Books to order

It was a dark and stormy night . . . no, the stars were out, and it was warm (a warm January Minnesota is above 10 degress). But dark it was, and we were in our house at 10:00 p.m. Someone said, "Let's watch a movie! But who will go to Hollywood Video. It's at least 5 minutes away, and I have on my PJs." We all slunk deeper into our chairs, until the smart one said, "Wait, there's Charter on-demand". And soon, without moving any more muscles than it took to click the remote, we'd ordered Mr. and Mrs. Smith and were on our way to movietime in our own comfortable living room.

Ironically, I've spent the last 2 days reviewing services of downloadable audio book providers. I've been a fan of books on CD for long car-trips for a while now. With this change in format, libraries can deliver books to citizens as easily as Charter brought our movie into our living room. Why, if I forget a book (or finish one) while I'm out of town, I will be able to download a new one right in my hotel room.

What great times we live in!