Paul: You know, I swear there used to be a service that would run your blog through text-to-speech conversion for just that purpose, but I can’t find it now.

KJToo: Nice to hear other families are enjoying HP the same way. I think it’s great. I actually think LotR works better in audio. To me it reads like it was meant to be read aloud. Sounds like we’re pretty similar in our take on audiobooks.

Scott: There definitely is a sense of “how dare you” about people enjoying the same thing in different ways. The thing that bothered me most was that folk listening to audiobooks felt embarrassed by it. Reading isn’t meant to be a workout for the eyes! Keep up the good work.

We will sweep away the non-believers in a wave of mass enjoyment. Power to the customer to choose what they want, regardless of format and schedule.

-Scott-

To me, audiobooks aren’t cheating. In fact, I find the “painting by numbers” analogy is ridiculous. If anything, a good narrator allows me to get more out of the book than I would have by reading the ink and paper version. The words are all there and they’re all making it to my brain; why should it make a difference whether I’m listening to them or reading them on the page?

Actually, there is a difference: I frequently remember more detail from audiobooks than I do from similar print novels. Go figure.

Finally, I’m sure authors like J.C. Hutchins and Scott Sigler are delighted to know that the thousands of fans who listened to novels like 7th Son and Infection (neither of which is currently available in print form) were “cheating”.