By Robert Shay, Special to JTNews
This month, I am pleased to announce to the community that I have decided to expand the selection of media our collection or “video store” offers. For years I have been interested in books on tape, but have been reluctant to offer them for rent due to the susceptibility to damage audio cassette tapes present and the difficulties in keeping track of what side of which tape you were listening to when you stop listening for a day or two.
Earlier this year I started to review that decision due to the introduction of books on compact disc. I purchased a copy of “Blackhawk Down” to listen to on a business trip to Portland. Ah, the convenience of technology. Besides the durability that CDs offer, the disc player kept track of where I left off when I stopped to call on a client, or switched to the radio to listen to music or the news.
That still does not mean that there are enough Jewish books on disc to start a collection, however. When I contacted my Jewish media sources, I found there to be a wide selection of Jewish books in print and on cassette, but few on disc. That is changing and I have just ordered the first twenty-one discs to start our new audio book collection. To make sure the name of our organization more accurately presents what we do, I will be changing it to, The Sylvia Suckerman Jewish Media Collection, which will have two distinct collections, “Video Judaica”, and “Judaica Disc Books”.
Look for my announcement of titles that will be available in future issues of the Transcript. Now on to the current focus. It’s time to grab a bowl of popcorn, a cold soda, and enjoy my latest video acquisitions from around the United States and Israel.