Where do listeners listen?

johng · Post by **johng** » April 24th, 2007, 12:30 pm

I've had several people email me, directly, with nice words about some of my work. A couple of them said they like to listen while driving on long trips.
One of them said:

"With audio books, like those you read, spending long-hours with mice isn’t boring anymore!"

(I deleted his name)
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience
National Institute of Mental Health
Bethesda, MD
+++++++++++++++
does anyone have any interesting/funny locations to share???

ceastman · Post by **ceastman** » April 24th, 2007, 2:07 pm

My husband and I like to listen to audiobooks in the car. Even if it's only 10-15 minutes, it's still nice.

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » April 24th, 2007, 2:10 pm

ceastman wrote:My husband and I like to listen to audiobooks in the car. Even if it's only 10-15 minutes, it's still nice.

Its the car for me too. I asked for and got a CD player for it Christmas before last but I didn't know about Cd players that play mp3 disks then so I spend alot of money on burning audio cd's. As you (Johng) know my mom gets the cd's after me and then they go to the blind society.

Esther

CarlManchester · Post by **CarlManchester** » April 24th, 2007, 3:43 pm

On public transport. I'm a little bit of an environmentalist when I can be bothered, but I promise no lectures. (I have no kids, which I think makes not having a car a lot easier.)

I'm in awe of dead-tree public transport readers, though, who manage to fit in five minutes of a novel leaning against a train door or crouched in whatver tiny space they can find, often with their head at an angle so as to be looking at the book instead of someone's armpit. They are wonders of nature.

TBOL3 · Post by **TBOL3** » April 24th, 2007, 4:16 pm

I listen to them while waiting for the bus, however, since it's 6:30 AM, the moment I sit down, I see the back of my eyelids, and I discover, that I don't remember a word of the book!

anna · Post by **anna** » April 25th, 2007, 12:58 am

When I have to go to the dentist, I always take my mp3 player with me.
Last time I've listened to Prisoner of Zenda.

Zenobia · Post by **Zenobia** » April 25th, 2007, 6:00 am

I listen on my way to (on the bus) and from (walking) work. It takes me about 1 hour to walk home and that's me-time. I also listen while having my morning coffee.

BTW, I used to live across the lawn from NIMH in Bethesda while I was an au-pair.

pete_darby · Post by **pete_darby** » April 25th, 2007, 6:25 am

during the routine parts of work, I can listen while working... but if I have ot read anything... zonk, verbal processing overridden

ZachBG · Post by **ZachBG** » April 25th, 2007, 8:37 am

I'm sorry to say I rarely listen to audiobooks--I'm into this for the reading and the public domain activism--but when I do, it's invariably whilst doing laundry. Anything more intellectually taxing than that distracts me from the words too much.

I tried to listen to The Spy on a long car ride once, but it all went in-one-out-the-other. But who knows, maybe I wouldn't have liked it on paper, either.

GaryG48 · Post by **GaryG48** » April 25th, 2007, 10:23 am

When driving

I used to buy a new audio book every week. LibriVox has saved me, and cost the industry, at least $500 since I found you in January. Since I am not particularly interested in recent novels, this is perfect for me.

jimmowatt · Post by **jimmowatt** » April 25th, 2007, 10:26 am

I listen while I cycle in to work (and home again obviously).
It's a delightful journey and the mp3 player manages to add yet another dimension to that journey.

LeonMire · Post by **LeonMire** » April 27th, 2007, 9:46 pm

I listen to my audio books everywhere I can!, from the beginning of the morning to the end of the night. I have one earplug in my ear while I'm getting ready for work (it's hard to shave with both earplugs in).. And when I lived by myself I used to turn the CD player up loud enough so that I could listen during my shower. I listen to them during my short walk to work, and during work as well. I work at a library, and about half the time I'm by myself doing something monotonous like shelving books, so I put in the earphones then (my boss doesn't mind; the other student workers listen to music). I listen to audio books while I'm making my lunch or dinner, and while I'm eating it. I listen when I'm on the pot, and when I'm doing any kind of monotonous chore, like cleaning the dishes, doing laundry or shopping at Wal-Mart. I don't care what anybody thinks of me walking around, shut off to the rest of the world. As long as I'm alone, I'll listen while I'm in a nice restaurant. Of course, I also listen in the car, as long as it doesn't require much concentration, like when I'm navigating through an unfamiliar place, or driving in bad weather. And since I always carry my mp3 player in my pocket, I find lots of other opportunities to get listening time in. Just a couple of weeks ago, I went to the DMV, and let me tell you, waiting for an hour is a lot more bearable when you have Nietzsche with you!

Even though I use Librivox more and more nowadays, I still check out plenty of audio books from the library for the non-PD stuff. When I'm not listening, I make sure to read something like a summary from SparkNotes, a short web biography of the author, or a book review so that it doesn't "go in one ear and out the other." Plus I keep a list on my computer of all the audio books I've listened to. It's been a year and a half since I discovered audio books, and I'm up to 174. I'm a freak for learning and literature, and audio books have made it possible for them to pervade my life. I love it.

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » April 28th, 2007, 3:51 am

Total recorded time in all rss-ified works:
8374806 seconds, or
96 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, and 6 seconds.

And now you can listen round the clock for almost 97 days without repeating a chapter. Though there are several duplicate books and poems out there.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » April 28th, 2007, 9:52 am

Ah, I'm another car listener. I have an hour commute each way and I can get quite a bit of a book done every day. I'd love to be able to read actual paper books, but I fall asleep too quickly if I'm just reading for pleasure.

rachelellen · Post by **rachelellen** » April 28th, 2007, 10:17 am

I listen to audio books (almost exclusively LV ones actually) when I am doing something that occupies my eyes and/or hands but doesn't need a lot of brainpower, and isn't a social occasion -- laundry, driving, dishes, cooking, knitting, crocheting, sewing, going for a walk. For the car we have a car kit, and we listen as a family to things that interest all of us, especially on long trips.

If I'm not otherwise occupied, though, I do not actually like listening to audio books. For example, I would never just sit down to listen to a book, or turn on an audiobook for an hour or two at night. I've never liked being read to; I prefer to read to myself if I can. But if I can't, audio books are better than no books at all. And I have grown to enjoy audiobooks far, far more since discovering LV, that's for sure. I actually like the non-professional style better than commercial audiobooks; it feels downright chummy to listen to a book read to me by someone whom I know even a little bit on the forums.