Over to you audible

This blog post inspired by a comment from Andy Ihnatko on MacBreak Weekly 128.

I love to read, I have a pile of books so high I can barely reach the top, I also love to listen to audiobooks – I like the way an actor or author can put emphasis in places I didn’t expect it or play a character in a way I hadn’t imagined.

Of the two formats though there is still nothing like reading a book yourself. Curling up on the sofa, book in hand and just reading and immersing yourself in it.

When I listen to audiobooks it is always while doing something else – while walking, while working on the computer, while washing up or while avoiding people in town.

It doesn’t give me the same level of immersion that a paper book does – but its for that very reason that I use audiobooks a lot more than I use paper books.

It’s for that reason I get through three or four audiobooks in a month and maybe one paper book in two months.

Don’t get me wrong though – although I mentioned paper a few times – I’m not a paper purist I’m just waiting for the Kindle to come to Jersey.

But even if I do get my hands on a Kindle I’m going to have the same problems that are in place with paper books – time.

I don’t have time to sit and get completely immersed in a book – I get about an hour a day to myself where I don’t have to do anything else and that isn’t enough time to properly read.

I would start reading, get a few chapters in and then I’d have to put it down when my time is up and I need to walk to work, change a nappy, do the washing up or … well write something.

However, If I could have an audio version (unabridged) and a text version of the same story on my Kindle (owned by Amazon who also own Audible) and then have that audio version and text version linked – I would be extremely happy.

Let me explain.

The text version has chapter markings, the unabridged audio version could easily have chapter markings – if you could link both version together I could finish reading the text version in the evening and then, when I walk to work the next day have the audio version take over from where I left off.

I could then get home again that evening and finish reading (have the Kindle automatically open the story where the audio version left off) during my spare hour.

That way I get, as my daughters favourite TV personality would say, the best of both worlds.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kindle 2 ‘violates copyright’ claims Authors Guild (telegraph.co.uk)
• Authors Guild Issues Alert About Amazon Audio Feature (mediabistro.com)
• the new Kindle (notmartha.org)
• Gagging Your Books (prathambooks.org)
• More Thoughts on Audible on the Kindle (kindleville.blogspot.com)
• Kindle 2 (livecrunch.com)