Pros and cons with audiobooks compared to reading books?

Humes fork

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Humes fork
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Jul 9, 2011
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I think that if the mind wanders a little when listening to an audiobook, you might lose your way in the book somewhat. But I think that for me at least, it is a more efficient way of devour the book.
 
I just finished listening to two audio books. I tend to listen just before going to sleep (i guess I like being read to?) and have nodded off several times. I can usually remember and recover to the point where I left off.

However, these particular books maybe seemed a lot longer as read aloud. I'm a pretty fast reader and there were certainly points I would have liked to skim over if I had the physical book. Also, a lot depends on the speakers. A small irritation can drive you crazy after a couple chapters.
 
I prefer audiobooks myself. I listen to them before I sleep like the poster above me said. It is easier to follow I find, I don't have to focus so much on what is being said to know what is going on.

On the other hand, if there was something I didn't understand it is much more difficult to go back to it and listen again.
 
I listened to the Hyperion novels while working the midnight shift. I could plug my device into the squad-car stereo and listen while I patrolled. That was OK, but I found that just sitting and listening made me want to DO things.
 
I enjoy audiobooks because I can read/be read to in bed without having a light on waking up my girlfriend. I also like the fact I can carry lots of books in my pocket which is handy when travelling.

One of the downsides to audiobooks is that they are easier to delete than a hard copy and there are still more hard copy book available. I'm sure this will change.

I still, and always will love hard copy books and will still continue to buy them every chance I get haha
 
I tried listening to an audiobook while driving once (Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian), but I found that listening distracted me, so I quit. Not sure if that was just a fluke, but I decided that I'd better not repeat the experiment. :eek:
 
I tend not to like the speed (or rather, lack of it) with which audiobooks are read - it doesn't have the same cadence as normal speech and it bugs me. I just want them to get to the end of the sentence. However, I've listened to several while driving long distances, and it's a nice break from my own CDs, radio muzak, and NPR.
 
ieathedead said:
I enjoy audiobooks because I can read/be read to in bed without having a light on waking up my girlfriend. I also like the fact I can carry lots of books in my pocket which is handy when travelling.

One of the downsides to audiobooks is that they are easier to delete than a hard copy and there are still more hard copy book available. I'm sure this will change.

I still, and always will love hard copy books and will still continue to buy them every chance I get haha
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So, what he do you eat dead??:confused:
 
ieathedead said:
I enjoy audiobooks because I can read/be read to in bed without having a light on waking up my girlfriend. I also like the fact I can carry lots of books in my pocket which is handy when travelling.

One of the downsides to audiobooks is that they are easier to delete than a hard copy and there are still more hard copy book available. I'm sure this will change.

I still, and always will love hard copy books and will still continue to buy them every chance I get haha
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I believe there are new fangled computermajigs that let you carry many print books at once too.

The last 'audiobook' I listened to was Jackanory, I just can't adapt to someone else interpreting books for me.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
... I just can't adapt to someone else interpreting books for me.
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The audiobook reader can make or ruin a good book. And sometimes even a good reader can bug you when they try to add some quality to a character's words, like a male reader imitating a female voice in the story. But the tradeoff is worth it.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
The audiobook reader can make or ruin a good book. And sometimes even a good reader can bug you when they try to add some quality to a character's words, like a male reader imitating a female voice in the story. But the tradeoff is worth it.
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My favorite was read by the actual author (Jon Krakauer, "Under the Banner of Heaven"). His speed was good, voice timbre was pleasant. Subject matter was not pleasant, of course.
 
Tiktaalik said:
My favorite was read by the actual author (Jon Krakauer, "Under the Banner of Heaven"). His speed was good, voice timbre was pleasant. Subject matter was not pleasant, of course.
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When the author's read their own work, that is best.
 
I have problems with my mind wandering listening to audio books. It's weird because I loved being read to in school and did not have a problem paying attention to an actual person reading.

I also like to go back and reread a sentence or paragraph where something I really find interesting happens.

But I've been listening to audiobooks lately when I fall asleep.
 
I get motion sickness when I have my head down in a plane or or on a train. I usually add a couple of audio books to my Kindle before I take long trips.
 
My mind wanders. I've never been able to get through an audiobook. I like to be able to re-read passages that I either found especially well-written or which I didn't fully grasp. With an audiobook it's maddening trying to back up and find the same passage again. I just can't hang.
 
One word, Dyslexia.

Also they are really nice when working out at the gym. Now they just need to come up with a waterproof sports version for swimming laps!
 
To the point of being difficult to rewind to something you've missed. I use a program called Pocket Player on a Windows Mobile phone. It lets you set rewind and fast forward to skip a specific number of seconds by clicking, rather than holding, the button. I have rewind set to 15 seconds and find it easy to skip back to something I've missed.

Of course I could be off base here. The program is a few years old and others may have tried this feature and found it wasn't intuitive for them.
 
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