Equipment for Playing Talking Books

Digital Talking Book Machines

The National Library Service is switching from cassettes to flash cards for Talking Books. The first books on flash cards, and the digital talking book machines (DTBMs) to play them, became available in the fall of 2009.

Although new books will be produced only on flash cards, books already on cassette will still be available for some time to come.

Cassette Players

Operating the Cassette Player

  • Cassette Machine Instructional VideoExternal Link Icon - This video, created by the Long Island Talking Book Library, provides some basic instructions for using the cassette player. Geared toward new users of the service, it provides some basic information about both cassette players and books on tape, and clearly explains how to insert a tape and use the different buttons and switches on the cassette player.

    The video is in Flash format and is set up so that you can watch either the entire video (about 12 minutes) or just the specific segments that interest you. An audio-only version is also available.
  • Cassette Player Controls
  • How To Play Four Track Cassettes

More about Cassette Players

Last Updated: June 2, 2010