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.
