audiobooks
Literature you hear
Audiobooks are books read aloud and recorded for listening rather than reading.
Once distributed on cassette tapes and CDs, they now come primarily as digital files.
Audiobooks allow consuming literature while commuting, exercising, or doing chores: I listened to the audiobook on my drive to work.
Professional narrators or sometimes the authors themselves perform the readings.
Real-time digital delivery
- downloadRemote-to-local data transfer
- appMobile device software
- mp3Compressed audio encoding
- playlistArranged media collection
subscription · library · cloud · podcast · Bluetooth · Wi-Fi · Spotify · offline
One who tells events
- voiceSound from throat
- performanceCarrying out a task
- dramatizationConverting events to performance
- pacingRate of movement
intonation · cadence · inflection · characterization · expression · accents · celebrity · unabridged
Regular work travel
- multitaskingDoing several things concurrently
- headphonesWearable speakers for ears
- earbudsTiny insertable audio devices
- drivingControlling a vehicle
walking · gym · jogging · chores · bedtime · travel · hands-free · speaker
Imagined narrative work
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
- thrillersGripping suspense works
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
- fantasyImaginative mental wandering
romance · sci-fi · horror · biography · memoir · self-help · classics · comedy
Systematic development of mind
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
- self-improvementEnhancing oneself deliberately
- textbookAcademic subject manual
- instructionalIntended to educate
knowledge · lectures · courses · study · professional · skill-building · productivity · history
streaming
Real-time digital delivery
playlist · subscription · library · cloud · podcast · Bluetooth · Wi-Fi · Spotify · offline · sync
narrator
One who tells events
- voiceSound from throat
- performanceCarrying out a task
- dramatizationConverting events to performance
pacing · intonation · cadence · inflection · characterization · expression · accents · celebrity · unabridged · abridged
commute
Regular work travel
- multitaskingDoing several things concurrently
- headphonesWearable speakers for ears
- earbudsTiny insertable audio devices
driving · walking · gym · jogging · chores · bedtime · travel · hands-free · speaker · portable
fiction
Imagined narrative work
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
- thrillersGripping suspense works
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
fantasy · romance · sci-fi · horror · biography · memoir · self-help · classics · comedy · drama
education
Systematic development of mind
- nonfictionLiterature about real events
- self-improvementEnhancing oneself deliberately
- textbookAcademic subject manual
instructional · knowledge · lectures · courses · study · professional · skill-building · productivity · history · science
- audio learningpodcasts, language tapes, lectures, listening comprehension, recorded lessons
- book collectionscomplete works, box set, boxed set, collected works, volumes
- book culturereading, reader, bookworm, bibliophile, bookshelf
- book worlddystopian fiction, young adult fiction, fantasy novels, graphic novels, memoir
- car audiocar radio, car stereo, head unit, stereo, infotainment
- contemporary storytellingpodcasts, streaming series, graphic novels, video games, fan fiction
audiobooksprinted books
Published physical reading material
paper books · hardcovers · paperbacks · e-books · codex