Jonathan Savory (Bogata)
While I have by no means listed to all 77 hours of the McLean NIV audio Bible, I am confident that the quality and consistency are there to make this a product I will use freqently, year after year.

Pros: For the price of a hard-cover Bible, one can listen to every word, discovering new insight and truth from an oral teaching of the Bible. This audio bible can be very helpful in exposing oneself to difficult or more obscure books, psalms or passages. The orator is clear-speaking, well-paced and uses dramatic emphasis only where truly fitting. The layout of the disks makes finding the desired passage easy. Gentle backgound music is mixed at the correct volume and does not distract from the Word.

Cons: Although I am surprised at how much I enjoy the background music, a purist would surely find it unwelcome. There are very minor editing flaws such as repeated passages (I’ve only heard one, but been told of others). The audio quality (MP3 @ 64kbps, 22khz) is not perfect, but very good considering the limitations. Any translation of the Bible has its critics, the NIV not withstanding. Very breif introductions to the history and themes of each book would be very welcome but are missing.

I enjoy this product deeply, and cherish it as much as my favorite paper and ink copy of the Bible. I enjoy the ability to play the MP3s on any of my MP3-enabled devices, allowing for a new and very diverse range of times and places for Bible study. As the tagline says, it is simple in presentation, easy to use, and the production is not encumbered by melodrama, campy music or any other awkward artifice.

Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.