Monday, August 26, 2013

Audiobooks

A couple years ago I discovered audiobooks. I was hired, and still currently work for, an engineering company as a File Clerk. Basically I was in charge of ordering supplies for the office and in charge of the filing for several different departments. I noticed that many people wore headphones so I decided to give it a shot. No one said anything so I listened to my music.

Then I remembered that the Harry Potter audiobooks were recommended to me. I borrowed the discs from the library and loaded them into my iTunes. I now thoroughly enjoy the audiobook experience...depending on the narrator. Jim Dale narrates the Harry Potter series and he does a wonderful job. My only complaint is some of his interpretations of Hermione. Once I discovered Harry Potter, I moved on to search for other audiobooks that were on my to-read list. This is how I discovered the Kate Daniels series. Renee Raudman is one of the best narrators I've ever listened to.

The thing is, some narrators are awful. I listened to Fallen by Lauren Kate and I forced myself to listen to the end but I promised myself never again. I also tried listening to the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost but had to stop because the voice that I pictures for Bones was completely wrong. So I moved that series to a reading only list. This has happened several times. If the narrator is not good, I cannot listen to the book because it puts off my desire to even know what's going on with the book.

One of my other favorites is when a full cast is reading the book. The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce has a full cast for all of the characters. Pierce herself is narrating the book and the dialogue is spoken by different people. It's wonderful. I would never want this for the Kate Daniels series because Raudman does a wonderful job and I can't imagine their voices any other way.

I used to drive long distances when I went home to visit my family on weekends and the audiobooks made the journey less boring. Trust me, driving 100 miles with nothing interesting to see it is extremely boring and actually makes you want to fall asleep. Audiobooks are a great way of keeping you awake.

Currently I'm listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks. I tend to fall back to Harry Potter and Kate Daniels when I need a comfort read, well comfort listen. I know some people have trouble listening to audiobooks but I find them enjoyable. If you don't like the narrator then you definitely should not continue to listen. That will put you off audiobooks. By all means give them a try but if you find yourself getting annoyed with the narrator, stop and add that to the read only list.

Unfortunately audiobooks are a little bit expensive. They cost more to produce so it makes sense that they will cost more. I got around this problem by using the library. If your library has Overdrive, you can download the audiobook straight to your computer and iPod or any mp3 device. I wanted to own the Kate Daniels series so I found a website, http://amblingbooks.com/, that has cheaper prices. I happened to get the series while it was on sale. They always have things on sale and their prices are cheaper than Audible's. The only problem with Ambling Books is they don't always have everything. They don't have the latest Kate Daniels audiobook but I was able to get a free Magic Rises
audiobook by a free trial with Audible. I also own the Harry Potter audiobooks that I downloaded from the library. I actually have to borrow the disc set because they didn't have the books on Overdrive but they are now saved on my computer so I can listen whenever I want.

Audiobooks allow you to read when you cannot actually read a book. I can listen to my headphones while I'm working so I can read and work at the same time. I highly recommend trying audiobooks. If you don't like them, at least you tried. They work for me and I have been able to get through more books this way.


3 comments:

  1. As an audiobook addict (my audible account has hundreds of books) I can only nod my head and say "Exactly". My comfort listens are J.D. Robb's In Death Series, Lois McMasters Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels, and Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters series. Most of these I have listened to at least three times (and with over 40 books the in death series alone that takes some doing.) My own audio book addiction started similar to yours, I had a 2 hr drive from home to university, and my local pbs did a serialized reading from a novel that I listened to, then I began getting audio from the library, then I got an audible account. I had longer drives when I went into grad school, and visiting friends. When your driving through Texas, the land of flat flat flat scenery in the middle of the night, having a good book going keeps you alert. I have friends who dismiss audio books as not the same as reading, but for me, who can normally read a new novel in 2 to 3 hrs, it has the lovely benefit of prolonging the enjoyment of that latest book, and allowing me to garden, and clean house and enjoy the story. ((Also as someone who hates crowds in shopping malls, I shop with my ipod going listening to a book, and it acts as a soothing 'cocoon' against the mall music, kids ect.)

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  2. I'm an audiobook fan as well. I just started looking to my library's Overdrive selection. I don't really understand how it works though. Do the files delete themselves after a certain number of days?

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  3. Jessica, you have to download the Overdrive program. Then download the .odm (Overdrive) file to your computer and import it into the program. It all depends on how long you have your borrowing time set. Then it will delete the audiobook from the program. If you put it on an MP3 or iPod, it won't delete it until you actually remove it from your device. Overdrive can give you more instructions if you get confused.

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