Google seeks patent to add "triggered sounds" to e-books

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Some people just don't understand the "book" concept.

Perhaps it is time that eBooks stop imitating the limitations of traditional dead-tree books and realize what they really are - electronic data on an electronic device.
Apparently there's still eBook that try to obfuscate that fact by imitating page turns and all that...

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by owly

This could actually be fun if used wisely. I remember listening to an Jane Austen audiobook that played a little period music between chapters. It really enhanced the experiance.

It's funny to me that you liked that. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and detest it when they have any sounds. It seems to drop me right out of the story. But I guess the saying about how boring the world would be if we all liked the same things is correct.

I doubt I would like Google's idea either. If I want sound while reading, I put on some classical music. I wouldn't want sound effects.

[mobilis]

I'd hate sounds in a book... And you know that they would play at the most INOPPORTUNE times (Murphy's Law!)

Also, I tend to read late at night, so random sounds would startle me...

As long as they aren't FORCING this "enhancment" on us, though- as companies so often do with bad ideas- then I would be okay with it. My concern is that it will become some sort of awfully-annoying industry standard. (The Odyssey does not and never will need trendy sound effects! Ugh.)

[twobob]

Errrrrrr..................

How can they try to patent this?

I have a Leappad read-along that does exactly this ?
:P

Perhaps this could be used for background music rather than sound effects.

Think of it this way: you could turn on some music to read while you're reading a book. You could choose something that fits the story yourself, but it usually won't fit the passage you're reading. You can have the ereader choose it, and it likely will fit the passage.

On the distaste for sound effects though, I totally agree. Unless it is done well, it is likely to be disruptive. Unless you can track exactly where the reader is, it will probably be in the wrong place. (I suppose you can extrapolate a reader's position based upon the rate of page turns or track eye movement, but I doubt that those techniques would be reliable.)

[twobob]

but .... but ....

I announced my audio wallpaper concept (I have code right here) on MR like err... a year ago? Who do I sue!!!!

: D

yeah yeah okay, I could never afford the legal fees anyways.

[OtterBooks]

Ha. I had this idea a year ago. Glad to see someone giving it a shot.

[Barty]

This comes under "let's patent every banal, obvious, and unoriginal idea we can think of before somebody else does."

The soundtrack for 50 shades of Gray should be a hoot.

[mobilis]

Originally Posted by Barty

This comes under "let's patent every banal, obvious, and unoriginal idea we can think of before somebody else does."

The soundtrack for 50 shades of Gray should be a hoot.

Of course, the real thing people would use that soundtrack for is to customize coworkers' login sounds... :x

[Namekuseijin]

gosh, they should sue 80's Infocom

Google has been making some truly dumb moves as of late...

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by steven522

Listening to Audiobooks, yes. Any extra "low volume" background music and/or sound effects that do not drown out the narrator do help you get into the story. However, this is an already auditory experience.

When I'm reading, I really do not want any noise going on. Sometimes even a loud bird call outside can throw me off when I'm really into a book.

I hope we at least have the option of disabling these if they ever do come out.

Pretty much this. I loathe it enough when I go to a local news website, for example, and an audio ad plays. Weird sounds while I'm reading would startle me. Of course, a few judicious sound effects, background music would be fine in an audiobook.

[CallOfCth'reader]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I also think this one falls apart when we realize that an eBook (flowing text) is really no different than a webpage and background music has been an integral part of personal vanity pages since the mid 90s.

Oh Lord, how I loathe web pages with music on them. Back in the day, when more people seemed to think that adding sound (and animated gifs) enhanced their web pages, the first thing I did was close the page when my ears were assaulted.

[Xanthe]

I already have sound enhancement when I read ebooks - it's called "the-TV-is-on-in-the-same-room".

I mean, really now. The whole point of reading is to exercise your imagination, not to have it spoon-fed to you. If you want an audiobook experience, buy an audiobook.

Can you just imagine the horror of reading one of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books (post-Obsidian Butterfly) with sound enhancement??? I shudder at the thought of how LKH (and others) would run with that concept.

[forsooth]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Next time you read Homer's Odyssey, don't be embarrassed if your e-reader suddenly outputs seductive songs, in particular when you're somewhere in the middle of the book where Odysseus approaches the island of the lovely Sirens. Google has applied to patent a system that plays sounds that are associated with a user's reading location within an e-book.



In one variety of the implementation it's the responsibility of a remote "sound server" with a "sound database", which is connected via WiFi or 3G to the reading device, providing sounds in response to specific trigger points. In another implementation, trigger points don't need to be specified individually in every book; rather, a book would receive a unique identifier and a client could access a remote trigger point database to fetch the related sound information.

The concept is simple enough that we wouldn't be surprised to find it in future reading apps.

Only for children books. I hope.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I mean, really now. The whole point of reading is to exercise your imagination, not to have it spoon-fed to you. If you want an audiobook experience, buy an audiobook.

I do not agree. The main point for me is to experience the events in the books and also to experience the language. I do not visualize the scenes in detail.

Having videos and photos might still be bad for me but that is because it gives much more information than I usually have so it might distract from the reading process in that way. But it is not because it contradicts or replace my own imagination.

So people read differently.