Hardcopy Vs. Audiobook

[Khale]

I enjoy both equally. With a subscription to Audible.com, I get 24 books a year and I listen almost exclusively while driving and occassionally in the gym.

I also have a kindle and read at night and weekends. The only books I will only do on hardcopy rather than audiobook is the Malazan series since it is probably too complex for an audiobook.

Between the two, I probably finish close to 40 books a year.

 

[Overread]

If given the choice I would side with the hardback book almost every time. Like many have said here the audiobooks are great, but often one finds a need to distract themselves with something else whilst listening - I suspect fingers get bored and need something physical to latch onto as well as mental (how many people play with pens whilst working or anything else on their desk?). Touch is a major input for us so I suspect that it can often be something that we greatly miss when we don't have to touch something to make it work.

Of course kicking back and relaxing whilst listening is also a lot of fun as well. And I suspect might be something many might reach to if they ever had stories/books read to them as a child.

However the bigger problem I see is that an audiobook is a greater unknown than a hardback book - a hardback has the perfect voice for each character (kinda) and you know the sounds it makes in your mind - whilst an audio book is going to be more risky - its got to be read by the right person otherwise it will just fall onto deaf ears.

 

[littlemissattitude]

Any thoughts on which is better and why? I do like having the book in hand, but be nice to kick back and listen.

Any experience?

Thanks

Hard copy, definitely. To begin with, my mind often wanders when I'm reading, and I like it that way. It is one way of engaging in the book, because it isn't random mind-wandering, but trains of thought set off by what is in the book. With a hard copy, it is easy to find where you left off reading when the mind began to wander; not so much with a book on tape or CD.

Also, I often heavily annotate when I'm reading...underlining things that strike me as particularly well or badly written, jotting notes in the margins about why I like or don't like particular ideas or passages. Can't do that with audio books.

I've only managed to make it through one audio book, "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer, and that was probably only because I had already read it a couple of times by the time I listened to the audio book, and because the content has to do with subjects - religion, history, sociology and psychology - that I'm interested in.

 

[The Judge]

Also, I often heavily annotate when I'm reading...underlining things that strike me as particularly well or badly written, jotting notes in the margins about why I like or don't like particular ideas or passages. Can't do that with audio books.

Can't do that with library books either!!

 

[Hypnos164]

Both!

I also have an audible subscription (2 books a month for around $20). Lots of choice of unabridged SF and F.

Mostly I find that I can only listen in the car / gym etc. Places where i'm sort of occupied physically if not mentally. Its pretty much replaced the radio and a lot of music listening for me.

A poor narator can ruin a good book, a good narrator can make pretty average stuff really compelling and a good book with a good narrator is really great - Ender's Game with Stefan Rudnicki / Game of Thrones with Roy Dotrice / Harry Dresden with James Masters all spring to mind as some of the best examples from 5+ years of listening.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I've never listened to an audiobook, but I've often thought it would be nice to have the same book I'm reading also on tape so that I could continue it when I get in the car to go somewhere! I don't really register things well if they aren't in print in front of me, though, so I suspect I would get sidetracked and forget to listen.

 

[CyBeR]

I have acquired some audiobooks for a girl friend of mine at some point in the past, but I can say I was never really interested in them. I remember the language classes during highschool where the teacher would drone on about some poem, making us write down some lengthy commentary of some author I never heard of and didn't frankly care for. Even when I was simply listening to her talking about the book or poem in question, my mind just trailed off...
And I believe that would happen if I try to listen to someone reading a book for me. I would get bored with the lack of real effort on my part and simply let my mind wander, but not in the right direction. Sure, it would be great to listen to one while driving (I have just spend 3 hours and 40 minutes in traffic, trying to travel a distance of 8 Km from home to my University...it would've been helpful to have something like that) but it would either distract me from driving or I wouldn't be paying it enough real attention to record everything that happens.