Audio Books Project B Class

AUDIO BOOKS ARE HERE AND…..YOU CAN HEAR THE WORD !

Audio Books Have Been Around Longer Than We Think When did Audio Books first appear?

We might think that audio books are a recent invention, but they actually have quite a long history. There are people in the book business who suggest that the American , J.P. Harrington, was the first to make recordings which were the forerunners of audio books.

Harrington was an anthropologist who in 1933 drove through America and recorded the oral histories of Native American Tribes. He actually used aluminum discs for his recordings and a turntable powered by a car battery. Audio books preserve the oral tradition of storytelling that J.P. Harrington pursued so many years ago. It was also in the early 1930s that the US Congress saw the potential in recording books for helping the visually challenged and so established the ‘Books for the Adult Blind Project’.

By the 1950s, audiobooks had moved into the realm of popular literature and poetry. The recordings made by the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, in 1952, are probably closer to most people’s idea of an audiobook. Thomas recorded some of his poems and a short story, ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’, on vinyl. This has since become very popular and is listened to in many houses at Christmas time. Spoken – word records were very uncommon at the time, and some people believe that this was the true start of audio books.

Books on tape Audio books were later recorded onto cassettes and were generally used by the blind and by elderly people who were visually impaired. So even if they were not able to read , they were given the opportunity to enjoy books. However, of course, there was only a limited selection available. Also, many of the books were abrigded (with large sections of the book left out of

the recording), usually because of time limitations.

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New Technologies. How is an audio book produced nowadays.

Now audiobooks are popular with a much wider range of people. They are now available on CD or can be downloaded from the Internet on MP3 players. The ancient art of story telling has been brought right up to date .It is so much easier to listen to audiobooks whatever you are doing.

Audio books may also come as fully dramatized versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music and even sound effects. This dramatized audio adaptation of a book is effectively an audio drama.

A small number of books are recorded for radio broadcast, usually in abridged form and

sometimes serialised, notably by the BBC. Where do we find them?

Audiobooks on cassette or CD are typically more expensive than hardcovers (real books) because the cost of their production is higher . There are audiobooks which can be downloaded and they tend to cost slightly less.

Audio books have been used to teach children to read and to increase reading comprehension. They are also useful for the blind. In the USA and in Canada there are National Libraries which provide free audiobook library services to the visually impaired.

When do we listen?

Audio books are considered a valuable learning tool because of their format. Unlike traditional books or a video program, one can learn from an audio book while doing other tasks, although it should be noted that this can detract from the primary task. The most popular general use of audio books by adults is when driving a car or traveling with public transport, as an alternative to radio.

An other common practice is replaying the audio books which usually happens when its necessary to listen to segments of an audiobook more than once to allow the material to be understood and retained satisfactorily.

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Learning is one more common practice. People may listen to an audio book (usually an abridged one) while following along in an actual book.This helps them to learn words that they may not learn correctly if they were only to read the book. This can also be a very effective way to learn a new language.

More popular than ever before!

In recent years, sales of audiobooks have soared and now, when some popular books are published, they are accompanied by audio book versions. Often, both abridged and unabridged audio versions are available. This seems to be a very successful policy, as the sales of these audiobooks can account for 10 to 15% of a book’s total sales. This popularity means that more and more titles are available as audio books.

In Britain, the BBc regularly serialises books for radio listeners, and then sells the recordings.

These may be read by the author, by actors. Audio books are not just recordings of novels, though. There are also many business management, meditation and other non-fiction titles available.

So, if you like books, but don’t have much time to read, the answer is simple: buy an audio book!

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2Ο ΓΥΜΝΑΣΙΟ ΠΕΙΡΑΙΑ ΣΧ. ΕΤΟΣ 2012-13 ΤΑΞΗ Β 1 – ΤΜΗΜΑ ΠΡΟΧΩΡΗΜΕΝΩΝ ΣΤΟ ΜΑΘΗΜΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΩΝ PROJECT: «AUDIOBOOKS- WHAT ARE THEY? FIND OUT AND WRITE A PROPER LEAFLET PROVIDING INFORMATION AND PROMOTING ΑUDIOBOOKS».

Sources: <wikipedia>, coursebooks, various websites. ΟΙ ΜΑΘΗΤΕΣ: ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ APRIL 2013

ΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΑΚΗ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΕΣΑΚΗΣ ΓΙΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΑΣΒΕΣΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΔΑΜΑΝΤΙΑ ΒΑΣΙΛΑ ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΒΛΑΧΟΥΣΗΣ ΑΡΤΕΜΙΣ ΔΑΝΙΑ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ ΔΗΜΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΣ ΔΡΑΓΑΖΗΣ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ ΔΡΙΒΑ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ ΚΑΜΑΡΙΝΟΣ ΑΡΙΣΤΕΙΔΗΣ ΚΑΝΑΚΗΣ ΥΠ.ΚΑΘΗΓΗΤΗΣ: Α.ΗΛΙΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ

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