Now this is the sort of thing for which AustenBlog was created: the marriage of pop culture with Austenian artistry. And what’s more pop culture these days than the iPod?

An article in the Independent (U.K.) discusses mp3 versions of audiobooks, which can be downloaded to a portable listening device such as an iPod. According to the article, Pride and Prejudice is a top-seller for mp3 audiobook CDs at Waterstone’s, a British bookstore chain. With the popularity of portable mp3 players, Watersone’s plans to provide self-serve audiobook download kiosks in its stores, and envisions such technology eventually replacing CDs and cassettes as the media on which audiobooks are delivered.

Significantly, however, it is the phenomenal success of the audio cassette (which has kept pace with the recent surge in book sales on the back of such initiatives as the Richard and Judy Book Club and The Big Read) that has alerted publishers and industry suits to the market potential of the MP3 audio book. Between 1999 and 2003 the audio book industry grew by 12 per cent, and by 2003 it was worth more than £70m. In America - always a good barometer of what Britain will be like in five years’ time - the same market is worth more than £1bn. Over here, the growth in UK sales has been particularly helped by big retailers, particularly Waterstone’s, whose buying manager, Scott Packer, has started to market popular audio books - and where possible, the MP3 version - in his stores in much the same way he markets the printed book. Jo Marino, a spokeswoman for Waterstone’s, believes that, these days, the audio cassette, and by implication its MP3 counterpart, increasingly complements the way we live our lives. “In the 21st century, time is of the essence,” she says. “We have more time to listen than we do to read.”

The article also points out that many audiobook consumers do not yet own iPods or other devices that allow them to listen to audiobooks during long automobile rides, for instance. However, we love the idea of digitizing audiobooks, so much so that we may be persuaded to purchase one of those devices at long last.

The wide release of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE tomorrow has spawned a new set of reviews, which, curiously, we found a great deal more enjoyable than the big-name reviews that preceded it. Perhaps because there is more thought going into these reviews (well, most of them) and less hipper-than-thou posturing. (Was anyone else reminded of Perpetua from the Bridget Jones books when reading some of the snottier reviews earlier? No?)

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times (via the Monterey County Herald) tries very hard to be as hip and snobby as his counterparts (how Darcy of him), but there’s something about B&P that he can’t help liking:

Jane Austen comes from sturdy stock. She prospered in posh Beverly Hills in “Clueless” and survived a transplant to trendy London in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

Now it’s India’s turn, and Austen proves to be more than up to the switch in scenery in Gurinder Chadha’s lively and cheerful “Bride & Prejudice.”

We’re fairly certain that Mr. Turan is a Janeite; he’s certainly familiar with the story. It will be interesting to compare his comments on P&P3 when it comes out this year.

Phil Villarreal in the Arizona Daily Star is quite pleased with the film and doesn’t scruple to tell us so.

People complain that today’s movies don’t have enough romance, don’t have enough understatement, don’t have enough elegance.

No one gripes, though, that the movies don’t have enough “Pride and Prejudice.”

Jane Austen’s romantic comedy of prestige marriages and love jeopardized by misunderstanding is eternally up for movie treatment, now in Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride & Prejudice,” which joyfully infuses the story with the trappings of Indian “Bollywood” musicals.

Each revamp of “Pride” must work feverishly to differentiate itself from the pack. The Internet Movie Database lists seven adaptations of the book as films, miniseries and TV movies. And that doesn’t even count “Snide and Prejudice” (1997). Just last year there was a Mormon update of “Pride,” and Keira Knightley is starring in a British version due out this year. The only frontier left to conquer for the lovelorn Lizzie Bennet and crew is outer space.

Oh Lord. Don’t give George Lucas any ideas.

We were also vastly amused by the worldly-wise stylings of Shawn Patrick Green of the University of Arizona Daily Wildcat, who is very decided in his opinions for so young a person.

The novelty of this film, aside from it being a cheesy Bollywood musical, is that it’s based on Jane Austen’s book “Pride and Prejudice.” If you’ve read the book, (which I, being a guy, haven’t) you’ll recognize a lot of characters and situations that were present in the novel (according to Cliffs Notes).

We think that paragraph tells you pretty much all you need to know about this review. We also think the two previous reviewers, not to mention some of our readers, might disagree with Mr. Green on whether it is possible for men to read a Jane Austen novel.