Hybrid book idea—e-books paired with audio books—is starting to spread
By Joe Wikert
Remember this hybrid book idea from last month? Others are speculating about the same thing, most notably New York Times blogger Brad Stone in this post. Now that Amazon’s Audible acquisition has been announced, Stone asks these questions:
How about a service that allows you to seamlessly switch from reading a book on your digital device to listening to the same book read aloud as you get in the car, or if your eyes are tired, or if you simply want to hear a crucial scene acted out? And then to switch back to the printed page? How about audiobooks that you can easily transfer between your computer, e-book reader and cell phone? Or e-book downloads that come packaged with a discounted audio track?
He goes on to say that “the real opportunity is to start bringing some excitement and flexibility into the hardback-bound world of book publishing—and to get people reading again, even if their eyes never land on the printed page.” I couldn’t agree more. On a related note, I’m tying together some additional thoughts on e-content distribution/consumption on my Publishing 2020 blog, starting with this post.
Moderator’s note: Needless to say, the right format standards for both the e-book and audio versions could simplify matters. Let’s think beyond just one company’s software. – David Rothman
February 4th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
There is a standard already that should do the trick – DAISY. It has all infrastructure that is needed to tag data so you can move between audio and text.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Loudlit does something similar in a browser.
http://loudlit.org/
February 4th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Exactly, Adrian. I’d love to hear further on this topic from Jon Noring, who actually proposed something like this a year or so ago in an OpenReader context. I picked up his idea in a letter we sent to Audible. No reply. Glad to see Joe pushing for the concept. David
February 4th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
From everything I have learned about Audio books, and by no means am I an expert, but I think there is an inherent disconnect here. Audiobooks are not a book “format” in the same manner as ebooks are a format of a print book as they don’t share the same sensory experience when we digest the content. Audiobooks are listened to, books are read. The only voice one hears when reading is our own (one hopes). I have been told by experts in the area that audiobook readers or actors, have their own following and often audiobook buyer follow what the particular voice or actor is reading – more so than they content they are reading.
Furthermore, the digital audiobook, downloaded onto one’s iPod and listened to in a car or on a plane is just as easily accessed when at home, etc. I cannot imagine a circumstance where one would switch from the audio book to the ebook or vice versa. (Yes, it would be very cool to read TS Eliot’s poems and then click on a recording with him reading, but that is just embedded audio in an ebook. Audio and ebooks just don’t make any sense as packaged together.
See part 2 of “Do I Believe in ebooks?” on the OUP blog (blog.oup.com) next week when I go into some detail about the parallels and differences between the formats.