Week 11 Prompt Response - eBooks and Audiobooks

There continues to be a great debate regarding e-books and audiobooks. When e-books first emerged on the market, I was extremely skeptical. For as long as I could remember, I loved holding a book in my hands, smelling the paper and ink, and experiencing some of the finer details up close and personal. There are a lot of different ideas, opinions, and people that bring a book to life and I always wanted to appreciate all the hard work that went into them. I specifically remember an instance where my uncle was trying to convince me that e-books were better for the environment, because they're not wasting paper unnecessarily. We carried on a playful debate about the pros and cons until finally he relented, realizing I was not going to change my mind anytime soon. 

However, ever since I was hired in ay my local library about 5 years ago. I've given both e-books and audiobooks a shot, and I quite enjoy them. One thing that one of our readings (from the New York Times) talked about was the huge impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on digital publications. The article talks about how the NYPL responded to the incredible uptick in digital downloads by limiting all users to 3 checkouts and three holds at a time, which sounds pretty restrictive when you think about typical loan amounts and hold amounts, but this was actually an incredible way to respond to such an unexpected surge. COVID-19 meant that people who frequented libraries could no longer wandering through the stacks searching for their next read. Daniel A. Gross goes on to talk about how before the pandemic, he had never had any interest in reading an e-book, but during the lockdown, he became engrossed in audiobooks. He would wander through his neighborhood with a mask on and headphones in, because he so desperately craved the sound of the human voice. To him, Libby had become a lifeline. 

I feel like this is what helped push a lot of patrons over to e-books and audiobooks. For many people the availability and accessibility are huge appeals, even four years after the shutdown. Personally, I listen to a lot of audiobooks, because I have to have background noise (and sometimes I have a really hard time focusing on the printed page anymore), and the fact that I can just pull them up on my phone is a huge appeal to me. The same can be said with some e-books. There are times where I'm trying to finish a really good book, but I don't feel like taking the book home with me, because it's just one more thing to carry, so I see if it's available digitally from any of the libraries that I'm a patron of. In addition, you can access both from anywhere, no matter if it's a phone, laptop, tablet, etc and pick up right where you left off without having to worry about losing your bookmark/space. Finally, a huge appeal is that digital content like this takes up a lot less space than traditional books do. 

There are some differences in appeal between the two, however. Audiobooks have a few more appeals that are specific to just them. They allow those with visual impairments to still enjoy books. They also have the added benefit of incredible narrators and even music to go along with them. Some audiobooks that I've read remind me of old-fashioned radio programs before television was a household luxury. And some narrators are just really good at what they do. For example, all of Ruth Ware's books are narrated by the same woman - Imogen Church. I took a chance on listening to The Death of Mrs. Westaway quite a few years ago and I was not disappointed. I would like to think that part of that was due to Church's narration, and now, I listen to all of Ware's books instead of reading the traditional print, or the fact that Steven Weber (Jack Torrance in the 1997 miniseries The Shining) narrates IT.

 In addition to that, I really enjoy knowing how long it will take me to finish any given book, no matter if I'm listening to it in real time, or at advanced speeds (which I normally choose, because that's how I read anyway). I personally enjoy this feature as well, because being forced to listen to an audio book at a "regular" pace is excruciating, in my opinion. It almost sounds like they are speaking in slow-mo, and it really just turns me off to the whole book after that. However, I could see speed control having a negative effect on pacing, however. Especially if you are listening to a suspense or thriller, which is supposed to have a particular pacing style. The ones I listen to at advanced speeds sound frantic more than anything else, but I don't mind. 

E-books allow you to change the font size, page/text coloring, and sometimes the font style. I personally enjoy being able to control the size of the font, because sometimes I pick up a physical book because the premise sounds really interesting, only to open it and immediately be put off by how small the font is. I also prefer to have everything in dark mode due to light sensitivities. One drawback I could see arising from the control in font size is that, automatically, the number of pages increases. Depending on the person, that might be just as daunting as reading something with smaller print. 

Over the last few years, I have really changed my opinion on both e-books and audiobooks, and I'm not mad about it. It allows me to switch mediums when I'm having a hard time focusing, but really want to read. I think digital media like e-books and audiobooks is a great thing to have, because it opens up access to patrons who might need an alternative to traditional print.