What's your daily commute like?

Do you listen to something on the way to or from work?

Is it quality food or is it a bit junky?

Do you feed your ears candy or real food?

Did you know that you can earn the equivalent of a university degree over a few years just by listening to quality audiobooks and/or lectures on your daily commute?

Now of course, you could just buy ye olde books on tape or books on CD from your local Christian bookstore, but what I love about using MP3 players is sorting out my playlists so I never have to worry about ejecting tapes/CDs and losing time.

There are excellent Christian podcast sites, audio sermons, etc available, which will not be the subject of this article, though if you know of any good ones, let me know!

I'm thinking more in terms of longer-form Christian audiobooks. Now we know we should be reading more Christian books, but often time is either the enemy or the excuse.

The good news is that websites like ChristianAudio offer a range of Christian audiobooks for download onto your computer and iPod/MP3 player. They even offer newsletter subscribers a FREE audiobook each month. Some of the freebies in the last year have included eclectic works of varying quality such as " Jonathan Edwards' The Religious Affections, Leo Tolstoy's The Resurrection, Augustine's On Christian Doctrine, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

A limited range of about 20 books, but totally free, is available at Free Christian Audiobooks.

If you have Apple's iTunes music software (easily downloadable from Apple's website if you don't), you can click on iTunes Music Store and select from a range of audiobooks there (you will need to buy credits though). The selection is passable, with not a great range of Christian material. Better is Audible.com, with its vast and growing online shelves for you to browse. Again, you will need to subscribe and pay, or top-up your credits.

My personal goal last year was to read 52 books. In order to help me get there, I utilised audiobooks so I could get some great input in otherwise lost pockets of time.

When to listen?

- Travelling in the car or on public transport
- Walking
- Washing the dishes
- In the bathroom (only for water-proof MP3 players)
- Exercising
- Multi-tasking
- Waiting
- Shopping
- Hanging out the washing

My goal for 2008 is 75 books.

How many books do you want to read/listen to this year?

Well go on. Feed your ears!