I was listening to an audio-book and the voice was: unemotional, bland, generic. I cold not figure out why I was not enjoying the story even though the description of the story was interesting. At that time I was part of a Facebook group that talked about audio-books, the topics was the importance of who was reading the book. Many of the individuals in the group had their favorite ‘readers’.
It was an interesting discussion that was foreign to me because I was not aware of the nuances associated with audio-books.But I had memberships to audio-book distributors that allowed for one “free” book a month.
When I looked up the credits on Audible I learned the book was narrated by: Virtual Voice a.k.a. AI. Yes, it was a FREE book.
I enjoy listening to various leaders of Faith on YouTube, Voddie Baucham (1969-2025) is one of those individuals. Since his death there have been quite an abundance of videos produced more than what he released when he was alive. As I was listening to one of his videos a few words were mispronounced, I know that depending on where a person lives such words as Tomato and potato may be pronounced slightly different this was not the issue. It became clear to me that this was a computer generated copy of Dr. Baucham’s voice. I rather read his books!
In that Facebook group an individual who is an author stated that he was going to use the virtual voice to facilitate the creation of an audio-book. He explained that it was less costly to use Ai than to use a person. There are quite a few factors that go into the cost of producing a print book: printing cost, sellers cost, marketing and of course what the author wants to earn. The cost of a human voice must be calculated in the cost of an audio-book, which may be why some audio-books cost almost as much as the print version.
I do listen to some computerized voices, particularly murder mysteries on YouTube. There seem to be the right emphasis and pauses as well as proper word pronunciations that allow for a pleasant listen. If, however, it is a choice between paying $15.95 for a print or $13.95 for an audio I will buy the print.
It takes me just as long to listen as it does to read because of my schedule. The difference is I can embroider, sew, or wash dishes while listening to an audio-book but I have to sit and read for a print book. I have been known to listen to the free audio-book and purchase the print because I want a hand-holdable copy.
The bottom line, it is a personal choice, just be aware of who or what is telling you the story.
Written by Marsha L Floyd
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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