Monday, March 24, 2014

Audiobooks--aka. "Listening to the magic of books"

I love to listen to books. Not that I can't read them, but because voice acting makes books take on a fresh quality that I enjoy. Naturally, there are lots of other people who simply don't have time to read and so listen to books on their commutes to work and so on. It's another way to enjoy books, and sometimes is even better than reading it yourself--at least, I hope I'm not the only one who can't do voices justice in my own head.

My oldest daughter enjoys turning on her Kindle's voice reading system. It's pretty good, and she loves it, but I like a human being doing the reading. However, as technology progresses the quality of electronic reading will continue to more closely approximate the human voice. I suppose there will be a time when you really won't notice the difference. Sadly, that'll be the end of the voice acting industry in regards to audiobooks, but it will also open the galaxy of books to people unable to read for themselves.

The short story is especially suited to audiobooks, mainly due to the short form, and because it's easy enough to listen to an entire story in one sitting. Most full audiobooks go on for a number of hours (a dozen or more) and so must be broken down into smaller chunks. However, the experience is worthwhile and I think expands the book for the audience. Hopefully, it isn't the only way the books are read, but even if so, the books are being read and that is the important point.

- M

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