The Pleasures of Someone Reading Aloud to You

I get that. But I do exactly the same thing when we watch TV. I even talk to her about what she's seeing on TV, so there is interaction.

The primary difference between the two events is that the book is a physical object which we can interact with.

No the primary difference is attention. When watching TV a vast majority of your attention is on the TV and the same with hers.

The one thing i would change about my life is that I would throw the TV away.

I can't recommend Audible.com highly enough. My only caveat is that they have a rock solid DRM so make sure they support your MP3 listening device before signing up.

Then do it. Or, rather just turn it off.

I never/haven't made a conscious/active effort to cut out TV, it just happened naturally.
Funny thing is, I lost 99% of my interest right after we bought a flat screen, that unobstrusively fixed to the wall. Maybe it's because I no longer had to look at this hulking box that stuck out ok like a sore thumb in my ancient Roman whorehouse decor.

Everytime I create a family for the Sims 2 video game, their virtual household never has a television in it! They live the life so vanguard!

I get all my audiobooks from the library and although the ones in .mp3 format are ok, the .wma ones have DRM. I don't get it, since they allow you to burn to CD and transfer to 'device'. My eReader doesn't support .wma, but the others are ok.

Anyway...I agree with you, the narrator is key.

During my last job, I used to listen to Sense and Sensibility's audiobook version after returning from work. I would be tired, and lie down with the earphones plugged into my ears.

Why do you think I could not even progress beyond the first few chapters? That's easy. I used to fall asleep every time.

I recently finished listening to a short book with the narrator an Englishwoman with such a lovely voice. I so looked forward to hearing it each day and was sorry when the book ended.

the most contentious narrator debates i've come across surround the Harry Potter series, there are US and UK versions of the books, the US versions are read by Jim Dale, a very good narrator and quite well liked, the UK versions are read by Stephen Fry, a great actor with a wonderful voice

i've listened to both sets, Dale is good, but come on, the books are about british children at a british based educational institution, Fry wins hands down for me

Up until now I haven't paid much attention to the names of the narrators on audio books (I just started collecting them). But, who wouldn't rather listen to Stephen Fry??? Very cool!

So the formats are as follows:
cassette tapes;
CD's;
MP3 files;
others?

What is everyone's preferred file/medium format?

I only use the CD format when at work. I prefer MP3's so I can listen basically anywhere.

i had a few cassette books early on (hitchhikers guide radio dramas, and an audio anthology put together by nick hornby), but everything else is digital

i also like reading aloud, i've been known to regale co-workers with a line or two from something i'm reading (usually much to their chagrin)

I remember my first book on tape: Shadow of a Doubt, the murder mystery . If my memory serves me well, it was a recorded radio drama. I received it from a dumpster diving (the dumpster behind a department store in Quincy, MA where the employees would throw away new items to possibly steal later on) relative back in the early 1980's.

Favorite is .mp3. Any other format I have to convert if I want to transfer it to the eReader.

I see audio books & reading actual books as two entirely different experiences, tsar.
And I really enjoy both, for different reasons.

I read the books I read based on favourite authors, or reviews of books which have engaged my interest.

Audio books, on the other hand, are pretty much a hit or miss experience. I rely on my local libraries for them these days. They have become a too expensive a proposition to purchase on CD anymore. Besides, how many listenings is one audio book likely to receive? I don't see much point in accumulating anymore than I already own.

Unfortunately the selection at my local libraries doesn't reflect my reading preferences all that much. A lot of crime & thriller genres, which aren't really my first preference.

However, I've persisted anyway & have had some surprisingly pleasurable audio book experiences, from authors I've not come across before.

Recently I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man. I suspect I enjoyed it because of the terrific reading of the narrator. And might not have enjoyed reading the book nearly as much.

Most recently I have begun listening to a book that I've never heard of, by an author who I'm not familiar with: Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. The reader, Bianca Amoto (I just checked) does a wonderful job of of bringing the story to life.

Would I have chosen this, or The Third Man, as reading material?
Probably not.
But both have been wonderful listening experiences.

My audio listening experiences occur at last point of my day. When I hop into bed & turn off the lights. It's a pretty good way to end each day.

I experience the two mediums in similar fashion. Audiobooks are more sophisticated, sometimes given a partial musical score to underline the mood of the piece.

The CD's I get from the library (never bought an audiobook CD set) tend to be books I usually don't think about reading in book form or probably won't consider buying via MP3 format. History books and mysteries, etc.... Though now that I finished Alan Furst's WWII spy thriller, The Foreign Correspondent, I might buy more from Audible in order to get some of the author's works not available at the library and to compensate the author and the narrator for their great work.

MP3 audiobooks (generally a flat rate of $14) tend to be $20 or more dollars cheaper then the CD sets.

Do you recognize any of the narrators MSOlga and choose the audiobooks sometimes because you know the reader can pull off reading the book with a certain style?

No, because to tell the truth, I have not thought too much about the importance of the narrators until recently.
I'd generally concentrated on what they were presenting, sadly not on their narrating skills as well.
But now I see that they are very important indeed.
An unacknowledged & uncelebrated skill, you agree?

I love your library! I was browsing your digital media section the other night thinking NY might be one of those states that offers out-of-state memberships, but alas, they don't. Still, you have an awesome selection -- much better than our fledgling one. Google books has a great and fast feature to find audio books (any form book, really) at public libraries across the country. You just plug in a zip and voila! They found one I'd been searching for in a New Hampshire library the other night lol. This website is good for finding libraries that offer out-of-state memberships.

I'm not crazy about the CD audio books, but I continue to check them out because I found that Windows Media Center will rip the files to the computer via their Library. I found this neat little program that will merge them in a jiffy and then I can listen to them on another device -- iPod or eReader. I like having all my reading materials stored together so that I only have one device to grab on my way out the door.