[grandalf]

Reading aloud is another art form in itself, just as writing is.

Why are people so cynical about audio books? I think they contain two art forms (spoken word reading and literature writing) and can be far more satisfying than the dead tree version alone.

Yes there are some audio books that are read very badly, but they are fortunately in the minority.

[mechanical_fish]

Why are people so cynical about audio books?

Perhaps for the same reason my buddy who worked at the college radio station was so cynical about Kurt Cobain. Nirvana was popular; ergo, their music couldn't be very good. Those sellouts!

But, more charitably, it might be that certain book lovers really cherish reading, which is quite distinct from being read to. Someone once said that that the secret to books, as a medium, is that they give you the illusion that you and the author are sharing a private experience. You're alone in your own little space, concentrating and free from distraction, along with someone who has never met you, who might be hundreds or even thousands of years dead, but who is nevertheless speaking to you one to one. Even the person sitting across from you has no idea what you and the author are sharing as you read. And even if you read something as mind-blowingly popular as, say, Pratchett or Wodehouse or Gaiman or Rowling, there are still going to be moments where it will feel as if the author is sharing a private joke directly with you. The medium does that.

I suspect that audio books break that illusion for many people. Suddenly a reader, a bunch of Audible.com sound engineers, whoever happens to be within earshot of your car radio, and a potentially huge number of visual distractions (such as cars rolling by on the highway) are packed into that imaginary space along with you and the author. It's kind of like the difference between a quiet dinner for two and your junior prom. This explains why it's often a good selling point to have an audio book read by the author, despite the fact that most authors do not have years of experience as professional book readers. Hearing a book read by its author helps to preserve the illusion of intimate conversation.

Though I suspect that the rise of personal media devices -- for personal listening, home recording, and cheap distribution -- are changing the feel of the listening experience. Back in the early days of TV, watching TV probably felt like going to a show -- people did it in groups, with families or in bars, and even the shows on TV were based on vaudeville, theater, and big public events like wrestling matches and baseball games. But in the era of YouTube, you can have a video-watching experience that feels much more intimate, although perhaps never quite as intimate as silent reading.

I have to admit that I've liked the few audio books that I've listened to, but I don't seek them out. Given the option, I'd rather read.

[tungstenfurnace]

I agree. Audiobooks are often recorded by fine actors and speakers. Listening to them improves one's sense of the rhythm of language, emotional nuance, pronunciation of new words, etc. They make it more real.

One's own diction and language is then improved during subsequent conversations.

There's a masochistic streak amongst educationalists. Something like: if you aren't working hard you can't be learning. Hence reading is better than audiobooks; novels are always to be preferred to movies.

[electromagnetic]

I think you hit close about many educators practices, however I think the problem is they assume concentration with hard work and lack of concentration with easy work. While this can generally be true, it doesn't mean you are learning just because something's hard or that you aren't learning just because something's easy.

If you have a problem with reading books for whatever reason, I believe listening to an audiobook will have at least the same effect on an educational level. It obviously won't help with your reading skills, but it might help you with listening skills (which incidentally a lot of people seem to frequently lack). However, listening to an audiobook won't mean jack if you can't concentrate on it, just like with reading a book.

I'd say, just like some people used to have reading rooms, why not have a listening room for audiobooks?

[Scriptor]

I guess I am a very visual problem, so without something visual to latch on to my mind starts to drift. This means that often I lose track of where I am in the story. If the same happens while reading a book, it is far easier to simply go back and read again rather than mess around with a program's ocntrols until I get to the right point.

[dcminter]

For those interested in laying their hands on some legitimately free audiobooks, often of excellent quality: http://librivox.org/