Audiobooks: when listening becomes a pleasure

Let’s talk about the audiobooks! How many people, at least once a year or more, have heard or said themselves: “I would love to read, but I never have the time!”

With the resumption of many reproductive activities, the trance has returned, but is it really just a matter of time? Without debating the subject too much, for those who really want to get back to savouring the content of a story, novel or fairytale there is a growing and expanding world, that of audiobooks.

But what exactly is an audiobook? An audiobook is nothing more than a book recorded out loud by a person and therefore usable like a normal audio file.

Of course, an audiobook manages to be much more than that. Instead of the ‘generic person’ reading, one has to think of an actor, a voice actor or at least an appropriate voice reading, and sometimes interpreting, the content of our favourite books. Instead of a normal audio file, then, we find audio books available for purchase exactly as if they were books, with cover and chapters.

Before going any further, it is necessary to make a distinction: what is the difference between an audiobook and a podcast? Podcasts are audio files mainly optimised for serial (i.e. episodic) listening and deal with a variety of topics. It is not uncommon then, especially with the advent of web radios and the digitisation of classical radios, to find podcasts of episodes that one has not been able to listen to live. By its intrinsic nature, moreover, the podcast has a shorter duration than the hours one needs to ‘spend’ to listen to an audiobook. In fact, the episodic structure facilitates its enjoyment in a short period of time.

But, back to audio books, how can they be purchased and listened to? There are various ways. As far as purchase is concerned, there are several portals specialised in the sale (and production) of this particular type of product. In Italy, the historic site Il Narratore, which has been producing and distributing audio-books since 1999, is famous. Since 2008, the site also offers a distribution service for publishing houses and independent producers. In recent years, Amazon’s presence in the Italian market has also appeared abruptly. The Audible platform contains more than 60,000 audiobooks and podcasts, which are continuously updated and obviously linked to the Amazon account.

There are also sites that offer audiobooks totally free of charge and are often the result of projects to recover old texts. Of course, the quality of the audio-books produced and sold on the major platforms is superior, although the cost increases (from EUR 3.99 up to more than EUR 12). Portals such as Audible, however, offer a 30-day free trial of the entire catalogue and thereafter the possibility of paying a monthly fee. This will certainly favour those who intend to listen to a lot of audiobooks and want to always have the latest releases available.

Regardless of the platform, however, it will be sufficient to have an audio playback device to listen to an audio book. Whereas MP3 players used to be the masters of the market, with the advent of smartphones, the market has almost completely shifted to the latter. Moreover, enjoyment has been made easier thanks to the special apps that the major manufacturers have released for Android or iOS.

Besides smartphones, it is of course possible to buy and listen to audio books on one’s own computer and also on some eBook Reader models. It is necessary to specify how some audio books are also available in ePub3 version, in addition to the simple audio file. This standard, which has never fully taken root, represents the link between eBook and audiobook, allowing the reader/listener to enjoy the text file with the words being underlined in synchrony with the audio. This is particularly suitable in the case of children’s and educational books, but also if one wants to read a text in a foreign language.

In short, the audio book seems to have become, more and more, a must-have in today’s digital society.

La Novella Orchidea has also entered the audiobook market in recent years. If you are interested in our products, you can find a whole dedicated section here.

Enjoy reading… er, good listening!