Books are available in two different digital formats, audiobooks and e-books. Current electronic formats require much less shelf (storage) space, and fewer resources to produce.
Audiobooks
Originally created as an alternative to braille books for blind people, audiobooks have been around since the early 1930s. Cassette audiobooks became popular in the 1960s and 70s, and radio programs often aired serialised 'audiobooks' or dramatisation of existing books, like the famous War of the Worlds which caused panic when it was first aired, and Lord of the Rings. As MP3 players became more popular, audiobook use increased dramatically.
Audiobooks are typically read by trained voice actors, although occasionally stage or film actors, or authors will feature in an audiobook. Poorer quality audiobooks, that have been created automatically by text-to-speech programs on computers, are also available, but most listeners prefer less mechanised readings. Audiobooks are often used when reading is not practical, like when driving or travelling, or while doing other activities (exercise, gardening, cooking, etc.) Audiobooks don't require a written book to exist, they are therefore useful in cultures that maintain oral histories. Many books have been slightly altered or scripted for better presentation in an audio format. Audiobooks can also be used to supplement language learning, focussing on listening skills, something that textbooks can not do.
There are several projects to convert novels that are in the public domain into free audiobooks, Librivox being the most well known, where chapters are read by the public as well as voice actors and made available for free on their website. Some other free public domain audiobook websites include: Audiobooks for free, The Gutenberg Audiobook Project, Audiobooks.org, and Books should be free. Some sites, such as Podiobooks, specialise in serialising audiobooks into podcasts.
Private domain audiobooks including newly released books and best sellers, are available for purchase in iTunes, and on sites such as Audible.com, Amazon.com and the Australian based Soundbooks.
E-books
Electronic books, or e-books, came into existence with the computer, and are becoming more popular with the recent invention of portable e-book readers like the Kindle by Amazon.com which uses energy efficient, easy to read, electronic paper (currently available in America only). Most e-books are simply documents that you can read on your computer and use the popular PDF document format, created by Adobe. There are many other e-book formats out there for the range of portable digital devices such as: Palm PDAs, mobile phones, Blackberries, etc.
Unlike physical books where you are limited to using the table of contents or the index to find information, e-books allow you to search the entire book for word or a phrase. This makes electronic versions of reference books really attractive to professionals who require quick access to the information. Movies, animations and sounds can also be used to enrich a story in an e-book, something that isn't possible with printed books! Until recent advances in electronic paper, one of the disadvantages of e-books is the fatigue that is experienced when focusing on a screen for extended periods. E-books also allow authors to publish their work themselves, and this has caused concern in the publishing industry, both for the financial implications, and for the growing prevalence of low quality writing and information in e-books, similar to the information problem on the world wide web.
As with audiobooks, digitised versions of books in the public domain are available for free from many e-book websites, often in multiple formats for various digital devices (Gutenberg Australia, Free-ebooks.net, Free e-book library, Manybooks.net, Books In My Phone, and Feedbooks. E-books are also sold at most major online bookstores in many formats.
3 comments:
Your posts are articulate and interesting. The Kindle device is causing a bit of a flurry with its text-to-speech function which authors say is denying them royalties as they derive income when their books are made into audio books. For more information there is an article in the New York Times http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/a-tempest-in-a-kindle/
Thanks!
I think it's more the author's guild (not necessarily the authors themselves) that are making a fuss. I don't agree with the guild. The Kindle can't read aloud like a human, and therefore it won't appeal to the current audiobook market (who enjoy being read to by voice actors).
I actually think that the Kindle's text-to-speech ability will actually increase e-book sales and therefore royalties, because the rate of consumption of Kindle e-books will probably increase - the e-books can be 'read' in more situations, including where the user is unable to use their hands to turn pages. Most Kindle users would not double their purchase and get both the e-book and the audiobook of the same title.
I loved War of the Worlds - when I work out how to get that type of stuff onto my iPhone I'm definitely downloading it! I've already mastered e-books on the iPhone - I love it. Am currently reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on the train.
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