The hilarious thing about getting somebody started on an audio book is convincing him or her
first that it is no different from the normal book. Markedly the leap from the printed page to a
compact disk has left many people skeptical about how easy it is to use and appreciate an audio
book. The age bracket also comes into play; much younger people are harder to convince than older
ones.
It was easier to get an old grandmother to be all ears to an audio book of William Butler
Yeats poems because she had been listening to the British Broadcasting Company all her life and
BBC has radio programs that feature serialized classics. However, the audio book in its basic
form has come a long way since the oral histories of Native American tribes were recorded for
research and posterity by anthropologist J.P. Harrington in 1933.
The immediate apparent use as expected was for people with visual impairment, the American
Congress created the “Books for the Adult Blind Project” which actually utilized talking books,
and in a moment, the mass reproduction of them began. In later years, the audio book would take
the type of public service, with institutions like the National Library Service putting out
legion copies of recorded books to blind citizens all across the country.
The Audio Book and Fashionable Way of Life
Technology pushed the audio book format into the realm of popular culture and mass consumer
patronage. In the 60s, the development of the cassette player recorder allowed not only ease of
use, but portability. In an age where everyone was trumpeting self-improvement, recordings of an
instructional or educational nature became popular, reaching its peak with self-help audio books
and then classically including general topics such as the humanities.
It became so main-stream that with the advent of the compact disc, audio book recordings
developed its own market complete with rentals and producers who required a bigger slice of what
had become a billion-dollar industry by introducing high-quality recordings done with large cast
of voices and polished in high-tech studios.
Today, the audio book has leapt into cyberspace and into 21st century technology, which has
made it more accessible than ever before. It can now be downloaded and its formats fitted unto
any digital listening device such as phones and MP3 players. Married with such hip and cutting
edge modern tools, appreciation for a classic such as Jane Austen or William Shakespeare is
anticipated to grow even among a generation who would be more prone to read a comic book.
Perhaps the irony of the invention of the audio book is not in replacing the medium that it
has somewhat replaced, but in drawing back attention to printed books. Finally, once you are
drained of having earplugs on your phone the total day, nothing beats the relaxation and magic of
lying down in bed on a cold Saturday afternoon with a good old-fashioned book.
Audio Books: Explicit works on sexuality will leave most readers ... Winston-Salem Journal, NC - 12 hours ago By Dale Pollock Sex sells, on audio books as well as on DVD, the Internet and all the other places the $40 billion sex industry puts its slimy focus. ... Making a difference - Hindu Hindu Making a difference Hindu, India - 21 hours ago ... path-breaking feminist studies, high quality translations, bold and innovative books on popular culture and sexuality, hugely successful audio books, ...
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