Monday Musings: Audio Books

The Book Barista has decided to start a weekly discussion called Monday Musings, and she encourages the rest of us to participate. I decided to oblige, so I’ll talk about my opinion of audio books.

I will admit, I don’t listen to a lot of audio books, but they definitely have a time and place in my repertoire of books. I have discovered that while I enjoy reading novels, I prefer my audio to be more short form, which is why I love to listen to Podcastle and EscapePod. If I do happen to pick up an audio book for myself, I usually get it from PodioBooks, which treats the book like an episodic narrative, giving you the story in small chunks instead of all at once.

I have found that audio books are great for travel. My kids will sit quietly in the car for hours if we have a good audio book playing. A good narrator can definitely transport you into the story. I love it when they can do all the accents, and you can tell the different characters based on voice alone. There’s not much chance to talk in the car when an audio book is playing, since everyone is concentrating on the story, but it makes the miles and time fly by.

I’m not one to buy audio books (I don’t buy many books, at least not new). Books for the car we get from the library so we can use the CD player in the car. For myself, I use PodioBooks to put the book on my iPod. I know you can “borrow” audio books from the library, but I run a Mac so the technology is tricky. The only time I’ve bought an audio book was when I forgot to cancel my Audible account before the free month was over – oops. While you can get PodioBooks for free, I typically donate a bit of money once I’ve finished listening to the book, since it is a service that I enjoy.

So, what do you think about audio books? Either join up the linksy at Book Barista or comment below. I’d love to hear what you think!

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