Audio books
From MobileRead
An audio book is generally a recording of someone reading the text from a regular book. They can be either unabridged or a readers digest version.
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Overview
Audio books have been around for a long time. They were originally designed to provide books for the blind but are very popular for mobile user such as commuters that can listen to books via tape, CDs, MP3 players, or iPods.
Audio books are popular for mobile reading platforms. They are usually in MP3 or Audible formats although some are also in WMA Voice format. Most devices that can be used as eBook Readers also support some form of audio books.
An audio book can be used in conjunction with an eBook to follow along, so to speak. This is a big help to people learning to read in a foreign language. The audio playback device can be the same as the reading device but does not have to be. Often it is better to have separate devices so that there is independent control in case one or the other needs to be backed up or paused.
Today the web is a great place to get audio books although they can also be purchased in book stores. Most of the web sites provide downloadable books in MP3 format using low bit rates while the bookstores provide CDs and tapes. Some libraries allow checkout of Audio books using in a DRM version of WMA. Audible has their own format for audio books with multiple compression rates. All of the Audible books use DRM and support multiple devices with one purchase.
Audio books are sometimes choreographed with music, sound effects, and even actors playing different roles but most of the time it is a single person reading the book. A related but different genre is old time radio shows from the 30's, 40's, and 50's which have also been released in the same media forms as audio books. The difference is one is from a book while the other is from a script.
Another way that eBooks can be read aloud is via a text to speech, TTS, processor. TTS can be used from a PC or from a dedicated device to read digital text aloud. The big advantage of TTS is that the audio is synced to the page which makes following along in the text much easier. Some Library eBooks support TTS.
It is also possible to synchronize audio files with text displayed on the screen. The file format LRC is designed to do this. It is mainly used to sync lyrics to music but can also be used to sync the transcript from a radio show or an eBook.
Portable Device Support
Most of the E-book devices have support for mp3 files and can thus be used for audio books. Audible is available on PDAs and the Kindle. There are also many dedicated portable audio devices such as the iPod and Zune. Of course Notebooks and Netbooks will generally work as well although they are more cumbersome. Even some portable GPS devices include audio support.
For more information in this wiki
- Sound for mp3, WMA, and Audible data
- DTBook is the standardized format for books that are to be read via TTS.
- DAISY is a standards consortium for the blind and visually impaired
External Links
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiobook
- http://www.audible.com - These are AA and AAX formatted audio books.
- http://www.bookcourier.com/ - text to speech hardware.
- http://www.radiospirits.com/ - Old time radio shows
MP3 bookstores
- a Google search for 'audio books' will turn up hundreds of web sites.
- AudioBooksCorner Free Audio Books -- Use the 'Advanced Search' and set the price to 'free' to find all free audio books.
