Ebooks with soundtracks...you knew it was coming.

[Shimarenda]

I don't like the idea of just adding sound to an existing book. This idea could have legitimate uses if the book was written for the purpose. Basically, it would be a different medium all its own where the text and sound are made to depend on each other. Simply bolting sound onto a regular book seems like a bad idea to me.

[RockdaMan]

As long as you can turn it off. My Scrabble software has a soundtrack. I usually turn stuff like that off, but it really fits the mood of the game! I can see something like that for an e-book.

[nose-in-a-book]

once people were"readers" vs "tv watchers." Readers are book-buyers. Multi-media fans are not early adopters of ereaders ("they don't play angry birds", "all you can do is read on them"), and non-"readers"" don't tend to have large libraries of books, ebook or print.

this attempts to create new customers for ebooks by drawing in multi-media types to experiencie "books." the question is: will it create a greater overall group of readers, with 2 types of preferences? If so, future ebooks will come in 2 flavors: a "pure reading" ebook experience and a multi-media experience (and will that impact on the movie based on the plot? ) Alternatively, pure ereading will give way to pure multi-media, or multi-media books won't take off and ebooks will remain the domain of "readers".

Interesting times ahead....

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Surely we can allow some room for personal taste and not turn this into ANOTHER flame war thread.

Now why should everyone change the habits of a lifetime...

[ucfgrad93]

Ug, I would not like that at all.

[Phogg]

If some one were reading Manga, and decided to jump out a twentieth story window about the seventeenth time the sound track played "My Boyfriend's A Pilot" would the publisher be liable, or the author?

/Sarcasm

[Greg Anos]

There goes 3500 page turns per charge....

Seriously, a long time between charges is important to me.

[FizzyWater]

I recently downloaded an "enhanced edition" of a ebook - which in my experience usually just means it includes excerpts from upcoming releases. Instead of excerpts, there were actually video clips! The book was 43Mb when I downloaded it!

I can't imagine that would work on anything but a computer or tablet - so it makes it essentially worthless to put on my Sony (without hacking anyway).

[emellaich]

Can't figure out how this works -- eye tracking?-- but according to one reporter it adjusts to your reading speed. It is usually within a few lines of where you are reading. And in the example they gave it included sound effects (a door slam) as well as music.

http://www.businessinsider.com/booktracks-2011-8

[replica145]

It's just a matter of how long before media extras are standard.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but Stephen King's new book in November will include a 14 minute film narrated and directed by him, according to the Amazon site. I assume other retailers have it as well.

[6charlong]

There were two versions of the PBS series The Civil War on Barnes and Noble, one was plain text and the second was enhanced. The enhanced one only works on the Nook Color which is an Android tablet. It cost $2 more.

I thought it was useful and interesting to hear the Civil War era music, hear the voices of authorities like Shelby Foote and watch short video clips but for me, the new enhancement came to life with the maps. General Sherman once said that war was all about troop movements. The animated battle maps made those movements clear like no text-only book I've ever seen.

I'd love to see this technique used to explain important moments in military history from Hannibal to Napoleon. I've never been able to follow naval warfare but with animated maps to show how the fleets and individual ships moved relative to each other, perhaps I can grasp what happened. The movement of the lines of forces coming up and turning into little dots for individual units as they redeploy caught my eye. The text described who was moving and which day it happened.

It's probably worth noting that it took a color 7-inch Android tablet running ePub to pull this off.

[stonetools]

The playing of " Ashokan Farewell" as the background for the reading of the Sullivan Ballou Letter in The Cvil War PBS series was one ofthe most moving experiences of my life.
When I bought the book, "Ashokan Farewell" played in my mind throughout the reading of the book.
I don't know if they can make soundtracks work for all ebooks, but it certainly can work for some.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

We talked about this in the innovative ebooks thread -- I like the idea for, say, integrating Mercedes Lackey filk music into her books.

But in that case, the song would be (a) at the end of the chapter and (b) triggered at the user's whim.

Agreed. Only if it was triggered at the user's whim.

AND it doesn't take up a lot of space.

BUT most of the time:

Quiet, Please.

[J. Strnad]

Paul Cameron, Booktrack’s 35-year-old co-founder and chief executive, said in an interview: “And it makes it fun to read again. If you’re not reading all the time, it might help you rediscover reading.”

Odd. I didn't notice that reading had stopped being fun. When did that happen?

I get how some books can be augmented effectively, like the Civil War book mentioned above, and the book on birdsongs with (hey!) birdsongs!

But for most of my reading, I really don't want anything but the words. Maybe a foot massager, but nobody's offering a combination ereader/foot massager yet.

[Renaldo]

Back in '82, when I was about 12, I read L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth". In the book was an ad to purchase the soundtrack to the book. I'm assuming it was a bunch of mood music, and you were meant to play it while reading the book. It came on 2 LP's for $20, if I remember correctly.