Say goodbye to audio CD and cassettes and say hello to downloadable audio books. MP3 audio books and other formats of digital audio books will become cheaper and easier to access. Audio books on CD's and cassettes tend to be more of an inconvenience, even though they are more user friendly. But this year the amount of listeners who download audio books from the internet to listen on their various mobile devices will rise significantly. This does not come as a big surprise as MP3s have become more popular then portable CD players.

Similar to the DVD market, most audio book listeners will prefer to rent audio books instead of buying them. It seems this trend will be the strongest for downloadable audio books but is also true for audio books on CD and books on tape.

Another trend that will become popular is the online audio book services, which will offer low cost and free audio books through free trial offers and special deals. So in some cases, you may not even have to buy the book.

The audio books market has been quite popular in the United Kingdom; in 2004 it sold over $124 million. It is said that the trend is soon going to take Europe by storm. In 2005 the market in Germany grew to $120 million. It is expected to rise about 20 % in the whole continent during the year of 2006.

So join the band wagon and get yourself some audio books. You can listen to them while doing exercise. Instead of listening to music you can listen to your favourite book.