Jonathan Takiff | Music, audio gadgets: It's all in the delivery

THE GIZMO:

New entertainment software delivery alternatives for giving and getting.

CROSSING THE CULTURE GAP: It's getting harder to buy the gift of music or an audio book for someone you love, especially if they're in their tween, teen or twentysomething years.

CD and cassette tape players are no longer a prime component of techno-savvy youth culture. All their popular culture is stored on an iPod (or equivalent), a mobile phone and a computer.

Sure, you could buy someone a generic gift card or a better phone plan for whatever downloads they choose, but how personal of a present is that? What does it say about your taste, your desire to share some meaningful work of art?

Some new marketing/packaging solutions could resolve this dilemma, making both you and (it is hoped) your gift recipient happy.

ALL BOOKED UP: My beloved somehow messed up the download of a Steve Martin audio book this summer to her PC and iPod. In our haste to take it along and listen on a long car ride, we wound up downloading the book a second time - and paying twice for the privilege!

There would not have been a problem if we'd purchased the saga on Playaway, the world's first and only pre-loaded audio book player.

This palm-sized, two-ounce device displays its dual nature with a decal replica of the stored book's jacket affixed to one side, while the other side offers an array of operating controls similar to what you'd find on a solid-state audio player.

A Playaway comes with a AAA battery, a lanyard and a pair of bud earphones. As the jack is standard size, you can use your own, higher-quality phones or connect the player to your car stereo or home electronics rig.

On average, you'll pay $29.99 to $34.99 for the player and audio book contents, which this holiday season will include more than 1,000 titles, from children's to best-sellers, classics, health and fitness, motivational and language-learning.

An extra-long title like David McCullough's 12-hour "1776" requires a larger memory chip, and thus warrants a higher, $49.99 price.

If the TV/movie writers' strike lingers on, I'll be champing to hear my late-night TV fave Stephen Colbert's customized audio version of "I Am America (And So Can You!)." Other marquee titles include Ken Burns narrating "The War: An Intimate History," Tom Brokaw hosting "Boom! Voice of the Sixties," and recent best-selling novels like James Patterson's "Double Cross" and David Baldacci's "Stone Cold."

Parents are more likely to keep or pass along a children's Playaways audio treat like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Charlotte's Web" (read by author E.B. White), suggested a company spokesman. But if you'd like to trade in a title, the RePlay Rewards program lets you mail back a unit to get 50 percent off (with free shipping) your next Playaway purchase.

Look for select titles at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Brookstone and Hudson Books. A full catalog can be found at www.playawaydigital.com.

TUNING UP: While only a handful of titles are available on the new iTunes digital album card format, major labels like Sony/

BMG and EMI are excited about the potential of this new music gift and delivery device.

And that goes double for retail merchants, who see the cards as a way to "leverage digital in the physical space." That is, to get people shopping in their bricks-and-mortar stores.

Available first at Starbucks and Safeway grocery stores, the iTunes cards encourage you to purchase a specific album by, say, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5 or Norah Jones, which the gift recipient will then download online at the iTunes Store.

The glossy, durable plastic card measures 4.5 by 6.25 inches and displays the album cover art and a description on the front. On back is a song list, bonus material and a scratch-off strip that reveals the code needed to download the title.

For K.T. Tunstall's "Drastic Fantastic" ($14.99), extras include six music videos, a downloadable CD booklet and a backstage video.

Other titles, priced at $11.99 to $19.99, include Eddie Vedder's soundtrack to "Into the Wild," a "Best of Comedy Central Stand Up" and greatest hits collections dedicated to the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s.

SHARE THE PLEASURE: Are you still watching videos the old-fashioned way - on a DVD player and TV screen - while your kid is strictly into computer and portable player viewing? Buy the two-disc collector's edition of "Live Free or Die Hard," due out Nov. 20 from Fox Home Entertainment, and you can have it both ways.

Boasting special digital management software, this is the first DVD that allows a consumer to make one authorized copy for a PC and another for a Windows-capable portable device (that is to say, not a Video iPod).

"So what you're getting, as a consumer, is the best of both worlds," said Fox executive Danny Kaye. "Once they've paid for the special-edition DVD, they don't get upcharged for the digital copy."

Warner Bros. plans to put this same "managed digital copy" feature on the Harry Potter movie "Order of the Phoenix," coming to home video on Dec. 11. Disney is planning a second-quarter-2008 debut of its first DVD with the feature.

"We really like the idea because we think it solves the big problems of pure digital distribution," said Buena Vista Home Entertainment president Bob Chapek. *

Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.