ESV Bible - New Testament MP3 CD – Unabridged, November 1, 2007

I listen to this when driving since I drive an hour each way to work. I like how it has a summary of each chapter and who wrote it before each chapter. I also like how it lets me go backwards into Revelation when I'm in Matthew. Not a lot of CD's let you do that. The narrator does have some inflection of words for dramatic effect. I found it wasn't often enough that it bothered me. When I'm reading the bible I tend to like the KJV or NKJV better since I like the way it flows. I tried other CD's that were KJV and I found it a little hard to follow since I'm not doing the reading so I tried this ESV version and it works well for me. I find I can follow it really well without concentrating. I noticed that the narrator inflexes when there is yelling or shouting instead of actually raising his voice to yell or shout. So it appears to be a way to indicate loudness without raising the volume. Listening to this over and over on the way to and from work, you really pick up a lot and I've found it to be a great way to keep up with bible reading. You definitely can't beat the price. I should have bought this years ago. I've picked up so many things I've never caught before. I can't say enough good things about getting this or any version that you'll listen to on a regular basis.

I spend almost two hours a day in my car and so I wanted a Bible to listen to while I am driving and prefer reading the ESV translation. This Bible is okay. The recordings are of reasonable quality; however, I find Marquis Laughlin's dramatization of Scripture a little too over dramatized for my taste at times. He often uses different voices for different characters, almost as though I am listening to a children's book. Sometimes the dramatization just becomes a little annoying for me. I bought it to listen to the Bible being read and not so much to listen to the Bible being acted out. I realize this is a matter of opinion, but the dramatization is almost too much for me. (If you happen to enjoy this style of reading, more power to ya.)On the root of the CD, you will find all 289 files. There are 287 MP3s with a naming convention of: book number, book name, chapter number. There is also a track 00 for each book that serves as an introduction. The last two files are M3U and WPL play lists. None of the MP3s have track numbers associated with them and none of them have titles. (Some are even associated with the genre "Blues".) All of these things introduce problems when attempting to play them in an MP3 player, especially my car stereo. Because none of the tracks have titles, you really have no indication of where you are in the New Testament while they are playing. Unless you remember exactly what chapter you are on at the moment (chapter number is announced at the beginning of each MP3), you can't easily determine in which chapter any particular verse you just heard is located. If your MP3 player allows you to easily select one of the play lists, the books and chapters will play in order for you. If not, because there are no track numbers, the New Testament will play in random order—however your MP3 player feels like organizing them. If you want to skip to a different book, you will need to continually press the "next track" button on your player until you get through all the chapters of the preceding books and reach the book you want.So that the tracks would play properly in my car, I created folders on a flash drive named "AA Matthew", "AB Mark", "AC Luke" … "AZ Jude", "BA Revelation". I did this so that the folders of each book would sort properly in alphabetical order on my player. Since there are 27 books in the New Testament, I changed the naming convention to "BA" when I reached the book of Revelation. I then copied all of the MP3s associated with each book into their respective folders. After this, I modified the properties of each MP3 to give it the appropriate track number for the given folder and then added a title of book and chapter number to each and every MP3. This was a lot of additional work so that I could simply play it in a reasonable manner in my car. However, I can now use the folder selection option to easily jump to any particular book and the book and chapter are now displayed on the MP3 player. These are all things that could have easily been done by the publisher at the time the CD of MP3s was made.Although there are a lot of drawbacks to this MP3 version of the ESV New Testament, it does serve the purpose of allowing me the ability to listen to the Bible while I drive. I had to do a lot of cleanup work on track numbers and titles but I probably would buy it again.

Translating the comments above for those of you that are like me and have trouble reading in between the lines:******"His slow, thoughtful, and emotionally expressive narration makes you feel like you're ACTUALLY THERE, experiencing the story of Jesus."The narrator gives a new voice to every character we meet. He talks as if he is speaking in a play and enunciating to 200 people sitting in various parts of the theater.************"I say without any reservation or exaggeration that this Dramatic Narration of the Complete ESV New Testament by MARQUIS LAUGHLIN is the best audio Bible ever."The narrator attempt to mimic emotions the characters might be feeling. Like Peter cowering in fear. A trembling (or a quivering) voice is common.************"I felt his voice was very nice and he had a great tempo."Tempo...like in music. Yes the narrator uses this continuously. His voice goes up and down, up and down...******I will say that I didn't read the reviews very well before purchasing this. I saw a cheap audio version of the New Testament and thought "That would be good to get."If you are like me and easily distracted by the narrator adding every voice instrument known to man to his reading of the scripture, then this audio book isn't for you.I was simply looking for a nice, dry reading (no drama) for memorization when I'm in the car. Basically I'm using this as a tool to better quote scripture when I'm discussing topics or thinking about things.Some people might find this version worthwhile, so I'm not knocking it if drama is your style, but if you want a cut and dry reading of the New Testament, try another audio book.-AndrewPS I am comparing this against Sam Stinson's Librivox reading of the Bible (ASV). I was looking for an audio version of the ESV since that is what I read on a daily basis and I wanted my audio bible to match my reading bible.

It's the New Testament, so I'm not criticizing the Word of God, but this product, for what I paid for, does not deliver. I thought I was purchasing the entire Bible. It's only half the Bible. That's not good enough. You cannot have the Good News without knowing the story of the bad news.Also, this audio version doesn't list the books of the New Testament, just some arbitrary chapters, so I cannot find a specific book if that's what I'd like to listen to.Not a good purchase. I wish I can get my money back.

I have several of these to give away as gifts. Love the English Standard Version, especially for new believers and those interested in learning God's Word for the first time.

You need to have a special quality to be able to take on a task like the Entire New Testament- and for it to be enjoyable to listen-this recording is ideal-no silly, unnecessary music-just a reader with conviction, and a very clear voice-I get a lot from it!

Very helpful

Love this!!!

très très bonne excellente prononciation anglaise de cette bible qui est en phase totale avec la bible que je possède