This week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you believe audio books are the future and why do you believe that?
I don’t think audio books are the future any more than paperbacks or ebooks are. There was a lot of talk when ebooks first appeared that print books would disappear, but I hear the percentage of ebooks to total books sold has leveled off. I haven’t heard anything about audiobooks being particularly on the rise (though maybe I’ve missed a development?) I think print books, audio books and ebooks are all co-existing because they each have different appeals to different people, and I think that will probably persist for at least a good while. Print books may eventually disappear, but I don’t think it’s in the near future, and I don’t think audio books have a universal enough appeal to replace the other two.
I’m still sworn off ebooks, but I like my print and audio both, in different situations!
I think audio books are useful to listen to when driving or exercising (i.e. doing something else than fully focusing on reading), but they are not going to replace print or ebooks. I read more ebooks now than I ever did before simply because of the convenience of having books on a Kindle that I can carry anywhere. (I do have to remember to keep it charged, though, which of course is not a problem with print books.) If I want to read 2 or 3 books at the same time, it’s easier to drop my Kindle in my purse or bag and still have those books with me, regardless of their size, than to carry the print versions of them. But I agree that print books are not going away. The two ways to read are going to co-exist for a good long time into the future.
Yes! Each format appeals to readers for different reasons. They all have their place.
I love your answer.
Thanks for the reassurance.
I hope you are having a good Saturday.
Happy Hopping!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Blog Hop Answer
I agree they are not a a way of the future especially when the narrator is bad. They just ruin a book.
Sportochick’s Musings Answer
Great answer! I totally agree with you; I don’t think audio books are the future, either. But I don’t think that printed books will disappear. Not ever! There will always be people who appreciate this format, because it’s just so very special!
I do think, as you do, that all three formats can happily co-exist, because, as you say, they appeal to different types of readers.
BTW, whenever I go to Barnes & Noble, I hardly ever see people looking at the Nooks the store has on display. Heck, WHY would anybody want to look at those machines when they have all these GLORIOUS printed books all over the place? Yup, printed books RULE!!
Happy Reading! And have a great weekend, too!! 🙂