What are your thoughts on audiobooks / talking books?

[Razeus]

Been thinking about doing this. I think it will help me save some time on my "reading". Plus I'll just read along to the books I already have. This may seem like a cop out, but BOY I have alot of unread books I've bought over the course of the last year.

LOL I guess I can get more reading done if I wasn't on the computer so much and doing my college course. Sigh!

[fnord]

Ah, I tried this once. Had one that I listened too while I was out rollerblading. If you're trying to save time that means you're doing something else while listening. Personally, I couldn't really concentrate on both at the same time, and I'd miss whole...paragraphs.

I also had the book in question in print. I'd listen to a book for an hour or more, and then find my place and see that I could have read it in ten minutes. It seems to be so tediously slow.

Oh...a minor gripe. The narrator pronouced people and places differently than I had in my head, thus poking holes in the continuity of my imaginary world... alas.

Heh, but that's only me. There's a market because some people enjoy them, right? Anyone tried and enjoyed them?

[Nightshade]

I agree with fnord I got a audio book once from the library and it was about 5 hours long but The book ( ive recentlly seen the hard copy ) would take me only 2 hours to read... and it was lesss enjoyable when I listened because everyone had the same voice and like fnord the narrator prounced things differantl.
Actually thinking about it I had to audio books one was awful the other was okay it may have been the story but I'm more inclined to think it was the narrartors voice.

[mono]

Oddly, on a demonstrative-learning exam, I tested best as an auditory-tactile learner, but, with audio books, I had a little trouble.
I have listened to only few audio books, and found it an interesting way to "read" a book, but would only attempt it with books that seem easy to understand. With printed books, if the reader does not understand something, he/she can skip back a few sentences or paragraphs to re-affirm something, but, with audio books, it requires a lot of irritating rewinding and listening, while it proceeds at its own pace.
Listening to a book's actual author read his/her own work seems like quite an experience, and worth listening (mostly poetry, I have listened to), but would recommend reading a work simultaneously, or before or after.
In summary, it probably really depends on the person; I have met people who greatly prefer audio books, others who equally prefer reading, but, for me, it really depends on the type of work. If it works for you, wonderful, and I suggest audio books more often, though, like many of us seem to say, it depends entirely on a reader's attention and taste.
Good luck!

[fnord]

Actually, one more thing. Audio books are expensive, too. For that kind of money, you could buy another book entirely. To buy both the printed and audio version seems sort of redundant, especially considering how fast some people read/buy new books.

Library is a good option though.

[Koa]

I was wondering if I've ever seen an audio book...
The only things I can think about are languages books, like novels adapted for learners, that sometimes come with an audiotape, or nowadays a cd, where they read parts of the test, but it's more of a pronounciation thing... and I think most students wouldn't really bother (I have a French one but I dont think I cared much of the audio thing...)
Or books that I had as a child, which had a tape which read the book cos it was for small children... but I liked my mum to read it to me and then I learnt to read quite early...So I didnt use that much either.
I think I wouldnt enjoy an audio book as much as I would enjoy reading it.... Though it can maybe be useful for some people, if they like it.. (LOL I'm imagining some busy person who listens to that in his car while getting to work )

[NNoah3]

I am not a native English speaker, so the audio books that I have are helping me so much with the pronunciation. Thinking of the audio books are focused to businesses, financial independence and personal growth. Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki are some of them.

[appledips]

I always thought audio books were for the elderly. I never attempted them because I thought it would put me to sleep right away. but maybe one day

[FairieQueen]

Ok. Well, i'm visually impared (no I'm not old; I'm only 15) and this is why i believe that audio books are amazing. Because of my disability, if I get a book, inorder for me to be able to read it, I must buy a special one which costs alot (I got P&P by J. Austen for £25.50 - in the sale) yet an audio book costs me roughly £10.

I can listen to it while i'm doing other things and it is not as heavy (P&P is 11.3cm thick!)

I personally think they're great but it's upto you.

xSx

[Virgil]

This is a subject close to my heart. I love audio books, but I may use it a little differently than most. I read the text along with audio book, rather than one or the other. To me it takes reading and entertainment to a higher level. First, the speaker of the audio book is dramatically reading the work, and a great reader finds different voices for each character. The speaker is ususally a fine actor, so that he is orally acting out the narrative. When you find a perfect match of a particuliar speaker to a book, the entertainment value is extraordinary for me, better than a movie. Here are some of my all time favorites:
Derek Jacobi reading The Illiad
Ian McKellen reading The Odyssey
Charleton Heston reading The Old Man and the Sea
Donal Donnelly reading Ullysses
Martin Jarvis reading David Copperfield
Sam Daster reading Kim
Patricia Routledge reading Wuthering Heights

I find that reading along with the speaker allows me to watch the language (sentences, diction, and so on) while being entertained. It also allows me to read faster because it limits being distracted by my own mind or things around me. I also feel I retain more because the dramatic reading engages me and gets burned in. To those that read faster than the audio, I am amazed. You must be very fast readers. I'm not. So this really helps me read more. The one negative that I find is that it can be costly. But I thoroughly enjoy it.

[papayahed]

I "read" a few audiobooks on my drives home. My only complaint is that I couldn't skip over the boring parts.

[papayahed]

I "read" a few audiobooks on my drives home. My only complaint is that I couldn't skip over the boring parts.

[Bastet]

Wow Virgil, the way of using audio books you propose sounds great!! Too bad they don't have them here in Spain!

[Shannanigan]

I tried one audiobook, once, and that was it for me. I like Virgil's approach, but my lifestyle simply wouldn't allow me the alone time to sit and listen to a tape/CD and read. Either you have headphones on and are therefore taking away both your hearing and, to the world beyond your book, your vision (dangerous in some situations) or you aren't using headphones and can only be amongst people who do not mind hearing a book read aloud...

I read in situations where I am surrounded by people, or in a place where I want to hear the sounds around me (beach waves, wind in the grass, birds chirping, etc.) So audiobooks I think just aren't for me...

[Nightshade]

Im listening to an audio book righ this minute Ive come across one or 2 that Have been awful because I couldnt stand the readers voice.

FairieQueen do you get books from your library... you used a pound sign so I assume your from the uk?
Anyway libaries great places and I dont know about where you live but in Cheshire at least they have alot of "talking books" which they lend like books for three weeks although normally people pay for them ( I hope you dont find this rude) but you'd probably get them free.