Audio Books: Are They Only For The Visually Impaired?

Should we be listening to books more than reading them? There is widespread opinion that the habit of reading books is slowly declining with the spread of internet and other technologies. Can audio books help slow this down?

The shift from Printed books to audio books has made reading, listening and derived a more convenient method for readers. Audio books are electronic form of conventional books, typically distributed on cassettes and CDs and give electronic-form comfort for yet another human habit.

In the US audio book market, cassettes/CDs sales comprise roughly 40% share. In addition, the recent swing from printed books to audio books among book reader society has led to immense growth in its readership.

A Short History of Books

The history of books starts in mid-15th century when developments in manuscript led to printed books and, in continuation today we have e-books. The 7th to 13th century was the age of religious manuscript books production. Books in this period were entirely hand-written, and are of large religious texts which were meant for worship.

Later, 13th to 15th Century was the period where secularisation in book production started happening. Books were produced only not to be worship objects, but to try explaining something about the observable world. The production of secular books was driven by increasing number of universities in Europe, originating from Italy.

The full printed books were produced from 15th to 16th Century. These are print versions of traditional works like the Bible, prayer books and the religious calendars. Books revealing European life style and society barely started coming after 16th Century.

In the Mid-15th Century, things begin to change with the advent of the printing press. In 1452, Gutenberg conceived the idea of movable type printing press and brought together the technologies of paper, oil-based ink and the wine-press to print books for us.

Using Printed Books

Paper books possess it own disadvantages as you need to maintain it, keeping away from bugs that eat away their pages. In long-term, you can see pages gone gray and fallen out, making book reading a rigid work.

You need to dust and wrap them all at least occasionally to maintain their condition and shape, and your wrapping could become horrible end up ruining the books. Extensive usage of a book make its papers to fallout from its cover and putting it together by applying glue or by using an elastic band won’t restore its original shape, making your reading an ache.

Volume of books occupies vast space pushing you to allot independent room for its maintenance. Desperately books need more room, and we know actual bookshelves cost much to stack it up all. Even though you have bookshelves soon your book collections start to overflow occupying newer spaces. To add, passionate book collectors really know how much awful lending a book could be.

Benefits of Audio Books

Firstly, listening to an audio book does not need as much as concentration you pay when you read a printed book. It is quite advantage comparing to conventional books that facilitate you listening to it while doing your other work. You can listen while busy preparing for yourself in your kitchen or driving your car. People with a job where it need to drive a lot can make extensive use of audio books. Listening to audio books while driving stops their activity from being a chore and instead makes it something to look forward.

In education, it is generally cheaper to provide set of books on cassettes/CDs as audio books for the class to share. This saves both time and money. Researches show that about 85% percentage of our learning and knowledge gathering actually comes from listening. Also it improves learner’s listening and comprehension skills. Audio books come in handy to teach kids and blinds and for adult’s self-help which range from public speaking to meditation.

Moreover you can have your own array of audio books collection in your audio bookshelves. Audio books allow instant replay of segments to which you need to comprehend more to your satisfactory. Imagine how many cassettes/CDs you can keep in the place where a set of book takes up leaving you enormous space.

Listening to books on cassettes/CDs is pleasant because it is so much easier and more fun to do so. Moreover, it doesn't take as long to listen to a book as it would to read it. Listening to audio books make feel, well connected to its subject.

If you are a new listener start with an audio book that you would enjoy listening first, a genre that you are comfortable with. If your interest is fantasy, start with it and if you don’t, chances are there that you like them in an audio book format.

The use of audio books gives you more power to motivate yourself to enjoy reading. It opens up a world of reading to one who has not yet felt what a joy in e-reading can be. Many listeners who start with little hitch using audio books soon become enthusiastic listeners, branching into other genres, reading longer books, and searching new authors. Certainly, audio books serve as a wonderful tool for passionate readers.

Many of us feel it is much easier and quicker to find information on the internet. One of the main problem with Audio books is that people think they are only for the visually impaired. Once we realize that Audio books can be quite enjoyable for everyone, perhaps this would help the declining book sales.