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An audio book is a recording that is primarily of the spoken word as opposed to music. While it is often based on a recording of commercially available printed material, this is not always the case; nor is this required to fit the definition of an audio book, which is why "audio book" is one word rather than two. It was not intended to be descriptive of the word "book" but is rather a recorded spoken program in its own right and not necessarily an audio version of a book.
Spoken audio was originally primarily available in school and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops. It was not until the 1980's that there began a concerted effort to attract book retailers. As book publishers entered the field of spoken-word publishing, the transition to book retailers carrying audio books became commonplace on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.
Formats
Audio books are usually distributed on CDs, cassette tapes, downloadable digital formats (e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio) and, most recently, some preloaded digital formats (e.g., Play away).
The term "books on tape" was frequently and erroneously used as a synonym for audio books when the majority of audio books (then called "spoken word audio") were available on cassette, but BOT was a company that actively attempted (often failing) to protect its company name from generic use. With cassette tapes no longer the dominant medium for audio books, this has become a non-issue.
In 2005 cassette-tape sales made up roughly 16% of the audio book market, with CD sales accounting for 74% of the market and downloadable audio books accounting for approximately 9%. In the
Most new popular titles put out by the audio book publishers are available in audio book format simultaneously with publication of the hardcover edition. The first example of this simultaneous publication was when Caedmon published the spoken recording of Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings. There are more than 50,000 current titles on cassette, CD or digital format.
Unabridged audio books are word for word readings of a book, while abridged audio books have text edited out by the abridger. Abridgements were initially necessary to keep down the running time, and therefore the cost and corresponding retail price, as the general consumer was getting introduced to audio books. With greater consumer acceptance, less consumer price resistance and higher per title sales for some pricing economy, more of the audio book titles are now being released only as unabridged recordings. Audio books also come as fully dramatized versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music, and sound effects, though many consumers have indicated a preference for less music, multiple voices and sound effects. Each spring, the Audie Awards are given to the top nominees for performance and production in several genre categories.
There are quite a few radio programs serializing books, sometimes read by the author or sometimes by an actor, with most of them on the BBC.
History
In 1931 the Congress established the talking-book program, which was intended to help blind adults who couldn’t read print. This program was called "Books for the Adult Blind Project." The American Foundation for the Blind developed the first talking books in 1932. One year later the first reproduction machine began the process of mass publishing. In 1933 anthropologist J.P. Harrington drove the length of
Though spoken recordings were already popular in 33-1/3 vinyl record format for schools and libraries into the early 1970's, the beginning of the trade acceptance of this medium can be traced to the introduction of the audio cassette and, most importantly, to the prevalence of these cassette players as standard equipment (rather than as options which older drivers did not choose) in imported (Japanese) automobiles, which became very popular during the oil crisis of 1979. Thereafter it was slow and steady going as consumers latched onto the experience and authors slowly accepted the medium. Into the early 1980's there were still many authors who refused to have their books created as audio books, so a good many of the audio books were original productions not based upon printed books.
With the development of portable cassette recorders, audiotapes had become very popular and by the late 1960s libraries became a source of free audio books, primarily on vinyl records but also on cassettes. Instructional and educational recordings came first, followed by self-help tapes and then by literature. In 1970 Books on Tape Corporation started rental plans for audio books distribution. The company expanded their services selling their products to libraries and audio books gained popularity. By the middle of 1980s the audio publishing business grew to several billion dollars a year in retail value. The new companies, Recorded Books and Chivers Audio Books, were not the first to develop integrated production teams and to work with professional actors. Caedmon was the first to have done this, while Nightingale Conant featured business and self-help authors reading their own works first on vinyl records and then on cassettes.
The Audio Publishers Association was established in 1986 by six competitive companies who joined together to promote the consumer awareness of spoken word audio. In 1996 the Audio Publishers Association established the Audie Awards for audio books, which is equivalent to the Oscar for the talking books industry. The nominees are announced each year in January. The winners are announced at a gala banquet in the spring, usually in conjunction with BookExpo
Invention of CDs added to the convenience and flexibility of listening. While music fans were quick to latch onto this new format, audio book listeners were much slower, presumably caring less about technology and more about ease of use and bookmarking capability. Also, it was not until cassette players were replaced by CD players in most automobiles that this format eventually took hold.
With the advent of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats and portable MP3 players, the popularity of audio books has increased significantly. This growth was reflected with the advent of Audio book download subscription services. Meanwhile, the introduction of easy-to-use preloaded digital audio formats have kept audio books accessible to technophobes and the visually impaired, although the majority of consumers are neither: rather, they tend to be regular readers who desire to emulate reading when driving or otherwise occupied.
Use, distribution and popularity
The popularity of portable music players such as the iPod has made audio books more accessible to people for portable listening. This has led to availability in the creation of free audio books from Librivox and similar projects that take works from the public domain and enlist volunteers to read them. Audio books also can be created with text to speech software, although the quality of synthesised speech may suffer by comparison to voice talent recordings. Audio books in the private domain are also distributed online by for-profit companies such as Media Bay (which has since ceased operations), the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), Simply Audio books, Spoken Network, Naxos, Audioville, Bookstolistento and Audible.com, which in 2006 generated $82.2 million USD in revenue through sales of downloadable audio books and other spoken-word content.
Audio books on cassette or CD are typically more expensive than their hardback equivalents due to the added expense of recording and the lack of the economy of scale in high "print" runs that are available in the publishing of printed books. Preloaded digital formats are similar in price to their CD counterparts. The audio content is preloaded on a small and simple player, which removes the need for a separate piece of technology such as a CD player or an MP3 player. Additionally, the content is static-state so it is protected from damage. Downloadable audio books tend to cost slightly less than hardbacks but more than their paperback equivalents. For this reason, market penetration of audio books is substantially lower than for their printed counterparts despite the high market penetration of the hardware (MP3 and WMA players) and despite the massive market penetration achieved by audio music products. Given the elasticity of demand for audio books and the availability of cheaper alternatives, slow and steady growth in sales seems more likely than a mass market explosion. However, economics are on the side of downloadable audio books in the long run. They do not carry mass production costs, do not require storage of a large inventory, do not require physical packaging or transportation and do not face the problem of returns that add to the cost of printed books. It is possible that significant price reductions to customers, while cutting into cost of goods and perhaps somewhat eating into per unit profit margins, will be offset by increased volumes of sales. This will increase absolute profits to the industry while bringing audio books to a wider public.
Many people erroneously believe that one of the factors holding back price competition is the fear that low-price audio books might simply take business away from more traditional forms of publishing. They believe that this is especially significant in the case of publishers who have interests in both print and audio book publishing. This has not been the case. Most major book publishers now actively participate in audio book publishing and see it as a complement to their publishing operations.
Resellers of audio books, such as Audible, Simply Audio books, and Audio Editions Books on Cassette and CD, who acquire much of their content from major publishers, must price their content at such a level as to take account of their cost of goods as well as operating costs. On the other hand, audio book sellers who publish their own content (like the BBC), those who publish solely in audio book format (such as Blackstone Audio) and "Long Tail" type audio book publishers who publish lesser known authors (such as bookstolistento) have lesser costs to authors and therefore can sell at lower prices using a "lower-margin-higher-sales" business model. The fact that there are only modest signs of this happening so far may be a testament to immaturity of the audio book industry in comparison with its printed book cousin; or it might simply be an acknowledgment of the overall costs of author, performer, production and distribution that is required of the audio book publisher's creation.
Audio books have been used to teach children to read and to increase reading comprehension. They are also useful for the blind. The National Library of Congress in the U.S. and the CNIB Library in Canada provide free audio book library services to the visually impaired; requested books are mailed out (at no cost) to clients.
About forty percent of all audio book consumption occurs through public libraries, with the remainder served primarily through retail book stores. Library download programs are currently experiencing rapid growth (more than 5,000 public libraries offer free downloadable audio books). According to the National Endowment for the Arts' recent study, "
Self-help audio books
Audio books are also used for education. Self-help audio books range from public speaking to learning meditation. Their general goal, however, is always to develop one's skills to be happier and/or more successful in life. While some focus on a particular skill, others aim to change the listener's life entirely. Many of these self-help audio books can be purchased online.
Listening practices
Audio books are considered a valuable learning tool because of their format. Unlike with traditional books, one can learn from an audio book while doing other tasks, although it should be noted that this can detract from the primary task. Such multitasking is feasible when doing mechanical tasks that do not require much thought and have only little or no chance of an emergency arising. Such tasks include doing the laundry and exercising indoors, among others. The most popular general use of audio books by adults is when driving an automobile or as an alternative to radio. Many people listen as well just to relax or as they drift off into sleep.
Common practices include:
· Learning: People may listen to an audio book (usually an unabridged one) while following along in an actual book. This helps them to learn words that they may not learn correctly if they were only to read the book.
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