If you’re a busy parent and/or professional like me, you embrace every moment of downtime you are fortunate to get. For me lately, my personal quiet time has been occupied with immersing myself in a book or two. With today’s technology, book reading has never been more accessible or convenient.
Not more than a decade ago, most of my precious downtime would be spent getting the content to enjoy – driving to the bookstore, waiting in line, or even waiting for a Book or Book-On-Tape/CD to be restocked. Now I get both Books and Audiobooks instantly delivered to me digitally, they typically cost far less than the paper or CD counterparts, fewer trees die and less plastic enters the world.
Tablets, Smartphones, and Wireless Networking combined have set the foundation for a Book Lovers Paradise – but in between Books and Audiobooks, I’ve observed this to be a Paradise divided… Until recently.
Die-Hard Book Readers dismiss Audiobooks as not real reading, and Audiobook lovers dismiss Die-Hard Book Readers’ dismissals – because they’ve discovered the value of books being read to them. I count myself as one in between the divide. I love to read books. I prefer to read. But, as a busy parent and professional I find reading, like all things now, to be an event. Time and focus is required to read – and with kids or a busy schedule, time and focus for such activity may often come in short supply.
Audiobooks have been a fantastic solution enabling me to keep up with “reading” without having to necessarily put everything else on hold in order to do so.
Amazon.com, a household name synonymous with books, has a user-friendly and highly accessible process of delivering eBooks onto their Kindle reading devices and the free Kindle App for iOS/Android Tablets and Smartphones. Virtually every eBook title can be found and easily purchased, downloaded and ready to enjoy. Audible.com, Amazon’s Audiobook store gives this same accessibility and user experience for its Audiobooks.
Whispersync for Voice is Amazon’s service of synchronizing the two Book Types when purchased through these stores. Now when I purchase an eBook, and get the Audiobook version as well, they keep in sync with one another. The Audiobook picks up reading from the pages I left off in the eBook. It’s a seamless experience that has been nothing short of life changing in the realm of my book reading. I read the classic way when permitting, and when life happens (e.g., chores, shopping, and long commutes), I can continue to enjoy the story until I find a time and place to resume reading it.
Amazon now offers a “Kindle Unlimited” Access Program to hundreds of thousands of book titles for only $9.99 per month which even comes with a 3 month free membership to Audible.com so you can discover for yourself the magic of Whispersync for Voice.
Amazon and Audible have managed to put eBooks and Audiobooks together in a way that creates an experience that both compliments the two formats and truly gives story-lovers the best of both worlds. It’s like a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich… For reading… Minus the Carbs.
An assortment of Kindle Reading Devices can be found at Amazon.com.
The Kindle Reading App and Audible Listening App are Free and available in the iOS App Store, Google Play Store, Windows Store, and the Amazon AppStore For Android.