#Tag
What #audiobook (fiction) are you currently listening to, or have you recently listened to, and would recommend? Please boost, looking for recommendations. #books #bookstodon
What #audiobook (fiction) are you currently listening to, or have you recently listened to, and would recommend? Please boost, looking for recommendations. #books #bookstodon
Libro.fm is having a sale to benefit your local bookstore
@lilithsaintcrow has over 30 books on Libro.fm
What you do with this information is up to you :)
Finished reading (listening to) Saving Time - Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell
and now starting
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Proud to be the 1,948th 😎 on #BackerKit for #Enshittification: the DRM-free #audiobook. Thanks @pluralistic - always a pleasure, will back the coming books as well, because while your blog/mast posts are great, the long form is special.
Proud to be the 1,948th 😎 on #BackerKit for #Enshittification: the DRM-free #audiobook. Thanks @pluralistic - always a pleasure, will back the coming books as well, because while your blog/mast posts are great, the long form is special.
http://disenshittification.org/
When the crowdfunding for the Enshittification audio book is over, I hope you plan to turn it into a static site full of case studies of people organising to push back and making ground.
I've been trying to ditch all my US-based services and replace them with European services but #LibroFM is just one I cannot drop. They're great.
Besides, for every DRM-free #audiobook I purchase, they give some money to my local bookstore here in Norway, @prismaticpages
So happy to announce this partnership! I've partnered with Sean Crisden to provide his backstage pass folks with audio recordings of my blog posts! This is how he's able to financially narrate these posts, so pick a slot, and subscribe! The first will be a Sensual Exploration of Chocolate, and then an introduction to my work, so check out https://seancrisden.com/pages/backstage-pass#Audible#Audio#Audiobook#Audiobook#Blog#Blogs#IndieWeb
So happy to announce this partnership! I've partnered with Sean Crisden to provide his backstage pass folks with audio recordings of my blog posts! This is how he's able to financially narrate these posts, so pick a slot, and subscribe! The first will be a Sensual Exploration of Chocolate, and then an introduction to my work, so check out https://seancrisden.com/pages/backstage-pass#Audible#Audio#Audiobook#Audiobook#Blog#Blogs#IndieWeb
That's Done: I CANCELLED AUDIBLE
I've been an #Audiobook listener for 20+ years, mostly because I'm in the car a lot and having kids kills your brain for reading at night. I had over 500 books in my #Audible library but it's time to go.
Doing business with #JeffBezos has just become too unpalatable. That and @pluralistic has taught me to reject DRM and he helped me find https://Libro.fm - I signed up for a membership and have already bought and pre-ordered 6 new books over there.
1/4
That's Done: I CANCELLED AUDIBLE
I've been an #Audiobook listener for 20+ years, mostly because I'm in the car a lot and having kids kills your brain for reading at night. I had over 500 books in my #Audible library but it's time to go.
Doing business with #JeffBezos has just become too unpalatable. That and @pluralistic has taught me to reject DRM and he helped me find https://Libro.fm - I signed up for a membership and have already bought and pre-ordered 6 new books over there.
1/4
Solche G'schichten schreibt nur das Leben, und da mir das Buch sehr gefallen hat (auf Englisch) und es #DRMfrei ist, bewerbe ich das jetzt hier mal.
Brauche eine 🤩-Variante mit Sternen als Ohren!?! #Cory_Doctorow#Hörbuch #audiobook
The Pass the Salt audiobook sample, narrated by Kevin R Free, is now up! https://weirdwritings.pinecast.co/episode/88bcf5c8/pass-the-salt-audiobook-sample#Audible#Audiobook#Audiobooks
The Pass the Salt audiobook sample, narrated by Kevin R Free, is now up! https://weirdwritings.pinecast.co/episode/88bcf5c8/pass-the-salt-audiobook-sample#Audible#Audiobook#Audiobooks
As someone that hates the whole of tech industry in general, take this for what it's worth! #AI is text to speech, just with unnaturally huge processing power behind generating these voices and generating how they will say things, etc. Virtual Voice is something Audible chose to call their particular brand of voice, probably because it would possibly be better received then calling it AI narrator or something like that. It's an absolute insult to audiobook listeners like myself. For one thing, AI narrated/virtual voice books aren't free, so there's absolutely no way I'm paying for one of these things, at all. For another, my screen reader, which is on device, is easier to listen to. It's faster. I can highlight text in an EBook. I can speed up the reading with less distortion. I can switch voices on the fly if I wanted. I can even change punctuation level anouncements if I want. With my screen reader, I am in control. With whatever Audible is doing, I have very little control at all, but that's not even the reason why I listen to audiobooks in the first place. When I listen to a book, I want to be taken on a journey and I want that human narrator to give me an experience as they read. I know, strange concept right!
It's not just about the text, although, that's a big part of it too! But I wanna sit down with a loved narrator and I want them to tell me a story for hours and hours and hours. I want them to show me how they feel about a scene by the slight intonation in their voice.
These higher powered AI voices try to be emotional, but it just comes across as really really really obvious this is TTS/AI after a while.
For a breakdown, you can read about the prices and stuff here.
https://daisy.org/news-events/articles/ai-text-to-speech-cost-comparison/
I have my favorite audiobook narrators. I even spoken to a few of them recently over Zoom and they were so overjoyed that they basically grew up with me. They were in my ears from an early age. Without them, I wouldn't care about stories and literature as deeply as I do. I told them, sincerely, thank you for bringing worlds and characters to life for me. They were so touched.
With an AI narrator, I'll never have that connection, ever. I'll just be experiencing the words and if I wanted to do that, I'd just read the eBook.
It's super frustrating because this isn't making audiobooks cheaper. It isn't making narrators get paid more. It's just a way to push out content just because authors are afraid of creative solutions such as creative commons to get their audiobooks made. Audible knows this, and are capitalizing on the fact that narrators are these expensive sacks of flesh. It's so disgusting, but corporations gonna corporation.
I've been trying to ditch all my US-based services and replace them with European services but #LibroFM is just one I cannot drop. They're great.
Besides, for every DRM-free #audiobook I purchase, they give some money to my local bookstore here in Norway, @prismaticpages
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