Evaluating the audiobook evolution through time

Evaluating the audiobook evolution through time

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Audiobooks can transport people to very different worlds just through the power of sound.

Each and every decade for the past fifty years has brought with it technological innovations which has influenced the way in which we consume media. Film and television has had VHS and DVDs. Music has experienced CDs and cassettes. Both have now been impacted by portable devices and streaming. Moreover, many of these technical advancements have actually aided to enhance the audiobook market. The leader of the hedge fund that partially owns WHSmith will be able to tell you that it has grown to be so favored that people need not consider specialised retailers, because many book stores additionally offer audiobooks. People enjoy being able to tune in to stories while they are doing other tasks like driving, chores, and work, which audiobooks are simply perfect for. The audiobook industry now employs thousands of people, with the most important roles being narrator, studio engineer, and producer.

The phrase audiobook emerged in the 1970s, however it had been the 1930s that saw the largest step forward in the format. At that time they were called talking books, which were envisioned as reading materials for blind individuals. Governments in a few nations permitted producers to bypass copyright laws, which gave them access to plenty of material, but technical limitations meant full length books could not be recorded. Alternatively poems, short tales and plays, and specific chapters of books were the most common early audiobooks. The content proceeded to stay this way for many decades, but the market base did see an expansion to kids along with other adults without sight issues. The head of the hedge fund that has shares in Amazon will be well aware that this created the foundation for the future audiobook market, pushing it in to the main-stream as an independent artform as opposed to entirely as a means of creating accessibility.

Oral literature is mankind's oldest kind of storytelling, having an unfathomable amount of tales being passed on through the generations in all corners of the planet for tens of thousands of years. Although certain cultures usually do not put as great of an emphasis on oral traditions like they did in the past, they nevertheless persist strongly in some circumstances, like telling stories to kids. The founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones will realise that oral storytelling has experienced a resurgence lately in the form of audiobooks. But, while they may seem like a contemporary phenomenon, the history of audiobooks goes back many years. Sound recordings first became possible around one hundred and fifty years back and the first tests were recitations of nursery rhymes and kid's stories. Spoken word tracks continued to be produced in the next decades but had been limited to about 4 minutes in length.