United States of America - History & Culture AudioBooks | Greatest Audio Books The greatest famous speeches, books, documents, and works of literature from the United.
Discover Book Depository's huge selection of Audio Books online. Free delivery worldwide on over 10 million titles. An audiobook (or talking book) is a recording of a text being read. A reading of the complete text is noted as 'unabridged', while readings of a reduced version, or. Stream and Download Audiobooks on Your iPhone, iPad, Android, PC or Mac. Get Thousands of Bestsellers and Latest Releases, Get Any Audiobook Free with a 7 Day Free Trial. Online shopping for Audio CDs from a great selection at Books Store. Amazon.co.uk Try Prime Audio CDs.
Audiobooks on the App Store. Description. Thousands of FREE audiobooks await. Whether you're stuck in traffic, waiting for your connection or cramming for an English test—Audiobooks puts the most beloved audiobooks at your finger tips. Now with Apple Watch support! You can now control the playback of your audiobooks right from your wrist. Easily select from books in your library, switch chapters, or control playback. The included Glance view (accessible from the Apple Watch's clock) shows you the currently playing book and how far you are in the current chapter.
Audio Book Stand
Or if you don't have time for an audiobook you can listen to a Podcast instead. Podcasts are like your own personalized radio station, proving a steady stream of topical, fun episodes to enjoy. In addition to the great free content, we also include a growing collection of premium audiobooks for your enjoyment. These include professionally narrated modern best sellers and hand- selected classics edited for maximum quality.
Features include: - Thousands of fantastic, free Audiobooks for you to choose from- A carefully curated collection of Podcasts to enjoy- Offline download perfect for your commute- Background and Air. Play enabled playback- Dark Mode to be easy on your eyes at night- Fully customizable Sleep Timer. Enjoy! What's New in Version 6. Fixes a few bugs that slipped in with our last update. Now with Apple Watch support! You can now control the playback of your audiobooks right from your wrist.
Audio Book Summaries
Start Listening Now! Sign Up for Your 30 Day Free Trial. Sign up below to start listening to audiobooks and get your first book free! If you like us, stream or. Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about Audiobooks. Download Audiobooks and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Provides free eBooks and audio books from multiple sources in a format that's easy to browse.
Easily select from books in your library, switch chapters, or control playback. The included Glance view (accessible from the Apple Watch's clock) shows you the currently playing book and how far you are in the current chapter.
Audiobook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. An audiobook (or talking book) is a recording of a text being read. A reading of the complete text is noted as "unabridged", while readings of a reduced version, or abridgement of the text are labeled as "abridged". Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the age of videocassettes, DVDs, compact discs, and downloadable audio, however often of poetry and plays rather than books. It was not until the 1. Etymology[edit]The term "talking book" came into being in the 1.
In 1. 99. 4, the Audio Publishers Association established the term "audiobook" as the industry standard.[1]History[edit]. Caption reads: "The phonograph at home reading out a novel." From Daily Graphic (New York), April 2, 1.
Less than a year after the invention of the phonograph, this drawing offered a future vision. Novels however would remain impractical for phonographs until the 1. Spoken word recordings first became possible with the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1. Phonographic books" were one of the original applications envisioned by Edison which would "speak to blind people without effort on their part."[1] The initial words spoken into the phonograph were Edison's recital of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", the first instance of recorded verse.[1] In 1.
Royal Institution in Britain included "Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle" and a line of Tennyson's poetry thus establishing from the very beginning of the technology its association with spoken literature.[1]United States[edit]Beginnings to 1. Many short, spoken word recordings were sold on cylinder in the late 1. One early listener complained that he would need a wheelbarrow to carry around talking books recorded on discs with such limited storage capacity."[1] By the 1. In 1. 93. 1, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and Library of Congress Books for the Adult Blind Project established the "Talking Books Program", which was intended to provide reading material for veterans injured during WWI and other visually impaired adults.[1] The first test recordings in 1. Helen Keller's Midstream and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".[1] The organization received congressional approval for exemption from copyright and free postal distribution of talking books.[1] The first recordings made for the Talking Books Program in 1. Bible; the Declaration of Independence and other patriotic documents; plays and sonnets by Shakespeare; and fiction by Gladys Hasty Carroll, E. M. Delafield, Cora Jarrett, Rudyard Kipling, John Masefield, and P.
G. Wodehouse.[1]Recording for the Blind (later renamed Learning Ally) was founded in 1. Anne T. Macdonald, a member of the New York Public Library's Women's Auxiliary, in response to an influx of inquiries from soldiers who had lost their sight in combat during World War II. The newly passed GI Bill of Rights guaranteed a college education to all veterans, but texts were mostly inaccessible to the recently blinded veterans, who did not read Braille and had little access to live readers. Macdonald mobilized the women of the Auxiliary under the motto "Education is a right, not a privilege". Members of the Auxiliary transformed the attic of the New York Public Library into a studio, recording textbooks using then state- of- the- art six- inch vinyl Sound.
Scriber phonograph discs that played approximately 1. In 1. 95. 2, Macdonald established recording studios in seven additional cities across the United States. Caedmon Records was a pioneer in the audiobook business, it was the first company dedicated to selling spoken work recordings to the public and has been called the "seed" of the audiobook industry.[3] Caedmon was formed in New York in 1. Barbara Holdridge and Marianne Roney.[3] Their first release was a collection of poems by Dylan Thomas as read by the author.[3] The LP's B- side contained A Child's Christmas in Wales which was added as an afterthought - the story was obscure and Thomas himself couldn't remember its title when asked what to use to fill up the B- side - but this recording went on to become one of his most loved works, and launched Caedmon into a successful company.[3] The original 1. United States National Recording Registry, stating it is "credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States".[4] Caedmon used LP records, invented in 1. LP's limitation of about a 4. Listening Library was also a pioneering company, it was one of the first to distribute audiobooks to schools, libraries and other special markets, including VA hospitals.[5] It was founded by Anthony Ditlow and his wife in 1.
Red Bank, New Jersey home; Ditlow was partially blind.[5] Another early pioneering company was Spoken Arts founded in 1. Arthur Luce Klein and his wife, they produced over 7.
Like Caedemon, Listening Library and Spoken Arts benefited from the new technology of LPs, but also increased governmental funding for schools and libraries beginning in the 1. Though spoken recordings were popular in 3.
Cassette tapes were invented in 1. Library of Congress, began distributing books on cassette by 1. However, during the 1. These innovations included the introduction of small and cheap portable players such as the Walkman, and the widespread use of cassette decks in cars, particularly imported Japanese models which flooded the market during the multiple energy crises of the decade.[7]In the early 1.
There were 8 companies distributing materials on cassette with titles such as Managing and Selling Companies (1. Executive Seminar in Sound on a series of 6. In libraries, most books on cassette were still made for the blind and handicap, however some new companies saw the opportunity for making audiobooks for a wider audience, such as Voice Over Books which produced abridged best- sellers with professional actors.[7] Early pioneers included Olympic gold medalist Duvall Hecht who in 1. California- based Books on Tape as a direct to consumer mail order rental service for unabridged audiobooks and expanded their services selling their products to libraries and audiobooks gaining popularity with commuters and travelers.[7] In 1. Henry Trentman, a traveling salesman who listened to sales tapes while driving long distances, had the idea to create quality unabridged recordings of classic literature read by professional actors.[8] His company, the Maryland- based Recorded Books, followed the model of Books on Tape but with higher quality studio recordings and actors.[8] Recorded Books and Chivers Audio Books were the first to develop integrated production teams and to work with professional actors.[9]By 1.
Caedmon, Metacom, Newman Communications, Recorded Books, Brilliance and Books on Tape.[7] The companies were small, the largest had a catalog of 2. Some abridged titles were being sold in bookstores, such as Walden Books, but had negligible sales figures, many were sold by mail- order subscription or through libraries.[7] However, in 1. Brilliance Audio invented a technique for recording twice as much on the same cassette thus allowing for affordable unabridged editions.[7] The technique involved recording on each of the two channels of each stereo track.[7] This opened the market to new opportunities and by September 1. Publishers Weekly identified twenty- one audiobook publishers.[7] These included new major publishers such as Harper and Row, Random House, and Warner Communications.[7]1.
A number of events happened: the Audio Publishers Association, a professional non- profit trade association, was established by publishers who joined together to promote awareness of spoken word audio and provide industry statistic.[7] Time- Life began offering members audiobooks.[7]Book- of- the- Month club began offering audiobooks to its members, as did the Literary Guild. Other clubs such as the History Book Club, Get Rich Club, Nostalgia Book Club, Scholastic club for children all began offering audiobooks.[7] Publishers began releasing religious and inspirational titles in Christian bookstores. By May 1. 98. 7, Publishers Weekly initiated a regular column to cover the industry.[7] By the end of 1. Publishers Weekly.[7] By August 1. By the middle of the 1. In 1. 99. 6, the Audio Publishers Association established the Audie Awards for audio books, which is equivalent to the Oscar for the talking books industry.
The nominees are announced each year in January. The winners are announced at a gala banquet in the spring, usually in conjunction with Book. Expo America.[1. 1]1. With the advent of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats and portable media players, the popularity of audiobooks has increased significantly during the late 1. In 1. 99. 7, Audible. The Audible Player",[1.
Walkman", the popular cassette player used at the time.[1. Digital audiobooks were a significant new milestone as they allowed listeners freedom from physical media such as cassettes and CD- ROMs which required transportation through the mail, allowing instead instant download access from online libraries of unlimited size, and portability using comparatively small and lightweight devices. Audible. com was the first to establish a website, in 1. Another innovation was the creation of Libri.
Vox in 2. 00. 5 by Montreal- based writer Hugh Mc. Guirewho posed the question on his blog: "Can the net harness a bunch of volunteers to help bring books in the public domain to life through podcasting?" Thus began the creation of free audiobooks by volunteer narrators. By the end of 2. 01. Libri. Vox had a catalogue of over 6,2. The transition from cassette, to CD, to digital download has been documented by Audio Publishers Association in annual surveys (the earlier transition from record to cassette is described in the section on the 1.
The final year that cassettes represented greater than 5. Cassettes were replaced by CDs as the dominant medium during 2. CDs reached a peak of 7.