Audio Books

Essentially meaning books that can be heard, audio books as a medium of transferring knowledge have come to stay. They can be availed through diverse audio media such as cassette tape, CDs, and downloadable MP3/WMA.

The history of audio books traces back to 1933, when anthropologist J. P. Harrington visited remote parts of America to record the oral accounts of the history of tribal native Americans. He managed this task by using aluminium discs on a turntable powered by car battery. The initial audio book, however, was produced by the Library of Congress in 1934. With the advancement in technology, audio book CDs and downloadable formats gained popularity over their cassette tape counterparts. Today, the audio book market is lead by the CD format, followed by cassette tapes and downloadable or online audio books. Almost all of the popular titles published can be ‘heard’ today, thanks to these audio books.

Depending on the suitability, an audio book may be abridged (consisting of some less matter than the original, primarily to save time) or unabridged (consisting of the entire matter, word by word). Certain kinds of audio books even employ a complete cast, sound effects and music in order to bring forth the full impact of the book.

Today audio books help visually impaired people to enjoy literary works of note. People who spend a great deal of time driving also find them to be very useful. They are particularly useful for students as the spoken words improve their pronunciation skills.