Audiobooks on Smart Devices

Book Proposal

A lot of people do not read because they do not have the time. When it comes to entertainment at home, people prefer to watch something rather than read. After all, it seems that there is less work involved with watching something when reading requires more active effort. There are people who read in spite of that effort. But there are also people who do not want to put in that type of effort.

So how do we counter that? By creating a way for people to read books without making them require that amount of effort. How do we do that? Audiobooks.

Audiobooks are not only effective for giving time for people to read, but they also help improve reading comprehension. Weareteachers.com writes that audiobooks allow school “students to hear explicit sounds and letters and letter patterns that form words.” They help readers engage with the text by improving their vocabulary. A lot of people prefer to watch movies instead of reading books. So, if they can follow stories by seeing and listening to them, then surely audiobooks will make a great alternative for readers.

People enjoy reading audiobooks anyway. Often times, the narrator of an audiobook is the author. If you were an active reader, wouldn’t you like to read books read by the author?

Some people, of course, do not consider listening to audiobooks actual reading. To them, reading is a visual aspect, while audiobooks are a hearing aspect. However, that is not the case. Audiobooks are considered reading because they are a form of processing information. Reading books is about understanding the content of a book. Audiobooks fulfill that rule. A passion for reading should not dictate the rules as to what type of reading counts.

However, audiobooks create a different experience for readers. It is neither better nor worse than physically reading. When readers read books, they look at letters on a page and their brain responds to those letters. Our own brains generate the voices we feel are right for the characters. Reading a physical book is a more personal experience because the reader’s inner voice is responsible for generating emotions. Audiobooks, on the other hand, create an image in the reader’s head. They are envisioning their own reaction of a book as the audiobook plays in the background. They are less a personal experience because there is a physical voice that can be direct towards how a reader is supposed to feel. If the narrator sounds angry, the listener will feel angry. If the narrator feels cheerful, so will the listener.

But the difference between physical reading and actual reading should not deter consumers away from audiobooks. Audiobooks are superior to physical reading to the extent they are can be used for multitasking.

An add-on audiobook feature for Echo is a great way to make consumers read books more. One of the most common reasons readers say they do not have time to read is because they have work to do. Sometimes the amount of work they have will take them all day. But sometimes work gets boring. So when work gets dull, what do people tend to do? They listen to music. Others listen to podcasts. People listen to music or podcasts because they provide them a great way to pass the time. There are plenty of people that are good at multitasking. They can pay attention to both the music and their work. Audible with Alexas capitalizes on this because if people can listen to music or podcasts, why would they hesitate to listen to an audiobook? Audible with Alexa makes time for readers to read because now they can do it while they are doing work. When they read a physical book, readers have to give the book their undivided attention to get the full experience. Now that readers can listen to audiobooks whenever they can, there is no excuse for readers to say they do not have time to read.

Now is work the only time people listen to music or podcasts? Nope. People listen to both music and podcasts when they commute to their jobs. People have listened to the radio almost as early as the invention of the car. Drivers listen to either music or news radio. Sometimes they do both.

They also listen to music or podcasts when doing daily activities. A lot of people like to listen to music when they exercise. Or when they cook. Or how about gardening? Consumers have made it a habit to make sure they are listening to good music to pass the time.

So why not throw audiobooks into the picture?

If there are consumers who can listen to audiobooks, then why should there be doubt this is an ineffective market?

But then what about the actual market for audiobooks? Is this an effective market?

Audiobooks themselves have proven effective to consumers who say they have little to no time to read. Audiobooks have proven to help struggling readers make time to read. They help consumers read as they work, cook, walk, run, rest, or any other daily activities. Even for avid readers, finding time to read is a challenge. As a result, they turn to audiobooks as a convenient alternative to reading a regular paperback. And there is a wide variety of audiobooks for consumers to choose from. It is not like only a selected few books are available in the audiobook format. Every book has its own version on audiobook. Some of them are recorded by their own authors. Lots of readers enjoy reading books narrated by their own authors because it makes them feel as if they are having a conversation with them.

What is another reason people love audiobooks–pronunciation.

You know when you read a book that contains names you do not recognize. Do you ever wonder if your inner voice is pronouncing the name right? If you read a fantasy book, there are settings and names of spells that readers have to pronounce right. Some readers feel embarrassed about mispronouncing a character’s name because they love them so much.

Audiobooks are a great way for readers to be assured if their inner voice is pronouncing the name of a character correctly. Pronunciations in reading matters because readers need to pronounce words correctly if they are to be good readers. Sometimes the pronunciation of a character’s name can spark debate among a fanbase. Remember when readers debated the pronunciation of Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger. It took J.K. Rowling herself to clarify on Twitter that Hermione’s is pronounced  Her-My-O-Nee, not Hermy-Own.

This is also why audiobooks have proven effective in teaching children to read.

One of the reasons some kids struggle with reading is pronunciation. Elementary school teachers play audiobooks for students because they help them learn how to pronounce the printed words of a book.

Another reason readers love audiobooks–they prefer the sound of someone else’s voice instead of their own. Lots of readers find it cool when authors read their own work. Especially if it is poetry. Listening to different voices expands people’s cognitive sense of how people sound.

The project is an add-on feature to consumer’s voice-controlled personal assistants. Consumer’s Echo or Google Home will be able to play audiobooks at any time they choose to do so. The names of the feature will vary, depending on the device that is being used. For Amazon Echo, it will be Audible with Alexa. For Google Home, the name will be Auto-Reading at Google Home. The remainder of this article will refer specifically to Audible with Alexa.
This is a little similar to Screen time. Screentime helps limit the amount of time users spend on their iPhone, Audible with Alexa will play at a certain time the users set. At that time, Alexa will only read to you unless in the event of an emergency, or if the user places in a different time beforehand. Once the time is set, the smart device will do nothing but read aloud for however long the consumer set. The consumer can cancel the read if he or she needs to make an emergency phone call.

Users can change the volume. They can also change the language of their Alexa to Spanish, French, Chinese, etc. They can even change the type of voice from either a man’s or a woman’s. Some people do not listen to audiobooks because they usually are not in the right voice. For some people, the wrong voice can make listening to an audiobook too irritating. That is why it is imperative that the different types of voices be included in the feature. Audiobook listeners like listening to a well-narrated audiobook because it makes them feel enthusiastic about coming back to it once they are done with their work.

Furthermore, a feature that allows users to control the pacing of an audiobook would also be helpful. People tend to not listen to audiobooks because they worry about the pacing. Sometimes they find it too fast or too slow. Readers tend to prefer reading physical books because they are fast readers. They like to be done with a book so they can read the next one. An audiobook, they argue, can only go at its own pace. An audiobook can take up to six hours to finish. But several readers are already having trouble finding time to read in the first place so they will take a long while to finish reading a physical copy. By the time they finish reading the physical copy to a 300-page book, audiobook listeners will have gone through three books by that time.

Another issue that this resolves is affordability. The feature is a free add-on because consumers are already paying for audiobooks. Audiobooks are expensive. Even libraries find audiobooks too pricey to carry a vast collection for its users. Once users add this feature, they are given the ability to choose three audiobooks for free.

A prominent philosopher proves why people would love this feature. Marshall McLuhan wrote how people use technology as an extension of their bodies. A TV is an extension of the eyes. A radio is an extension of the ear. An Amazon Alexa or Google Home is an extension of the ear and the mouth. Consumers use the home devices by issuing a vocal command and they listen to Alexa’s response.

McLuhan, in Chapter 7 of his novel, Understanding Media, he believed that the medium through which messages are transmitted shapes and structures one’s cognitive experience in the world. In other words, people’s reliance on technologies as extensions of themselves. McLuhan examined the role of electronic media. He provides speculation on how these extensions affect the physiology and psychology of humans. The effects of media on society, McLuhan argued, take place through the interactions of media with the human brain.

People see the Amazon Echo or Google Home as an extension of their bodies. They are an extension of their voices because it works by voice-command. They are an extension of the ear because it can play music. They are an extension of the legs because they help order items from the internet to ship to their home, rather than traveling to the store to purchase them.

As a result, these smart speakers influence humans’ cognitive ability to rely on their devices to perform their work or make them easier.

McLuhan also wrote that we view technology as a landscape that grows, changes, and evolves. Almost any form of technology is an evolution of a preexisting invention. The Echo, therefore, could be an evolution of the radio. An Amazon Echo may as well be a radio with a voice command.

Smart devices work by generating data from consumers. One common feature people use the Google Home for is to change the temperature of the house at different times. It does this by analyzing the temperatures throughout the day and computes them into data. That way, the devices know the temperature it needs to set to satisfy the needs of the consumer.

This helps with the add-on feature because the device will collect data on the time consumers will listen to their audiobook, how fast they want the narrator to tell the story, the type of voice they want to listen to.

An add-on audiobook feature for smart devices is a great, effective way to get consumers to read more. Reading is an important skill everyone needs to have. But it is not like people can just read a few books and say they are readers. They need to be more proactive. They need to keep up with reading books not because they need to be able to join discussions or keep up with the general public. But because reading will help strengthen everyone’s cognitive abilities, expand their vocabulary, and make them better writers.

Audiobooks count as reading because, even though they are a different experience than physical reading, they are effective alternatives to reading books. They are a great addition to people that like to read. Listening to audiobooks is not solely an alternative. It can be. But listening to audiobooks on top of physically reading is a great way for readers to make time to read more books. Audiobooks make people better readers because it broadens the ways they interact with art.

WORKS CITED:

  • Lee, Dana. “Audiobooks vs Reading: The Rules Are, There Are No Rules.” BOOK RIOT, 22 Nov. 2018, bookriot.com/2018/07/10/audiobooks-vs-reading/.
  • Louise, Gretchen. “Top 10 Reasons We Love Audiobooks.” Gretchen Louise, 2 Jan. 2018, gretchenlouise.com/why-audiobooks/.
  • McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. MIT Press, 1997.

 

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