Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
British Amy is the best!
I think I actually prefer TTS over human-read audiobooks (unless the reader happens to be someone I like especially). The TTS adds no interpretation or characterization, aside from its slight uncanny valley oddness. And once I get used to the voice, I don't need to reacquaint myself to a new voice with every book.
That said, I still have a hard time "reading" an entire book by listening. It's too easy for my attention to wander. It's good for a chapter here and there, and for long articles.
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One advantage to TTS is that is 'free'. Audiobooks are generally more expensive than the equivalent ebook as well. This may mean that you get used to TTS long before you get used to audiobooks, since you are doing more of the former. That includes being able to focus attention for longer and longer periods. It takes practice.
But I don't think there's any question that human-read audiobooks are superior and more entertaining for the most part (again, once you have enough experiences to be able to adjust to new voices more easily). Professional readers do not get to be professional if they don't have a good voice and delivery and approach (supported by a good production and editing team). Some of the best readers are the authors themselves, and 'celebrity' readers often have a head start because one immediately latches on to a famous voice.
On the down side, it can take significantly longer to read an audiobook than reading the text only, so unless you have chunks of time when you cannot read text (chores, workouts, driving), it might not be the most productive way to read.
For me the ideal is to have both (I drive a lot so that is pretty much all reading time for me, thanks to audiobooks). I use Kindle platform's 'whispersync for voice' quite a lot as you can switch while synching reading position. For non fiction I like to have the text so one can annotate and do text search.