Poll: Do you listen to audiobooks?

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: Do you listen to audiobooks? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=337)

[punter]

i'm very interested, but I can't get itms yet (wrong country).

I can't listen to talking books while doing work, but they would be great for long car trips.

[gerror]

I would rather read a book. I can't imagine I will like it

[Sabenth]

having had the opertunity to listent to a short bit of an audio book iam all for them saves my eye sight

[whfsdude]

99% of the time no. But then Dave Barry is just better on tape/cd :D

[usersince86]

I spend about 20 hours a week in the car; so being able to listen to books is a good use of my time.

I prefer reading one than hearing one, but it's nice to have the option. I've listened to about a dozen audio books this year...

[gerror]

Maybe I will give it a try and put one on my iPod and listen on my way to work

[Centris 650]

Originally posted by whfsdude
99% of the time no. But then Dave Barry is just better on tape/cd :D

You know I never thought about that! I might have to try it out now... :D

[the_mole1314]

I'd be more interested in having the book to read ON the iPod and listening to it for cheaper, than having it cost more just to listen to it.

[seamuskrat]

I live in the Los Angeles area and have a 2 hour each way commute. I MUSt listen to books or go insane. I alternate between tapes from the library and ripped CDs on my iPod. I order them from the library, rip, listen at my leisure then delete. According to the local librarian, its even within the realm of legality, as they are not distributed, nor kept and originated at a library.
But there are many great books on tape/cd/audible now, so get out and enjoy some of them.
Many books are read with great enthusiasm by professional actors/readers that helps with the character voices, suspecse, etc. Some are 'performed' by an entire troupe of actors, while others are just plain read.
I still read the old fashioned way, but listening sure is a lot of fun.
I suggest everyone reading this forum and voting today go and ry at least 1 and see how it is.

[Jerry Spoon]

If I had an iPod, I would definitely give audiobooks a try, but with having to carry around multiple cd's as my other option, I'm just not interested right now.

[ThomasJefferson]

You know you are a nerd when

1. you have the entire BBC version and
2. the entire unabridged spoken book version narrated by Inglis

of the Lord of the Rings on your iPod.

But, with my back problems, sometimes I am in bed for 2-3 days so ... the Silmarillion next?

[peterjhill]

I have an audible listener account. Right now i am listening to "The Altman Code" unabridged. They have a fantastic selection. I also like listening to Scientific America. I do this all on the bus to and from work. Usually a half hour at a shot of waiting and riding.

Some of my favorites:
Connections, by James Burke, read by the author

The Nanny Diaries, by
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
read by Julia Roberts

The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (Unabridged)
Alan Deutschman, read by the author

All of the Robin Williams interviews on audible. Susie Bright, also an audible original.

I would recommend the audible $15 account that gives you one subscription and one book per month. I have the two books per month option, plus a year subscription of three things. It is really too much.

I love the New York Times subscription, you get the top stories of the NYT to listen to, about 50 minutes, every morning by about 6am, including the editorials.

[joshbuddy]

Actually, i love to listen to them in place of music for the most part.. i spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and i mind them a little more interesting to listen to then the same tunes over and over again.

On that point, I sure do wish the ipod supported some kind of intra/inter file bookmarking (from machine to ipod)

*j*

[macFanDave]

Originally posted by gerror
I would rather read a book. I can't imagine I will like it

Well, when you find a way to drive safely while reading a book, let me know. I have two 45-minute drives (with good weather and traffic) every day, so audiobooks are a great way to make use of that solitary time.

With such a long drive, I only listen to unabridged books and my local library is starting to run low on ones I haven't already heard. When I ask my librarian about the future, she says it doesn't look good for unabridged books-on-tape and suggests abridged. I hope you can imagine the puzzled look on her face when I say, "I don't have time for abridged books!"

[mrsebastian]

thank goodness for audiobooks :D listen to 'em all the time. if i have an extra long commute somewhere, while working on large projects at work, and going to sleep. doesn't beat actually reading a book, but then when of late, have i had time to sit down and read?!

[Awimoway]

I don't listen to audiobooks--my attention span is low enough when I read books, but my wandering mind gets me totally lost within 5 mins of turning on an audiobook.

However, nothing makes a road trip go faster than several hours of Fresh Air with Terri Gross interview shows. (Because my attention can go in and out without getting me too lost.)

[Fahd]

I've never tried one yet. But I like to read a lot, so maybe I should give it a try?

[Eniregnat]

I use audio books almost exclusively.

I use books from RFB&D (http://www.rfbd.org/) and the Library of Congress (http://nlscatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First). RFB&D provides my textbooks and the LOC (http://loc.gov/) provides the pleasure reading books. I have my Tangerine iBook read off anything that I can’t get in MP3 (analogue, [URL=http://www.digit-life.com/articles/mp3comp/), or Daisy (http://www.daisy.org/) formats.

The books found on CD at the major books stores often are of great quality but offer poor navigation. Some have just one track per disk. This is very annoying if one listens to the book for short bits of time. Audible's (http://www.audible.com/adbl/store/welcome.jsp) book format is nice, but dosn't offer nearly the navagation the Daisy books do. DRM seems to get in the way of all the better ways of distributing digital audio books.

[x86isslow]

audiobooks are great for driving in places where NPR reception is poor. WBUR!!

[CrackedButter]

I don't understand why NON US itunes users cannot use the audiobooks section... what licensing issues are there with this?

It would be nice to be able to buy books from them while waiting for the music, it could help apple even because its gets the mindset going and buying music would be something for later.

Us usual its a US only "thing"

[evil_santa]

Im have dyslexia, so I avoided reading when i was young, and now feel i missed out on a good read. My ipod & audiable combined with a daily 2+ hrs on London Underground has allowed me to "read" books i missed out on.

If you want to try out an audio book at audible, you can download a sample of the book, usualy 10 or 15 min, or http://www.audiobooksforfree.com have some free but very low quality mp3 book, or visit you local library and see what they have.

[wdlove]

No, not at the present. I would be interested to try an audiobook.

[Kyle]

I would be interested if it was read by the author, and it was reasonably priced.

[deejemon]

I don't read paper books, so can't imagine wanting to listen to audio books.