E-books vs audiobooks, which do you love more?

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by new

Okay you use a sleep timer; what MP3 player is it? I desperately need to fix my Ipod Nano sleep timer

My smiley face was suppose to be sad, not mad. Sorry.

You might try going to the Apple Devices Forum to ask your question. It doesn't seem that anyone on this thread has the answer. The folks who hang out in the Apple forum have a higher percent chance of knkowing the answer.

[new]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

You might try going to the Apple Devices Forum to ask your question. It doesn't seem that anyone on this thread has the answer. The folks who hang out in the Apple forum have a higher percent chance of knkowing the answer.

I have read every Apples forum and Ipod forum around, apparently nobody has that issue. I kept reading people here used their Ipod so thought they were smarter than the Apple forum. I'm not impressed with the sleep timer for sure, still...... You shouldn't have to set it each time you turn it on, especially since it still has the time set to the correct 30 minutes setting. I also don't think Apple's forum are audiobook users, and don't use the sleep timer. Just a theory.

I do love audiobooks and listen to them every night, as well as read my Sony PRS-505.

[new]

Originally Posted by Spirity

I think I'm a reformed audio books snob lol
I'm a real book lover and love to write, so I never thought that I would enjoy audio versions.

I was so wrong! Listening to books written by Diana Gabaldon, or Karen Marie Moning etc, I discovered how wonderful it was to hear the Scottish or Irish accents. So now I'm hooked.

At night, I tend to listen to some kind of "escapist" audio book, when my eyes are tired, and during the day I want to read books that aren't available in audio form.
It's the best of 2 worlds!

Thanks for the names of good readers, I will look them up at the library. I really do enjoy well read books. The good readers are professional actors and really do put feeling in their reading style.

[KenFisher]

Originally Posted by new

Ken, do you use your Ipod Touch to listen to audiobooks? If so do you use the sleep timer? If you do use it, can you PLEASE tell me why and how the sleep timer works with audiobooks?

My Ipod Nano 5th Generation doesn't STOP when I set it for the sleep timer. Sometime it does, but not every time. For music the sleep timer does stop. WHY?????

I do not use the timer for the audiobooks. If I do listen to an audiobook at night I generally backtrack to the spot that I last remember. Most of the time I am wide awake and do not need the timer.

Ken

[pshrynk]

Resetting the timer every time does seem a bit much...

[new]

Originally Posted by pshrynk

Resetting the timer every time does seem a bit much...

Yes, it is a bit much. I can't believe this is the way it is suppose to be either. I just wondered if I should return it, but it would have to go through the mail. I was hoping it was an operator error but I don't think so. My Sansa Fuze you do have to set each time, but I can see it does default back to off, the instructions says so too. But Ipod Nano's book is so vague it is ridiculous.

My Sony PRS-505 was so user friendly, and so was the Sansa Fuze, and the Insignia Pilot. Guess I am not an Ipod Nano fan if this is how the sleep timer works. I do fall asleep and it is hours before I am able to turn the player off and it sometimes wakes me if they speak louder.

[nerys]

For me its both. OVERALL I prefer Paper Books. Especially for sci fi. I have an extremely vivid imagination and it seems to function better when I read. Though I have enjoyed a good audio book.

For Knowledge based stuff I prefer audio books (I am reading "linked" now 7 hour audio book VERY good so far)

one of the problems with audiobooks is that it has to be WELL DONE. more like television it has to be a production.

otherwise it can be very dry and boring. I read Darwin's Children from audible and LOVED IT.

I tried to read Lucifer's Hammer and would rather dig the ears out of my skull and ear them than listen to 21 hours of that guy. He was utterly horrible. I swear I thought it was COMPUTER READ till I confirmed it was actually a person reading it.

I mean 5 minutes in and I was ready to murder myself than listen to another minute.

OK I am exaggerating but you get the point. production and presentation are CRITICAL in an audiobook. Done well and its a great experience.

One feature I ALWAYS WANT which is always lacking is an AUTO PAUSE feature. I used to have this on my pocket pc phone where it would STOP after 15 minutes and I had to tap the screen to continue for another 15 minutes.

this was awesome since once I fell asleep I would never be more than 10 or so minutes from where I last remember.

in a many many hour audiobook this is a MUST if you goto bed listening. so I pretty much just listen in the car where I am not going to fall asleep :-)

I wish more players had this feature.

[TC Beacham]

After a lifetime of reading paper books every chance I got, I'm crazy about ebooks. It's a little shocking - thought I'd just use my Kindle for travel - but I don't miss paper books or paper newspapers at all.

So far I've only listened to two audiobooks - both mysteries while I was driving - and found that the voices and inflections were different than the ones I imagined when reading. Maybe it just takes some getting used to.

[nerys]

Oh I love my paper books. There is something to be said for POSSESSION and OWNERSHIP two things that are never truly "possible" with an ebook.

If we lived in an idea society ebooks would be fine. alas we do not. Without physical ownership we lose our property rights in the sort of society we live in today.

Plus I just really love OWNING the books to put on my actual shelf.

I just bought the probability trilogy by nancy kress on ebay in hard cover! nice! (from the reviews I think I will like the series)

I have found probability moon for my sony reader in my collection but I have yet to find a pdf txt ot rtf etc.. download of probability sun and space. Will keep looking.

also snatched the hard cover of greg egan's incandescence which sounds fascinating!

I LOVE my ereader. but I also LOVE my books :-)

[Spirity]

I love my physical books too! I have a big library - but I'm determined to pair it back, and digitize some of them. It was very costly moving them all when we emigrated to Canada. The more I can streamline before we move to another house, the better!