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The Work of the Audiobook

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Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#21

Post by dalbasal »

KaiserPro wrote: post #10
aabhay wrote: post #2

The interesting and fascinating thing about audiobooks is that we will likely within the next 1-2 years have essentially complete generative AI produced versions of everything imaginable, meaning that the definition of book and audiobook will become one and the same.

I don't think thats the case. _good_ audiobooks require the reader to have consistent voices for each character, express the correct emotion for the particular scene, and intone some sort of personality into the book. A good example is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith ( https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Rivers-of-London-Audiobook/B004... listen to the free sample) He makes the characters different, and the main character PC grant co…

It's surprising that "cognitive" aspects of human speech seem to be "ahead" of more mechanical aspects like text-2-audio.

Computers are or will be better at writing the book than most humans. They'll still need to hire a human narrator to make it sound good.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#22

Post by dalbasal »

archon wrote: post #20
dalbasal wrote: post #19

Audiobooks' recent history surprises me. I expected that if they continued to grow, audiobooks' and written books would undergo speciation. Books are a medium. Audiobooks are a different medium. Film may have dabbled in being recorded theatre... but it didn't remain there for long. No one watches recorded plays. Audiobooks have, mostly, stayed just audio versions of the book. It's just surprising that audiobook liste…

> It's just surprising that audiobook listeners haven't developed a distinct taste apart from book readers. Sample size of 1, but: my taste in audiobooks does not perfectly overlap with my taste in dead-trees books. My audiobook library skews much more to the fiction end of things, while my dead-trees library contains more nonfiction. I also use audiobooks to re-read books I've already read. I enjoy the performance a…

Me too, more or less. Your sample size if one is probably right.

Yet... audiobooks' are still pretty much just books. There is no theatre-2-film difference between the mediums. It's more like hardbacks and soft covers.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#23

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

dalbasal wrote: post #19

Audiobooks' recent history surprises me. I expected that if they continued to grow, audiobooks' and written books would undergo speciation. Books are a medium. Audiobooks are a different medium. Film may have dabbled in being recorded theatre... but it didn't remain there for long. No one watches recorded plays. Audiobooks have, mostly, stayed just audio versions of the book. It's just surprising that audiobook liste…

I don't think that's true. Many popular series end up getting a full-cast recordings, and places like GraphicAudio even include sound-effects. But this is nothing new, Radio Dramas were around decades ago.

Drama CDs are really popular in Japan as well. These usually include a full-cast recording with special effects.

I do think it'll continue to grow more popular as the market continues to expand.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#24

Post by dalbasal »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #23
dalbasal wrote: post #19

Audiobooks' recent history surprises me. I expected that if they continued to grow, audiobooks' and written books would undergo speciation. Books are a medium. Audiobooks are a different medium. Film may have dabbled in being recorded theatre... but it didn't remain there for long. No one watches recorded plays. Audiobooks have, mostly, stayed just audio versions of the book. It's just surprising that audiobook liste…

I don't think that's true. Many popular series end up getting a full-cast recordings, and places like GraphicAudio even include sound-effects. But this is nothing new, Radio Dramas were around decades ago. Drama CDs are really popular in Japan as well. These usually include a full-cast recording with special effects. I do think it'll continue to grow more popular as the market continues to expand.

Hitchikers Guide was a radio-drama, originally. The book was not just a written version of the original. It's a distinct work, like a film adaptation of a novel.

As you said, audio productions if all kinds are nothing new. That said, audiobooks are still mostly just an audio version of the book. They're not longer or shorter. They don't change the jokes.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#25

Post by zuppy »

lucas_membrane wrote: post #14

I like audiobooks, but they have some limitations. Nonfiction -- for example. Figures, diagrams, photographs, ... don't translate to audio very smoothly. In a printed book, eyeballs can tell readers where the quotations, either in quotation marks or indented text blocks, start and end. But what does the audiobook narrator do with them. I hear some saying 'quote' and 'unquote.' But then I wonder whether they are doing…

I think the limitations may come from how the author saw the final product. I have a good example where audo works (in my opinion) better than text on "Measure What Matters". Here you actually have some the people who had a significant impact on business & tech world telling their stories in their own voice.

Most of the audiobooks are build as an afterthought on top of the original text.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#26

Post by egeozcan »

MoSattler wrote: post #7

I recently really gotten into the „Dungeon Crawler Carl“ series. It’s format really only appeals to me as audio - I would have never read the books.

If you like litRPG and some adult content/jokes are ok and you are not annoyed about the non-strict RPG elements, I can't recommend this series enough:

Everybody-Loves-Large-Chests series by Neven Iliev

I'd also love to hear some litRPG recommendations from others.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#27

Post by jmondi »

saargrin wrote: post #8
bouvin wrote: post #5

I divide my listening time between audiobooks and podcasts. One thing that audiobooks have enabled me to do, that I probably never would have gotten around to do on my own (even as I do own the books), is to read classics like Rabelais' Gargantua or Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

except when its an audiobook chances are you're gonna remember much less of it at least thats my experience

I think this just depends on what style of learner you are. Me, I am definitely an audio learner. In school, I just needed to listen to the teacher say something once, and as long as I was paying attention during that, it would stick with me. Same with podcasts and audiobooks, I just remember them so well.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#28

Post by damontal »

ljf wrote: post #13
saargrin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except when its an audiobook chances are you're gonna remember much less of it at least thats my experience

I don't know - I struggle to remember what I've read half the time. I listen to audio books while walking, and even now I can recall learning about King John (and there reason there has not been a king names John since him in the UK) while walking along the beach. As I do the walk again, similar parts of that book and others return to me. But might just be me!

Sometimes I pass a place I've passed before while listening to an audiobook and have an immediate recall of what I was listening to at the time. It's like the place is associated with what I heard at the time.

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#29

Post by monkeywork »

jmondi wrote: post #27
saargrin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except when its an audiobook chances are you're gonna remember much less of it at least thats my experience

I think this just depends on what style of learner you are. Me, I am definitely an audio learner. In school, I just needed to listen to the teacher say something once, and as long as I was paying attention during that, it would stick with me. Same with podcasts and audiobooks, I just remember them so well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgwIhB58PA&pp=ygUceW91IGFyZ...

Re: The Work of the Audiobook

#30

Post by buu709 »

dalbasal wrote: post #22
archon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just surprising that audiobook listeners haven't developed a distinct taste apart from book readers. Sample size of 1, but: my taste in audiobooks does not perfectly overlap with my taste in dead-trees books. My audiobook library skews much more to the fiction end of things, while my dead-trees library contains more nonfiction. I also use audiobooks to re-read books I've already read. I enjoy the performance a…

Me too, more or less. Your sample size if one is probably right. Yet... audiobooks' are still pretty much just books. There is no theatre-2-film difference between the mediums. It's more like hardbacks and soft covers.

It's not exactly main stream but there are groups like Graphic Audio doing great work that will probably lead down this road.

They do a full cast audiobook with sound effects, music, etc. and they tend to be altered slightly to work in the medeium - would not be surprised if the differences continue to grow.

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