I decided to try an audio book and i hate it

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Apache

This is not a story this happened.

Prove it.

[Apache]

I was in the area when it happened.
Apache

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Apache

I was in the area when it happened.
Apache

Location? Date? Police department that handled the wreck?

I ask because (in addition to seeing the story passed around in many variations and seeing Snopes.com's refutation) I have heard claims of ALMOST first hand knowledge of many of these internet stories from people who knew the cop, or who's girlfriend was involved or whatever, and in EVERY CASE, the story didn't hold up when actually checked (Girlfriend denies saying she was involved, turns out he knew a guy who knew a guy who new the cop, and one of the guys can not be identified.... etc) and even when these stories get printed int he news paper, it usually because someone at the paper who needed some filler REPRINTED an unverified story that THEY were sent.

So, should it be the case that you actually can provide some verifiable details it would be very exciting.

Can you?

ApK

[pidgeon92]

I remember my mother telling me the same urban legend in the 1970s. I think she had read it in Reader's Digest.

[deddajay]

Coming late to this thread...

Audiobooks are essential in this household. They have been, literally, a life saver.

10 years ago my husband injured himself playing cricket, tore a muscle in his leg and 3 days later collapsed with a pulmonary embolism. 5 1/2 weeks later when he came out of a coma he had suffered brain damage and lost his sight at the age of 40. To say it was not the best time in our lives is an understatement, and after several months of rehab a very depressed man, blind and with mobility problems, came home with no interest in anything.

The solution was audiobooks. I started with a Terry Pratchett book on a player with loud speakers. It took a few days but he started to show an interest, then asked for another book. We then went on to the excellent Amelia Peabody series read by Barbara Rosenblatt - excellent narrator - and after that it was hard to keep up with the demand. Ancient history, philosophy, World War 1, more Terry Pratchett and so on.

10 years on we have amassed a few thousand audio books and the collection is growing and now all nicely catalogued in Calibre. Audiobooks are also something we can share as we can listen to them together. Now he is able to use a speech enabled computer and has access to the BBC iplayer, he can access Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra dramas, which I also download to listen to in the car.

So for this household, audiobooks are a big part of our lives. I'm not sure my husband would still be here without them.

[amward]

Originally Posted by deddajay

Coming late to this thread...

Audiobooks are essential in this household. They have been, literally, a life saver.

10 years ago my husband injured himself playing cricket, tore a muscle in his leg and 3 days later collapsed with a pulmonary embolism. 5 1/2 weeks later when he came out of a coma he had suffered brain damage and lost his sight at the age of 40. To say it was not the best time in our lives is an understatement, and after several months of rehab a very depressed man, blind and with mobility problems, came home with no interest in anything.

The solution was audiobooks. I started with a Terry Pratchett book on a player with loud speakers. It took a few days but he started to show an interest, then asked for another book. We then went on to the excellent Amelia Peabody series read by Barbara Rosenblatt - excellent narrator - and after that it was hard to keep up with the demand. Ancient history, philosophy, World War 1, more Terry Pratchett and so on.

10 years on we have amassed a few thousand audio books and the collection is growing and now all nicely catalogued in Calibre. Audiobooks are also something we can share as we can listen to them together. Now he is able to use a speech enabled computer and has access to the BBC iplayer, he can access Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra dramas, which I also download to listen to in the car.

So for this household, audiobooks are a big part of our lives. I'm not sure my husband would still be here without them.

That's a great story. so pleased for you.

[Tarana]

Most people who don't like audiobooks don't like them because they don't know how to listen. It takes time to learn to listen. That said, some people PREFER their image of the characters in their own mind than the image produced by the actor on a modern audiobook. I'm a person who can't listen to classical music unless I'm still, so I get it.

As others have mentioned, try some radio broadcasts. You can get many of them through Itunes for free. I particularly like detective and suspense, but they have them in most genres. Don't beat yourself up (or feel like I am beating you up) if you still don't care for audiobooks. I was forced into audiobooks due to loss of vision. I had plenty of practice with them for 8 years before I got a Nook and they are now old friends. I can read with a Nook/kindle, but only so long partly due to focus issues.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Most people who don't like audiobooks don't like them because they don't know how to listen. It takes time to learn to listen. That said, some people PREFER their image of the characters in their own mind than the image produced by the actor on a modern audiobook. I'm a person who can't listen to classical music unless I'm still, so I get it.

As others have mentioned, try some radio broadcasts. You can get many of them through Itunes for free. I particularly like detective and suspense, but they have them in most genres. Don't beat yourself up (or feel like I am beating you up) if you still don't care for audiobooks. I was forced into audiobooks due to loss of vision. I had plenty of practice with them for 8 years before I got a Nook and they are now old friends. I can read with a Nook/kindle, but only so long partly due to focus issues.

If you have vision problems, of course audiobooks make sense. They are also great when I sit in a car or on a bus/train and reading is uncomfortable due to the vibrations going over bad roads. But for me only for non-fiction, I find dialogues done by only one narrator to be very irritating.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

But for me only for non-fiction, I find dialogues done by only one narrator to be very irritating.

I've only had that experience once when the reader was quite bad and all the voices were caricatures. My audiobook habit started with the Shannara books, which I enjoyed as a kid but couldn't handle Brooks' USA Today, thesaurus-at-my-elbow prose as an adult, making them perfect bedtime audio. Unfortunately, the first book in Voyage of the Jerle Shannara I picked up was not only abridged but read by an absolute hack who apparently never worked in the business before or since. All his female voices sounded like a middle school child making fun of girls, and I don't recall the specifics of his male voices but they were equally bad.

[QuantumIguana]

I would prefer the reader just read instead of trying to do voices if they aren't really good at it.

[Prestidigitweeze]

My main issue with audiobooks is the difficulty on certain platforms of keeping one's place. It's far too easy to reset one's progress on a purely audio device.

The best solution seems to be to purchase audiobooks which are synced to ebooks, but for reasons I pray are obvious, I tend not to use my e-readers while driving.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

My main issue with audiobooks is the difficulty on certain platforms of keeping one's place. It's far too easy to reset one's progress on a purely audio device.

The best solution seems to be to purchase audiobooks which are synced to ebooks, but for reasons I pray are obvious, I tend not to use my e-readers while driving.

I don't have too much trouble keeping track of where I am, though for mp3 audiobooks I definitely prefer one chapter per track or at least around ten total tracks. That way I can remember about what track I'm on and zero in pretty quickly on where I left off. Using audiobooks at bedtime means there will always be at least some backtracking.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I don't have too much trouble keeping track of where I am, though for mp3 audiobooks I definitely prefer one chapter per track or at least around ten total tracks.

Vintage music players and audiobook files seem particularly frustrating. I tried sound-reading a standalone audiobook (on an iPod 4G) exactly once -- Don De Lillo's Underworld, performed by Dennis Boutsakaris -- and lost my place in transit so many times I dismissed the format as impractical.

Additionally, the file had a habit of disappearing with podcast updates, but I'm inclined to blame Apple for that.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I would prefer the reader just read instead of trying to do voices if they aren't really good at it.

Definitely. Some otherwise decent readers, like Lou Diamond Philips who did a Tom Clancy book I listened to, fall down a bit when they try to "do" a charter voice. In Lou's case, it was women. Not horrible, but enough to inappropriately draw my attention.
Folks like Grover Gardner or Susan Ericksen can just just subtly change a speech pattern, or maybe an accent, and I totally buy it, regardless of gender.

[BeccaPrice]

I listen to audiobooks on my 5th gen iPod (the last of the non-touch ones), and never have a problem with it losing my place.

You do have to tell iTunes that it's an audiobook and to remember the playback position, though, on non-Audible files (get info > options)