The January 1/15 issue of Booklist magazine features an article about Playaway by Mary Burkey. Mary is a dedicated middle school librarian and educator and a passionate audiobook enthusiast. She is the founder of the ALA Odyssey Award for best Young Adult audiobook, a frequent contributor to Booklist, and writes the always-interesting Audiobooker blog -- now hosted by Booklist Online.
In the article, Mary tells of her visit to Playaway headquarters in Solon, Ohio, interviews key Playaway employees, and talks to librarians about their perceptions of Playaway. In her concluding paragraph, she writes:
What's on the horizon for the Playaway? [Company founder, Blake] Squires predicts that Playaways will meet the needs of a large portion of patrons for years to come... Squires says that... their product is more than just a physical box. Their ability to load publisher content securely in Ohio, supply high-quality labeling, ship in a timely fashion, provide value-added services, and offer great content is what sets them apart. "All of these attributes combine to make Playaway a brand product," says Squires... "We evangelize the format, share why it's good, get in relationships with libraries, and make sure the content is of great quality. Playaway is not a piece of consumer electronics, Playaway is a a platform for delivering content."
The full text of Mary's article is available to Booklist Online subscribers (30-day free trial available): Playaway: Grab and Go Audio - Booklist (Jan 1-15, 2009).
As of 1/25/2009, full text is available here.
Or click here to download a PDF reprint.
