I’ve been told that listening to an audio book is not reading. Why not? You are getting the same information, you are just not holding a book in your hands. I “read” all the Harry Potter Boxset Books 1-7 by listening to them on my ipod. I’m currently listening to Shogun on my ipod. I find that when you have a 5 (almost 6 month old) you have to read whenever you find time, and sitting down in a quiet corner of the house, just doesn’t happen anymore.
So, instead of giving up on reading I have made the act of reading change to be more convenient for me. As I said, I listen to audio books on an ipod and recently when I upgraded my iPod to an Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation), I downloaded Stanza and have been reading Gulliver’s Travels (Penguin Classics) on it in ebook format, a very similar experience to reading on a Kindle 2, however the screen on my ipod is much smaller. For those interested the Kindle software is actually avialable to use on an iPod Touch (Kindle for iPod Touch). Is listening to an audio book reading? Is reading an ebook on a kindle or other device reading? Please post your thoughts in the comments.
Image Credit: nydiscovery.
I’m not a reader. Thank God my two oldest kids are – they take after their mother, who has three books going at any given time. I do, however, listen to audio books. I love them, and make me feel connected to the readers in my household. I usually only have time for them during my commute, but it’s great to be able to rewind and hear sections over again that may have slipped past due to those pesky red lights and cross traffic. So yes, in my book (sorry), listening to audio books IS reading.