What are the Advantages of Audio Books?
October 31st, 2011The advantages of audio books to our society nowadays are countless. Don’t get me wrong, I love the print edition, the smell of the book when you’re about to read it, the indescribable feeling of somewhat excitement when you have a new hardbound book waiting to be read. But of course, not all of us have the extra time to actually sit in a corner and read one. One of the many advantages of audio books are their flexibility – you can do something else while listening to them.
I was clueless about the advantages of audio books
In fact, about twenty years ago, I remember a friend telling me she had passed the time on a lonely cross country drive by listening to audio books. She showed me one of them. It was a big, bulky thing; a chunky stack of cassette tapes packaged in a cardboard box. I was kind of taken aback. I didn’t know anybody who listened to audio books except an elderly neighbor whose eyes were giving her trouble. Sure, I could see the appeal for a long road trip. It seemed a lot better than trying to stay awake by hunting for a new radio station every hundred miles. Back then, though, I couldn’t imagine choosing an audio book over the print edition just for enjoying a novel.
Times have changed, and technology has changed even faster. Audio books are enjoying popularity I never would have predicted when my friend showed me that big box of cassette tapes. These days, it seems like audio books are everywhere. They’ve been gaining ground with book lovers for a variety of reasons, and it looks like they’re here for the long haul.
One big factor contributing to the increased popularity of audio books is increased availability. More and more titles have come on the market in audio format, and they’re available much more easily. Every brick and mortar bookstore has an extensive selection of audio books on CD. My local public library system has a huge collection of CD audiobooks, and as many titles or more available as electronic downloads online. A plethora of online bookstores commercial websites offer audio book downloads, for sale or loan, individually or on subscription plans. There are even sites that offer free downloads of public domain literature read by volunteers, although you often get what you pay for, and the quality of these recordings can be a little spotty. It used to be that you’d only find the most popular recent thrillers and pot boilers, and a few classics, in audio format. These days, you’ll find books in every genre, lesser known novels, non-fiction books, even self help and humor titles. It seems like just about anything you’d want to read, you can get someone to read it to you.
The fact that recent audio book recordings are usually great quality has certainly helped their popularity, too. The audio books I listen to are produced well and recorded beautifully. The sound quality is excellent. Some even add music or sounds to enhance the listening experience. The readers are talented actors, or in some cases, the authors themselves. It’s a particular treat to hear an author reading his or her own words. It adds an intimacy to the audio book experience that you really just can’t get in the print edition.
Not only have audio books become easier to get, they’ve become easier to listen to, at home and on the go. CDs store more data, meaning fewer changes than the old cassette tape audio books that kept my friend company across the Great Plains way back then. If you choose a downloaded edition, it doesn’t need to have any breaks at all. You can listen to a book straight through, start to finish, if you have the time! Devices and recordings vary, but many make it easy to keep track of your place and find chapter and section breaks. MP3 players are ubiquitous; we can play audio books on our computers and on our phones. We can listen to audio content in our homes, in our cars, on the bus, at the gym – pretty much everywhere we go. Look around at the little white wires going into your neighbor’s ears; how many of those folks are listening to audio books right now? I’m willing to bet it’s more than just a few.
The advantages of audio books for kids
There are even audio books for kids. I know a little girl who listens to her favorite books while she’s playing with her dolls. She and her mom have a great time listening together and discussing the stories afterwards, and the mom has her hands free to get dinner ready, too. Audio books can help make enjoying literature a family activity.
It’s still true, of course, that audio books are an amazing boon to people who are print-impaired. Reading even large print books can be exhausting for some people, and if you take a look at your local bookstore or library, you’ll see that there aren’t as many large-print titles available as there should be. Back when my elderly neighbor was an audio book early adopter, they helped her keep up with her reading when her eyes wouldn’t cooperate anymore. My neighbor loved books, and she hated the idea of giving up reading. She would have been thrilled to have access to the vast variety of audio book titles that are available now. I thought about her the other day when I ran across an audio book recording of Wuthering Heights. I remember that book was a favorite of hers; she loaned me her copy that she couldn’t read anymore, and it became a favorite of mine, too. Think about an MP3 player and a subscription to an audio book club or a credit on a website that sells audio books as a holiday gift for an older person in your life. I promise it will be greatly appreciated.
As for me, I’m definitely an audio book convert. I love to knit, and one of my favorite things to do on a chilly evening is to settle down with my knitting and a good audio book on my MP3 player. Every time I try to knit and watch TV, I’m always either dropping stitches or asking ‘wait, what just happened?’ It drives my family crazy. With an audio book, I can follow a story with my ears, and keep my eyes for my needles. The book comes with me on my morning run, too, and on the drive to work. One of the many advantages of audio books is it’s easy to run the recording back a couple of minutes if I miss something, or listen to a favorite passage again. Without audio books, I’d miss out on some great stories!
How about you? Do you have any experience with audio books yet? Any advantages you have discovered? Well, feel free to share the advantages of audio books to your everyday life!
