Speeding Through Audio Books
If I had read that someone sped up an audio book narration times 2, up until a few weeks ago, I would have looked on with disdain. Now I understand the struggle and the need to speed things up. Some days the book, story or narrator just isn't cooperating and you just need to do what you need to.
Let's be honest, we've all listened to samples of audio books and thought the narrator was ok and 9+ hours later regretted it immensely. It's usually the number of long pauses and breathiness that get to me in the long run. I learned, the hard way, that some narrators need to be listened to in 1 hour increments. If that doesn't happen I start to question why I ever picked that particular story up in the first place and end up despising the book and the narrator. Though that isn't the only reason why I learned to like speeding up narrations. There are some books that get so boring in the last hour or so that if I don't speed it up it'll never get finished.
What I still don't understand is why some people listen to mostly sped up audio books on a regular basis. I can understand that that probably means more books get read but for me sped up audio books are just a means to end. I don't get immersed in the narration or the story when I speed them up. Reading is an escape of sorts for me, so not getting immersed in the story would get frustrating in the long run.
Do you like speeding up audio book narrations on a regular basis? Why is that?
I'd love to know in the comments below!
I usually only go to 1.25X, because if the voice is too high pitched, it makes me nuts. I also usually listen to audiobooks while I do other things, and if the narrator talks too fast, I tend to miss stuff.
ReplyDeletex1.25 is usually where I stop as well, but there are a few gems that have been x2 for the sake of getting through the story. I've also listened to narrators that get so slow and breathy that even when you speed it up x2 it sounds almost normal. I've learned that going through Twitter while listening to an audiobook isn't something that should happen because I can't multitask to that extent without missing important chunks of the book :)
DeleteI’ve only tried a few audiobooks, and that was back before we had the technology to speed them up. I listened to them on CDs or on my old Ipod. I guess I’d speed it up if the narrator got on my nerves. I remember some audiobook narrators being really irritating.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I've only gotten into audiobooks in the last 3 years or so. I never had to go through the process of listening to them when they were on physical CD's. That sounds like I'd need a lot of shelf space if all the audiobooks I've listened to were in the form of CD's. I choose to believe that the narrators have gotten better over the years but there are still quite a few that, if listen to for long enough, will get on anyone's nerves.
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