51–60 of 71 posts
Can I read a physical book when I'm running? Can I read a physical book when I'm doing house work? Or throwing pots in my studio? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or driving? Can I stay focused if I'm just sitting and listening instead of reading? Absolutely not. There's no 'vs' here. They occupy different spaces. All hail text, whatever form it takes.
I don't see anyone else saying this, but I don't like audiobooks because of the voices and over production. If I want to listen to a book, I use TTS, it's gotten very good. I can pick the voice and I just hear the story. I can also switch back to reading without trying to figure out where I am since the Text to speech is using the same epub I'm reading.
Same as you, I found some I absolutely hated, especially where they added background music, sound effects, etc. - I just want the book, not a production.
Others I found that a good narrator really added to the experience, especially when they were good at changing voices/accents for different characters speaking. I found that made it a lot easier to track what was going on or who was speaking, especially in books with a large number of characters.
Can I read a physical book when I'm running? Can I read a physical book when I'm doing house work? Or throwing pots in my studio? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or driving? Can I stay focused if I'm just sitting and listening instead of reading? Absolutely not. There's no 'vs' here. They occupy different spaces. All hail text, whatever form it takes.
How do you listen to audio books when you're engaged in other activities? You'll be distracted and won't get everything. That's important to me.
I can walk through my local woods and listen very carefully but I don't think I could read a recipe book and pay attention to an audiobook!
So for me and I guess for most people it depends on the intensity of the activity and on the nature of the book. I have gradually found where the balance is for me and I've learned to hit the pause button or rewind 30 seconds.
I also pick different types of books to read and to listen to. I _love_ having an engrossing story as an audiobook. And popular science is a great listen, e.g. I loved the audiobook of Stolen Focus. But with physical books I tend to choose more involved or complex novels (e.g. Deep Wheel Orcadia), poetry, and for non-fiction books that are more specific to my interests (psychotherapy, ceramics).
Can I read a physical book when I'm running? Can I read a physical book when I'm doing house work? Or throwing pots in my studio? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or driving? Can I stay focused if I'm just sitting and listening instead of reading? Absolutely not. There's no 'vs' here. They occupy different spaces. All hail text, whatever form it takes.
How do you listen to audio books when you're engaged in other activities? You'll be distracted and won't get everything. That's important to me.
Can I read a physical book when I'm running? Can I read a physical book when I'm doing house work? Or throwing pots in my studio? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or driving? Can I stay focused if I'm just sitting and listening instead of reading? Absolutely not. There's no 'vs' here. They occupy different spaces. All hail text, whatever form it takes.
How do you listen to audio books when you're engaged in other activities? You'll be distracted and won't get everything. That's important to me.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t believe (well; okay I actually can) than in 2025 I still can’t save a bookmark in apples “books” app when listening to an audiobook… You fall asleep with it on? Better hope you remember the timestamp…
Good audiobook players have an auto stop feature, where you can slightly move your phone to continue playing. At most I have to go back 15 minutes with that feature, so even bookmarks are unnecessary.
Can I read a physical book when I'm running? Can I read a physical book when I'm doing house work? Or throwing pots in my studio? Or knitting? Or cooking? Or driving? Can I stay focused if I'm just sitting and listening instead of reading? Absolutely not. There's no 'vs' here. They occupy different spaces. All hail text, whatever form it takes.
How do you listen to audio books when you're engaged in other activities? You'll be distracted and won't get everything. That's important to me.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Is there anything really useful in an audiobook player? Over a regular music player, absolutely. Most podcast players treat a podcast as a single file. Audiobooks aren't single file and they become almost unusable without a dedicated player.
I can’t believe (well; okay I actually can) than in 2025 I still can’t save a bookmark in apples “books” app when listening to an audiobook… You fall asleep with it on? Better hope you remember the timestamp…