Saw on social media from an audiobook performer that some of them get testy when they find out that listeners adjust the reading rate. The reason being that they are performing the book that way for a purpose and you will miss some of their intonation and inflection if the audio is sped up.
Personally, I find most performers talk way too slow and I almost always have to turn it up more than x1. I care more about the story than the way it's being performed. Anyone else? Am I missing out?
by sufficiently_tortuga
5 Comments
I’m not sure why the people who read audiobooks are suddenly performers with opinions about how the product needs to be consumed. Just listen how you like. It’s a tool to read more easily and more often, treat it like the tool it is.
I personally have an opinion about people who speed read literature in general. But in the end you’re the one who consumes a product for your own reasons and you’re the one who decides how you benefit the most from a book or audiobook.
I think there are some books and audiobooks where you want to really take your time and take in every single word, enjoying the prose as you go. Then there are some where you’re just in it for the story and you’re happy to ingest it as quickly as possible. Nothing wrong with either one, it just depends.
I play it at x1.0, I like it when someone is telling me a story. If I want to get through the story faster, I read it myself.
I only listen on 1x speed if it’s a full on production like the Polish Witcher audiobooks (they literally sound like you’re watching a movie without the visuals. Best audiobook experience I’ve ever had!). Otherwise I listen on at least 1.5x because most narrators are painfully slow 😅
I usually speed it up a touch. 1.05x or 1.10x.
I’ll go higher than that if I find the voice still too slow. Sometimes the narration is painfully slow. The book I’m reading now is very slow, in content and in narration, and I’ve sped it up to 1.15x. I could do 1.2 and it would still sound natural.
I don’t think listing at 1.5 or 2 is a good thing to do. Even if it’s tolerable, I think the point of reading is to enjoy the book, not speed through it. It’s supposed to be a hobby, not a chore.
Audiobook narrators should listen to some audiobooks to understand that sometimes it’s necessary to speed it up a bit. As an audiobook consumer, I love having the option to change the speed. I don’t think that was an option back in the books on cassette tape days!