Listening is the new reading

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Martin70

Never tried an audiobook but I would love to do it some time for when I am traveling or something.

Audible always has a try one free deal. Or any of us audible subscribers can send you a free audible book

[QuantumIguana]

I listen to a audio books while I am in the car or when I'm at work. I have to have something else to do while I listen to an audio book. When I read a book, I can't have any distractions.

[LSM]

I discovered audiobooks on a long car drive. You could rent one at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and then return it at another. Since then, I listen to audiobooks on any car trip plus at home when I'm sewing. Love it. But, also read on my iPad. I used to use a Nook (still have several unopened ones), but I got the smaller iPad for trips so I could have access to the internet without dragging my laptop with me. So I started using it for ebooks and it's working out well.

I never listen to audiobooks in bed as I'll fall asleep and not know where I was in the story.

[Mivo]

For me, listening to an audio book is an experience that sits firmly in the middle between reading a book and watching a movie. It's neither reading nor is it watching, but listening. Different activities, different experiences.

I have been trying to really get into audio books because I sometimes believe it would be more time-efficient, but I've not been too successful. It works best when I practice juggling or exercise, but already doing dishes or other housework causes me to lose track of the story. Just sitting there and doing nothing but listening doesn't turn out so well, either: I tend to get bored or sleepy.

I also find it easier to get immersed into books. An audio book never made me forget my surroundings and time, or sucked me into the story as much as a book that is read by myself.

Perhaps this is just a matter of what we're used to and thus something that can be practiced, or it might be that English isn't my native language and listening is a different (brain) process than reading. Reading written English fluently and effortlessly came many years earlier for me than listening to and comprehending (in real time) spoken English. The gap is much smaller these days, but the ratio of written and spoken English that I "consume" is heavily biased toward the former.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

We have taken some long car trips recently, and instead of listening to music (my husband doesn't understand why I cringe when he looks at his phone while we are driving at 80 mph), we decided to get some audiobooks. I used to check these out from the library, but you can't listen to them on your phone anymore.

I went to audible, and the tag line is "listening is the new reading." NO IT ISN'T. There is a time and place for audiobooks, but to replace reading? I know reading isn't terribly popular, but I didn't know it needed a replacement. I am just appalled at this. I guess it is consistent with my millennial daughter-when we were going over her budget, I questioned a subscription to audible. She said "Oh, you don't want me to read?"

This is like "estate tax" being rebranded to "death tax." When did reading become confused with listening?

on tablets you can listen and read at the same time while it highlights text. i only use it to get threw a hard read. If I buy a ebook only to find each chapter is 100 pages then i am using audible lol

[barryem]

Originally Posted by LSM

I never listen to audiobooks in bed as I'll fall asleep and not know where I was in the story.

There's a very simple solution to this that I've used many times. It requires listening with a device that allows you to make bookmarks easily. About every 5 or 10 minutes make a bookmark. The next listening session your last bookmark puts you close to where you fell asleep.

Barry

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I listen to a audio books while I am in the car or when I'm at work. I have to have something else to do while I listen to an audio book. When I read a book, I can't have any distractions.

Hmmm.... I tried audio books in the car and had to give it up. I would find myself either not paying attention to the book to concentrate on driving or having the book capture my attention and losing my concentration on driving safely. Now I'm back to listening to traffic reports leaving me free to concentrate on avoiding those drivers who are a great recommendation for retroactive birth control.

[barryem]

The key to listening while driving is being a relaxed driver. That can be just a character trait or it can mean leaving a few minutes earlier. I did it for years. I even when on long (500+ miles) driving trips some weekends just to listen to a book when I was working and could afford to do that. It's a great way to listen. And I think I became a better driver when I started listening to books in the car.

Barry

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm.... I tried audio books in the car and had to give it up. I would find myself either not paying attention to the book to concentrate on driving or having the book capture my attention and losing my concentration on driving safely. .

This is what happens to me if I listen to a news or talk program while driving. I haven't tried to listen to a book while driving. I think I am better off sticking to music.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by barryem

The key to listening while driving is being a relaxed driver. That can be just a character trait or it can mean leaving a few minutes earlier. I did it for years. I even when on long (500+ miles) driving trips some weekends just to listen to a book when I was working and could afford to do that. It's a great way to listen. And I think I became a better driver when I started listening to books in the car.

The problem isn't the driving -- I'm a fairly relaxed driver. It's that when I am reading/listening to a book, I will find myself concentrating on the book to the exclusion of the world around me. Very likely, you all know people who while reading are totally oblivious to the world around them. My spiritual cousins. If the book isn't worth tuning the rest of the world out, it really not worth reading.

Trust me, those are not the people you want listening to an audio book while driving.

[barryem]

I'm that way. On long driving trips while listening I've often realized that I have no idea how I got where I was. Not that I was lost. I just have no memory of driving the past hour.

At the same time I've never had any problems. Nobody honking at me or no near misses or anything like that. So I have to assume I did pretty well.

That was a kind of common thing to happen to me when driving and listening. However, in later years as I got older I began to find that if I talked to someone in the car with me I ceased being a safe driver. I'd get caught up in the conversation and forget to keep track of my driving. That's a very different experience for me than listening to a book.

By the way, I've driven places with my sister in the car with both of us listening to an audiobook and that was no problem, so it's not just that I wasn't aware of problems while listening. They didn't happen. Unless, of course, she was unaware of them as well.

Barry

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'm that way. On long driving trips while listening I've often realized that I have no idea how I got where I was. Not that I was lost. I just have no memory of driving the past hour.

At the same time I've never had any problems. Nobody honking at me or no near misses or anything like that. So I have to assume I did pretty well.

That was a kind of common thing to happen to me when driving and listening. However, in later years as I got older I began to find that if I talked to someone in the car with me I ceased being a safe driver. I'd get caught up in the conversation and forget to keep track of my driving. That's a very different experience for me than listening to a book.

By the way, I've driven places with my sister in the car with both of us listening to an audiobook and that was no problem, so it's not just that I wasn't aware of problems while listening. They didn't happen. Unless, of course, she was unaware of them as well.

Barry

I believe different people's brains are just wired differently, which is probably why some people prefer audiobooks over reading or vice versa, whether at home or in the car. If your brain is wired for listening to audiobooks in the car, great! It's just not for me.