Week 11 Prompt

Ebooks and audiobooks are a part of our landscape. What does the change in medium mean for appeal factors?

I love Ebooks and Audiobooks, this is how I get my reading in as a full time teacher, Mom of two and a grad student. If it wasn't for these options I wouldn't be able to keep up with my favorite authors or make progress on my very long To Read list.

If you can't hold a book and feel the physical weight of it in your hands, how does that affect your knowledge of the genre? How about readers being able to change the font, line spacing, and color of text - how does that affect pacing and tone?

I have a Kindle Paperwhite and know of people that use a Nook. I prefer Kindle over Nook because I have an Amazon account and they work well together. I first went with Ebooks in 2011 because of the cheaper cost and I am running out of room for books in my house! (I am horrible at returning books to the library and always end up with fines) This is actually my third Kindle, I think they are very user friendly and recommend them to everyone.

I like the portability of my Kindle, I always carry a book with me just in case I have the opportunity to read. My Kindle is much easier to carry with me everywhere and it stays charged for a long time. I don’t particularly miss the feel of holding a physical book though I know some people do. I don’t have a problem seeing close up but I know some people do, so the ability to change  the font style and size enables the reader not to have to purchase or check out a large print book.

How about audiobooks? Track length, narrator choice, is there music?  

I have listened to audiobooks for many years, I have books on cassette and cd. I have used Audible to purchase audiobooks for a couple years now. I typically listen to audiobooks while driving in the car, I drive 30 minutes to work five days a week. Audible is a subscription service run through Amazon, I pay a monthly fee that gives me a book credit, I save money by using this service versus paying per book. The narrator can make or break a story. Jim Dale and Gerard Doyle are my favorite narrators, Jim Dale narrated Harry Potter and Gerard Doyle narrated The Hunger Games among many others. In a series I find it much easier to follow the characters and more enjoyable when the same person narrates the entire series. I also prefer to have one narrator versus a male and female narrator switching back and forth between characters.

The nice thing about both formats is my local library uses Overdrive, a service that allows you to check out Ebooks and audiobooks. This service comes with my library card. There is usually a waiting list for the more popular items so it requires patience, but the savings do add up and its a great option when trying out new authors.