones and MP3 players.

Amazon prime audio books free