Audio Books

The Reality of Audio Books

If you are not fond of reading then audio books are a convenient option for you. This option makes you learn things or information that you can also get from reading books. With this, you can curled up from your bed and listen attentively. Today, audio books are now a revolutionary in the sector of book publishing. Almost every classic book today has already available audio format that you can listen to. In this article, we will discuss the reality of audio books in people’s lives including its history, advantages, and disadvantages.

It was in 1931 when the idea of audio books originated. With the introduction of the “Books for the Blind Project” that aims to help blind people, audio books were initiated. The first series of audio book was published in 1932. Apparently, as part of the same mentioned project for the blinds, the Congress had approved in 1935 the mailing of audio books to blind citizens. With the advancement of inventions and technology such as portable cassette recorders during the late 1960s, audio books rapidly gain popularity. Many libraries have included audio books as part of their collections both for cassettes and vinyl records.

The early audio books have consisted of educational recordings but eventually audio book collections had started having literature and self-help tapes as well. The Books on Tape Corporation had begun rental plans for audio books distribution in 1970. By the year 1992, a network called the National Library Service for the Blind & Physically Handicapped had disseminated millions of audio books to over than 700,000 handicapped listeners.

Nowadays, the rising influence of the Internet and advantage of compact discs had made audio books a very convenient source of information and entertainment as well. Most of the audio books today can be shared over the Internet by peer-to-peer sharing or downloading. Another trend of today is that most paperbacks are now being sold with a CD copy of an audio book. This is one of the reasons why audio books are increasingly becoming popular. Audio books today can now be purchased in digital formats of wma and MP3, cassette tapes, and compact discs.

Audio books allow you to listen to selected sections of the book based on your preference. You can even repeat these sections if you wanted to so you can understand further. From audio books, you can able to learn words that you cannot comprehend with just reading the book.  Taking notes is also possible with audio books since you can control the speed of the reading, and pause or play if you intend to. In this way, you can take sufficient notes if needed. A conversation or dialogues is better comprehended with audio books mainly because of its vocal cues and voice modulations. The only downfall of audio books is that it spoils the pleasure of the conventional way of reading books. In addition, audio books are not encouraged for children’s use since reading is still important. Reading is still an enriching habit that should be practice by children of young age.