[malhotra_chetan]

I co-manage an ebook to audiobook conversion product https://auditus.cc. Spending a little time in this space and being an avid audiobook listener myself, I somehow feel that both sides are right on some level. The publishers' sole goal is to place as many physical copies as they can in people's hands. That is why you often hear things like "The feel of paper is what makes the book better", "this digital reading takes the feel away", etc. Now if you are listening to a book on Audible and you feel "ah! this book sounds pretty interesting and has some very notable points; I should read this rather than just listening to it!", you might end up buying a copy of it. But now since Audible has the exact text of the book, you can read it right there while also listening to it, which is obviously better because two faculties of your brain are working on the same thing thus you grasp faster. But clearly that's not good for the publisher at all, thus the frowning. On the other hand, audible's point that the A.I. generated text is not gonna be an exact replica of the hard copy might be the only and helpful justification they can present.