It is truely a sad day. Of course I still wonder why the either or syndrom? I don't normally listen to books, but have enjoyed listening to a couple my roomie has (she is blind not me). If the books are read well then perhaps some of the cost could be recovered by making the same recording available to sighted people. Not to mention that I know of several who would listen to more books if they were not often abridged. I think it is time to call our governments into partnerships. The truth is that there is a secondary market developing for many of the same technologies that assist the blind. The most logical thing to me would be to support development of the technology hoping that it can also find its way into a secondary market of sighted people. If in partnership the cost could be recouped to spend on the next thing to be developed. The same should go for electronic books. I fail to see why there isn't a huge effort to make the same titles available to the sighted world in the same basic format. ======= Kirk Wood Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net Nowlan's Theory: He who hesitates is not only lost, but several miles from the next freeway exit.