Audio Books and Language Learning

Audiobooks are usually distributed on CDs, cassette tapes, or digital formats (e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio). The term "books on tape" is frequently used as a synonym for audiobooks, but cassette tapes are no longer the dominant media for audiobooks. In 2005, Cassette-tape sales made up roughly 16% of the audiobook market, with CDs sales accounting for 74% of the market, and downloadable audio books accounting for approximately 9%. In the United States, the most recent sales survey (performed by the Audio Publishers' Association in the summer of 2006 for the year 2005) estimated the industry to be worth 871 million US dollars. Current industry estimates hover at around two billion US dollars per year. Most new popular titles put out by the major publishers are available in audio book format simultaneously with publication of the hardcover edition. There are approximately 25,000 current titles on cassette, CD, or downloadable format. Unabridged audiobooks are word for word readings of a book, while abridged audio books have text edited out by the abridger. Audiobooks also come as fully dramatized versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music, and sound effects. Each spring, the Audie Awards are given to the top nominees for performance and production in several genre categories. There are quite a few radio programs serializing books, sometimes read by the author or sometimes by an actor, most of them on the BBC.

When Simon Vance was about 10 years old, his father gave him a tape recorder, and he’s been “playing with a microphone and making silly voices” ever since. Began a broadcasting career at BBC Radio Brighton during the summer break of 1976 while studying at Leeds University (and joining in the fun at 'Network 4' - the student TV/Radio society).After graduating took on a full time job at BBC Radio Brighton - moving a couple of years later to London where, for the rest of the decade became a newsreader and presenter for BBC Radio 4 -- the BBC's national speech-based network. Discovered a knack for narrating audiobooks by working for the Talking Book Service of the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Simon won the 2006 Audie Award for Science Fiction for Richard K. Morgan’s MARKET FORCES. “You venture into so many different worlds. From week to week you don’t know which planet you’re going to be on, which country you’re going to be in.” Simon estimates he’s “closing in on 300” audiobooks. He just finished recording THE SECRET RIVER, an Orange Award winner by Kate Grenville.

Audiobooks are usually distributed on CDs, cassette tapes, or digital formats (e.g., MP3 and Windows Media Audio). The term "books on tape" is frequently used as a synonym for audiobooks, but cassette tapes are no longer the dominant media for audiobooks. In 2005, Cassette-tape sales made up roughly 16% of the audiobook market, with CDs sales accounting for 74% of the market, and downloadable audio books accounting for approximately 9%. In the United States, the most recent sales survey (performed by the Audio Publishers' Association in the summer of 2006 for the year 2005) estimated the industry to be worth 871 million US dollars. Current industry estimates hover at around two billion US dollars per year. Most new popular titles put out by the major publishers are available in audio book format simultaneously with publication of the hardcover edition. There are approximately 25,000 current titles on cassette, CD, or downloadable format. Unabridged audiobooks are word for word readings of a book, while abridged audio books have text edited out by the abridger. Audiobooks also come as fully dramatized versions of the printed book, sometimes calling upon a complete cast, music, and sound effects. Each spring, the Audie Awards are given to the top nominees for performance and production in several genre categories. There are quite a few radio programs serializing books, sometimes read by the author or sometimes by an actor, most of them on the BBC.

When Simon Vance was about 10 years old, his father gave him a tape recorder, and he’s been “playing with a microphone and making silly voices” ever since. Began a broadcasting career at BBC Radio Brighton during the summer break of 1976 while studying at Leeds University (and joining in the fun at 'Network 4' - the student TV/Radio society).After graduating took on a full time job at BBC Radio Brighton - moving a couple of years later to London where, for the rest of the decade became a newsreader and presenter for BBC Radio 4 -- the BBC's national speech-based network. Discovered a knack for narrating audiobooks by working for the Talking Book Service of the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Simon won the 2006 Audie Award for Science Fiction for Richard K. Morgan’s MARKET FORCES. “You venture into so many different worlds. From week to week you don’t know which planet you’re going to be on, which country you’re going to be in.” Simon estimates he’s “closing in on 300” audiobooks. He just finished recording THE SECRET RIVER, an Orange Award winner by Kate Grenville.