2007-Nov-13 - Audio Book History

When the idea of audio books was created for the blind to use I am sure that the creators never imagined that audio books would become as popular as they are today.  These audio books are no longer used just so the blind can read but for all people to use everyday. 

We are a world of busy people with little or no free time anymore.  Most people do not even have time in their days to read a book anymore.  When someone loves to read stories what are they to do when they are left with no time at all to do so?  That is why the audio book has become so popular over the years.   In the beginning, the audio books were mostly old novels that were made into audio books so people that were blind could read them if they did not know how to read brail.  By using the audio books they could read some of the classic books that were so popular at the time. 

People today use audio books for everything.  There are self help books and there are novels from today’s best seller’s list. All these books can be heard on an audio book.  These books used to be sold on a cassette tape and still are sometimes but the more popular way to get an audio book now is by downloading it from the internet. 

With the popularity of MP3 players and things like iPods, audio books have seemed to make a natural progression.  By downloading an audio book onto your personal computer or your laptop you have easy access to the book at all times.  Most people will use their computer to download audio books but then they will put the audio book on a MP3 player of some kind.   Once the book is placed on a media player than it can be accessed at any time you would like to play it. 

Many people listen to audio books when they are doing other things like cleaning their house or mowing the lawn or even when they are in the shower.  With the audio book already on a media player it is easy to access it in your car also.  There are tons of people who listen to all kinds of audio books while they are driving to and from work and also while they are driving around to do their errands.  With such long commutes in some parts of the world, some people may be able to finish almost a whole book on their travels to and from work. 

These downloadable audio books can also be used by people who are in college and must utilize their time efficiently.  There are many books that are required reading while you are a student in school and an audio book will help you be able to do your assignment while you are doing other things.  College students are also very busy people and need as much help as possible when it comes to their class assignments and managing their time.

It seems that audio books have made a natural progression to further their popularity in our very busy society.  People do not have too much excess time to read a book anymore but somehow we find a way to listen to a book by using an audio book.  It is strange how something that was created to help blind people read a book now serves as one of the main ways people today read.  With out audio books many people today would not even be able to read a single book.