Quote:
Originally Posted by mgrimace
Instead of an audio jack, audiobook functionality could be executed via bluetooth (i.e., how the Kindle Oasis does it). Since audiobooks on the Kindle are limited to Audible subscription only (as far as I understand), adding this feature to a premium Kobo IMO would be incredible, especially if they kept their usual open file support. Whether or not it's practical (i.e., vs. smartphone) is a whole other thing, but personally for my usage I'd love to have all my books (audio and ebook) on one dedicated reading device.
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Have you compared the size of an audio book files to the same book as an epub ebook? The HQ audio books I've seen average around 29MB per hour and an average length between 8 and 13 hours so between 232MB and 364MB (72,000 to 117,000 words). On an 8GB device with about 5.2GB available for user files, that would allow about 14-22 audiobooks. On a 32GB device, with 29.2GB for user files, that would allow about 82-128 audiobooks. If you go to the lower quality files offered by some sources, you can get about twice as many books into the same storage. I don't even want to think about how big the
Lord of the Rings trilogy in audiobook form would be -- the trilogy totals about 455,125 words so about 50.5 hours to read.
The other issue for me is how slow audiobooks are. At 150 WPM which seems to be average for a non-chipmunked audiobook, it would take ~7 times longer for me to listen to an audiobook compared to the time to read the ebook.
As usual, YMMV.