Audiobooks are far from a modern
innovation. As a child, I remember visiting my local library and browsing the
tapes section to decide which book I wanted to listen to on my cassette player
that week. As time went on, technology moved forward, with CDs replacing tapes
and then, in 1995, Audible was introduced to the world - a seller and producer
of audio entertainment. In 2018 this is all available on your mobile
device!
Although other Ebook providers are
available on your mobile device, Audible has by far the world's largest
selection of audiobooks. You can listen to the full series of Harry Potter
read by Stephen Fry, enjoy full-cast performances and listen to your
favourite author reading his latest story (the amount of Stephen King
novels I have on my device has now broken into double digits - although this
marks just 10% of his overall repertoire so I have a fair way to go to complete
it). The concept is a simple one, download the app, pay a monthly subscription
fee of £7.00, pick a title, purchase it and download it to your device. Then
just listen. You can pause at any time, revisit it whenever you like and speed
up or slow down the reading to fit with your personal preference.
Audible allows you to browse its contents
by genre, best sellers, and new releases amongst many other categories. This
user-interface makes the service easy to use regardless of technical prowess.
My personal favourite genre to listen to is crime & thrillers, so if I am
feeling unadventurous I can head to this section and browse a curated selection
of books that suit me. For the indecisive, or even novice reader, the best
sellers section works well to introduce you to popular books - this is a great
introduction into the world of literature and may encourage newbies to read
more and tackle a variety of genres afterwards.
Each title offers the opportunity to
preview five minutes of the book - as you would do whilst flicking through a
potential read at a bookstore. This is even more important with audiobooks
because someone else, other than your internal narrator, is reading to you. It
allows you to figure out if you connect with the narrator and whether or not
you can empathise with the story and the way they are verbalising it.
The most noticeable allure of Audible is
that you can listen to books in a hands-free environment. I have listened to
Audible whilst walking to university, commuting into work, tidying the house
and cooking dinner, all inconvenient environments for traditional reading. As a
university student, I often find myself spending an inordinate amount of time
looking at a screen, which has been proven to have negative impacts, including
eye strain, headaches,
blurred vision, and neck and back pain. Audible is the perfect alternative when
I would like some time away from the screen but still want to engage my brain.
It has improved my mental and physical health, entertained me whilst completing
tasks and increased my productivity overall.
Audible is suitable for almost anyone. Reading and listening to books has proven positive impacts on concentration
levels as well as the academic performance of children and teenagers, and
Audible provides the opportunity to do this on the move, as kids always seem to
be. Furthermore, it is the perfect companion for adults on the commute, and
those who do not have the spare time to sit in quiet tranquility and read a
book, but would still like to engage their mind.
If you are still unsure on Audible, I
recommend downloading it and using their one month free trial to see if it is a
good fit for you in your environment!
