Pros and Cons – Audiobooks

I recently purchased my first audiobook from Apple Books.  It was a book that I wanted to read anyway and it was on sale for $2.99.  Since that’s significantly cheaper than buying the physical book, I decided to give it a try.

Let’s talk about the pros and cons I have found while listening to my first audiobook:

Pros

• I can turn “non-readable” time into reading time.  For example, I have a long commute to work which involves driving, taking the bus, and taking the subway.  All in, it’s about 1.5 hours door to door so that’s 1.5 hours of moving around when I can’t really have a book in hand.  However, with my headphones, I can turn some of that time into reading time because of audiobooks.  I can finish just about 1 additional book every week.
• It brings the story to life in a different way.  Instead of having to imagine the feelings behind words, or interpret them myself, the narration does it for me.  Sometimes it’s nice to just listen.
• Hands free.  It’s great to not have to hold anything or turn any pages.  Any time can be reading time and I can sit/stand wherever I want.
• Happy medium.  Audiobooks are a great middle of the road between watching TV and actual reading.

Cons

• Time spent.  I can read about 100 pages per hour of a YA/New Adult level book.  Therefore, a 400 page novel takes me about 4 hours.  The same length audiobook takes approximately 8 hours to listen to if you use 1.00 times speed.  I can listen to audiobooks on 1.25 times speed but that still adds two hours on to the completion time as compared to my reading speed.
• Narration.  Not all narrators are created equal.  Some voices just aren’t as good as others at reading.  I don’t think I could listen to just anyone reading something.  It can change the entire mood of the story.  Therefore, not all books that I would read, are books that I would listen to.
• Price point.  On sale, audiobooks are a great value.  At full price, they are quite a bit more expensive than a physical or e-book.  I haven’t done enough research into Audible.com to know if their prices are better.  But, as compared to Apple Books, audiobooks are not necessarily a good price (unless there is a sale running).

Overall, I am enjoying listening to my first audiobook.  I will be doing more research into affordable options as I want to make this a regular part of my routine.