Listen And Learn: Observations On Audiobooks

Automated Overreaction to Kindle 2

Although I’m extremely late to the party on this one, attacks on Kindle’s text-to-speech (TTS) technology seem extremely misplaced to me. Roy Blount—a very funny writer—led the early charge in his role as President of the Author’s Guild. The big objection is that the ability to create an automated audiobook steals away the audiobook money stream from authors who already feel unfairly underfunded.

Still, one wonders how well the Kindle could capture Roy’s bluster, or southern accent?

TTS capabilities are improving each year, and technologically, they're frankly amazing. For the sight-impaired, a talking Kindle opens up content in no other way available. If you want to hear The New York Times--why you’d want to is a separate question--you can. Quality audio production prohibits cranking out that kind of volume each day ... so for that sort of publication, the Kindle “steals” nothing at all. If anything, it expands delivery options, audience, and branded awareness.

While automated audio is better than nothing, it’s a sorry replacement for a real human voice. If Male Voice’s rendition makes for as enjoyable, evocative, and equivalent an audiobook as a live narrator can muster, that narrator should perhaps move to copy-editing.

Even in the non-fiction arena in which I tend to record, automation costs listeners a lot by its inability to suss out a nuance. Over a year ago I decided to test my assumptions, comparing my own reading of academic material to that of a text-to-speech engine. You can check out the results here.

Suffice it to say that there is simply no comparison when gauging by listeners’ ability to comprehend. It’s a rare narrator who can read much of anything in one take. Even reading quietly, you frequently gaze backward to mentally insert missing commas, or re-emphasize different words to enable understanding.  The Kindle may sound good, but it neither thinks nor emotes. Narrators can, and do.

A March opinion piece in Publisher’s Weekly frames the debate nicely. The Kindle may be imperfect, but it’s an invaluable improvement over being denied content just because you can’t see. If authors could somehow guarantee this greater access to their beloved written words, their dislike of the Kindle would be fair. But they can’t, and they don’t.

Let’s just be grateful that people still care enough about words that they’re eager to read them--or hear them--however they can.

You Should Listen To The Law -- And To Anything Else That You Want To Remember

I was recently browsing through a Police Administration textbook, authored by Charles R. Swanson, Leonard Territo, and Robert W. Taylor. Pretty standard issue text for a Criminal Justice program ... incredibly thorough and chock full of excellent illustrative examples.

I find law enforcement texts fascinating, because they provide eye-opening background for what police departments really are like--which isn't, unsurprisingly, necessarily what you see on TV.

Much like police officers never know what they'll run into when starting their beats, the intrepid textbook reader/editor/narrator finds each day equally full of surprises. To wit, a discussion about "downward communication"--in this case, the need for police administrators to make sure that instructions and policies are understood throughout the ranks. The authors site experimental research that identifies the most effective means of communicating key info:

    1. Oral and written communication combined;
    2. Oral communication only;
    3. Written communication only;
    4. The bulletin board;
    5. The organization grapevine.

The citation comes from a 1954 PhD. dissertation, but the authors still think its points valid. Me too. Combining oral instruction with written instruction is just common sense. If you want something to stick, give a broad audience the broadest range of options to teach them. Audio provides the best opportunity for learning among people who have trouble reading. For people who read well, audio's repetition cements what they've read--and fills in the gaps of what they may have glossed over. If the consensus still holds that two heads are better than one, two communications mediums surely work the same way.

More instructive is the claim that if a person is exposed to only one medium, the winner for getting the message across is oral communication. A bit ironic that I read this claim in a print-only textbook, but it's only a matter of time before audio textbooks are commonplace.  (Of course, for publishers who agree philosophically, Texts In Audio stands by to help them execute their vision efficiently, effectively, and affordably.)

Yes, yes, I know ... it's equally ironic that I'm making these claims in a print form myself. But a guy's gotta stay open-minded. Besides, number one on the effectiveness scale is oral-plus-written. I make the pro-audio argument in conversations all the time. But to get to number one, I apparently ought to type them as well.

Done!

Making Portable Content More Portable Still

Audiobooks appeal because they make content easy. When someone reads for you, they also do the hard work of parsing the text. The narrators and directors figure out the phrases to emphasize. With rightly-placed pauses, they convert paragraph-long muddles into three magically comprehensible sentences.

Audiobooks make content consumption easier because they allow multi-tasking better than any other media format. You can listen while driving or exercising. While you can do the same thing with video, doing so while driving is NOT recommended--though it's certainly technically possible.

Portability is what enables the multitasking benefit, so I've been sporadically following the buzz around Playaway, the portable ear-budded audio device on which popular audiobooks come preloaded. The concept is both intriguing and popular enough that a competitor has recently surfaced--TitlePlayer--which appears to work much the same way.

What intrigues me is how much additional value these devices offer users, and how much of this value said users are willing to pay for.

Herewith, the obligatory pro/con list:

Cons: They cost more. A Playaway version appears to average about $5.00 more than a CD set. For longer books, if you want to listen more than once, you'll probably need to buy it a second battery. And worst of all for we bibliophiles, they don't display on a bookshelf very smartly at all!

Pros: Like a good old print copy itself, it's self-contained entertainment. You don't need to download, sync with persnickety devices, or track down whichever teenager "borrowed" your ear buds. You don't have to pause to swap CDs or tapes when the story starts rocking and rolling. You're less likely to lose your place if some other media moment intervenes on the experience. Item one is to me most compelling. There's something reassuring about being able to just toss an item onto the front seat, and know you've got everything you need. Assuming, of course, those teenagers didn't steal the battery to power their own fading toys.

Is five dollars a fair price to pay for this convenience? Sure seems it me, but as is often the case with opinionated pundits, my behavior is hard-pressed to prove it. To date, I have purchased numerous audiobooks sets and exactly zero Playaways. I'm enthusiastic about the concept, but have tried out these gadgets ... well, never.

No wonder book marketers go crazy. They have to deal with consumers like me.

The Real Sticker Shock: Textbooks Are Cheap

I just came across a good no-nonsense article from Robert Brooker, a University of Minnesota science professor who could moonlight as a debate coach if genetics and biology ever bore him. His topic is the cost of textbooks, which is nearly universally deplored as too high. His rebuttal--as befits one immersed daily in the scientific method--is to calmly respond with some facts.

Brooker quotes a statistic that the average undergraduate spends $700 a year on textbooks. When you're writing it ... yes ... that's a pretty big check. But as usual, context kinda matters here. Considered within the total average cost of obtaining a four-year degree, textbooks account for a mere seven percent. The return for this, Brooker suggests, is perhaps fifty percent of a student's learning. Hmmm, that sounds like a return on investment that would make a Fortune 500 executive giddy.

But wait a minute! Maybe we're being schnookered by Brooker! Those college professors talk pretty fancy, you know. But Brooker adds this salient stat: the College Board's 2007 discovery that full-time workers with college degrees earn over 60 percent more than their counterparts holding only high-school diplomas.

Okay, my turn now. If you can parlay four years and $3,000 worth of textbooks into sixty percent more earnings (simply by holding the degree that those textbooks enable), you'll more than recoup your investment in just a few months. In that context, textbooks are perhaps the best buy that an ambitious American could make. In fact, books that enable the content to stick more securely--and I'm speaking of audio textbooks, of course--are even better buys. Yes, even if the sticker price climbs further still.

But Brooker's analysis isn't flawless. For with textbook mythologies now neatly dispensed, attention will inevitably turn somewhere. Faculty salaries, anyone?

Audiobooks In The Classroom, German Style

When champions of online education start talking about the web opening up a whole new world of ideas, they aren't kidding. It's a pretty fair bet that just mucking around libraries, I would never have stumbled across the Goethe Institute (or Goethe-Institut). But in its online manifestation, this promoter of German cultural exchange even publishes in English. For me, that's gut.

Although the audience in question is children, a recent post on its website discussed audiobooks' use in the classroom. A scholar at Germany's Institute for Applied Children's Media Research makes a pretty good case: "they can be used over and again in the same quality. This can benefit above all pupils who haven’t grasped everything the first time round, and who are then able to go over things again. In this respect the use of media differs from authentic person-related lessons: they are not dependent on moods or daily form."

Audio's ability to enable easy review is a benefit I've mentioned often in correspondence and conversations with publishers. But I hadn't really considered Professor Stang's realization that audiobook delivery ensures presenting key material by people at the top of their games.  Decent narrators will always go back to re-record things so run-on sentences don't sound that way, and they'll fix their mis-readings so confusing presentations never reach students' ears in the first place. (Assuming, of course, that the book itself makes some sense.)

Audio will never replace really good teachers, because it's a one-way communication. But it sure can fill in for boring fossilized lecturers!

RSS = Really Simple Syndication ... Except When It Isn't

Once upon a time, I was paid a fair amount of money to fix computer problems at a Big 10 university, so it's not like I'm some quick-to-despair techno-rube. But I am quick-to-holler at my unobtrusive little computer tower when things stop working for no apparent reason.

I just discovered that this blog's RSS feed was one of those things, and after a morning of troubleshooting (that I'll never get back), I managed to get this vital bit of communications technology working again. As best as I can tell, the culprit was composing my posts in Microsoft Word, then directly pasting my musings into the blog posting interface. Word is, random HTML ephemera creeps in and my blog interface freaks out.

So much for stylizing--it's back to plain text to me. Either that or start editing within Typepad itself. But I won't knuckle under and stop editing! The web is a wonder in this instant communication that it enables, but it's also a curse in this instant communication that it enables. We're in such a big rush to have a quick say, that we now say what we say in a far clumsier way. Just because we can rush through our near-instant conversations doesn't mean that we should.

Meanwhile, my apologies for bombarding your RSS readers with repeated posts as I worked out the glitches. I hope.

A Secret of Audiobook Production

Forgive me for skipping the mania, but I have to admit that I have not read The Secret. I have, however, been tempted to check out the audiobook, if only to stay culturally plugged in. But based on this Wagon Creek Project review, it sounds like I should save myself a little aggravation.

I have to admit that I passed on the book because I've seen enough Oprahesque TV highlights to consider it a bit of a boondoggle: a somewhat reasonable concept milked far past credulity. I know, I know ... to my own great loss.

Anyway, the part of the review that really grabbed my attention was the listener's observation of "mouth noises." The minute that recording quality becomes noticeable, you stop paying attention to the content. That's usually the death knell for an audiobook, but perhaps in this case it offered a welcome distraction.

Did you know that Ms. Byrne now has a journal out? Yes, it's blank. And selling better, of course, than anything I've ever written. Oh well, time to work harder. Which is something like Ben Franklin's secret, I think.

Beating The Drums For Audio Book Month

Okay, so I’m a little late on this one, but at least I’m on record now. Celebrate, audio fans—it’s Audio Book Month!

I really wish I could tell you more about it, but I cannot find a press release anywhere. Many of the bloggers who have noted this holiday suggest that it’s the brainchild of the Audiobook Publisher’s Association … but alas, a search for that phrase on the APA website also comes up empty.

A phrase search on Google finds 12,400 mentions of “Audio Book Month,” so I guess I should be glad that the word’s getting out. I mean, I could be a champion of Soyfoods, whose Month managed a mere 1,570 hits, and which are considerably less delectable than ripping good prose.

Just for fun, I conducted a Google phrase search for a number of such Months, selected utterly randomly and unscientifically.

What does this mean? Well, to the good, it means that the audiobook industry can be grateful that its publicity difficulties aren’t nearly as sticky as those facing its caramel colleagues. Preparedness Month? Well what did you expect? Its publicists lived up to their name.

I am disappointed that Family Month could be nearly quadrupled by bike enthusiasts, but it’s hard to focus on the family when both spouses are blogging about posting. A tip of the hat, meanwhile, to the Karastan juggernaut. Seriously—everybody knows noodles, but who ever heard of Karastan? (It’s a carpet manufacturer, not Borat’s adopted home.)

Ah well, this month is our month and I’ve now done my part. 12,401 and counting!

Commute Productively With A CD A Day

I'm not sure how robust the New Audio Books Blog will turn out to be, since it published a gazillion posts on June 6th, and has seemingly gone dormant ever since. But its 5 Benefits of Audiobooks post is right on the mark.

The first listed benefit cites a transportation statistic claiming that people in the U.S. drive an average of 73 minutes daily. Considering that an audio CD accommodates a maximum of 80 minutes, that means the average driver can listen to nearly a CD a day.

If you're harried and stressed by events at home or the office, this listening time can help you pleasurably wind down. No commercials to irritate you, no traffic or weather reports to stress you beyond what the office has managed, and you'll never have to listen to another minute of "morning zoo" banter. 

But the best benefit comes to productivity-minded people, be you Type A or Gen X. Business people can hone any number of skill sets by listening to a vast variety of business-related texts. College students can listen to assigned textbooks. Professionals--from medical personnel to those serving in the military--can continue their ongoing educations when there's little else productive they can do.

If you do the math, you could spend over seven "full-time" weeks each year consuming this content. In a world where time-management is increasingly valued and necessary, this offers an incredible opportunity to reclaim "lost" time. Whether you need to cram in extra study or miss reading for fun, audiobooks are an easy solution for that trouble that ails you.

Browsing Free Audiobook Sites

As wonderful a learning tool as audiobooks are, even modestly-priced versions are beyond a few people's means. That's why I've been developing a list of "Free Audiobook Sites" that you'll see in the navigation bar at the left of this page.

For my own part, I have taken a cursory look and a listen at (and to) a handful of titles, and in some cases, the quality's pretty sketchy. In these cases you get what you pay for. In other cases, the books sound surprisingly delightful, and are a bargain even if you'd paid for them.

A number of sites have begun to offer one-off giveaways, and if I find one that seems exceptional, I'll try to pass it along. But for the purposes of my permanent link bar collection, I'll stick with the sites that offer a variety of choices. So if you're looking for options that will enable personal audiobook learning on a library budget, my list of free audiobook sites may offer some value.