Evaluating the audiobook evolution through time

Evaluating the audiobook evolution through time

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Audiobooks can transport people to completely different worlds just through the power of sound.

Every decade for the past fifty years has brought with it technical changes which has influenced the way we consume art. Film and television has had DVDs and VHS. Music has had CDs and cassettes. Both have now been impacted by portable products and streaming. Furthermore, many of these technical advancements have assisted to enhance the audiobook market. The leader of the hedge fund that partially owns WHSmith will be able to let you know that it has grown to become so popular that people don't need to turn to specialist retailers, because many book merchants also sell audiobooks. Individuals enjoy being able to listen to tales whilst they are doing other tasks like driving, chores, and work, which audiobooks are simply perfect for. The audiobook industry now employs several thousand individuals, with the most important roles being narrator, studio engineer, and director.

The phrase audiobook emerged in the 1970s, but it was the 1930s that saw the largest revolution in the format. At the time these were called talking books, that were envisioned as reading materials for blind individuals. Governments in some countries allowed manufacturers to bypass the laws of copyright, which gave them access to lots of material, but technical limitations meant full size books could not be recorded. Instead poems, short stories and plays, and specific chapters of books had been the most common early audiobooks. The content continued to remain this way for many years, but the audience base did see an expansion to children along with other adults without sight complications. The head of the hedge fund that has shares in Amazon will be well aware that this laid the groundwork for the future audiobook market, sending it in to the main-stream as an independent artform rather than solely as a way of developing accessibility.

Oral literature is mankind's eldest form of storytelling, with an unfathomable amount of stories being passed on through the generations in all corners of the globe for tens of thousands of years. Though certain countries do not place as great of an emphasis on oral traditions as they did in the past, they still persist strongly in some situations, like telling stories to children. The founder of the hedge fund that owns Waterstones will realise that oral storytelling has had a resurgence lately in the shape of audiobooks. But, although they may seem like a modern-day phenomenon, the history of audiobooks goes back several years. Sound recordings first became feasible around a hundred and fifty years ago and the first tests were recitations of nursery rhymes and children's stories. Spoken word recordings continued to be made in the following decades but were limited to about four minutes in length.