Abstract
Digitization has changed the way works within the book world are produced, distributed, and received as John B. Thompson (2012) among others has shown. This paper deals with one aspect of a larger research project on the late modern book market, where my focus primarily is on transformation of the relationship between commercial and non-commercial players. The digital audiobook or talking book is the latest step in a long history connected to the developing of different technologies to record sound. The audiobook is probably best viewed as a hybrid medium that brings together the forms of literature with audio technologies. Undoubtedly, it is even over-simplistic to talk about the audiobook in the singular, as audiobooks are available in countless variations in terms of both the actual sound technology and with regard to recording techniques and applied features such as musical intervals and search-tools. Audiobooks were first launched in Great Britain on shellac discs in 1935 by the Royal National Institute for the Blind to enable blinded veterans from the First World War to enjoy the pleasures of reading. Until the emergence of the audio cassette and the portable cassette recorder -- or, in Scandinavia, the cd and the portable disc-player -- non-commercial players took the lead in development as well as production and distribution of audiobooks. Digitization has led to increased commercial sales of audiobooks, which are now the fastest growing segment in publishing. An increasing share of audiobooks are not sold in bookstores to end-users but lent by a modern form of rental library. In Scandinavia, a rather special situation exists since a very large proportion of e-books and audiobooks is disseminated through public libraries. Strangely, while the lending of digital e-books caused a veritable war between eReolen (a common platform for lending digital e-books and audiobooks for Danish public libraries) and the large Danish publishers, the lending of digital audiobooks never created insurmountable disagreements between the parties. The aim of this paper is to understand not just how but why technology is changing the game. Recent research has covered various aspects of audiobooks, eg. Colbj�rnsen 2015, Have & Stougaard Pedersen 2016, Philips 2007, Renton 2016, Rubery 2013 and Whitten 2002. My contribution is to combine the question of remediation with how publishers perceive the commercial relations between print books, e-books and audiobooks, and users' expectations for format, price and availability.
| Translated title of the contribution | Lydbøger mellem biblioteker og marked: Hvorfor teknologien ændrer spillet |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Publication date | 9 Jun 2017 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Jun 2017 |
| Event | sharp 2017: Technologies of the Book - University of Victoria Libraries, Victoria, BC, Canada Duration: 9 Jun 2017 → 13 Jun 2017 Conference number: 25th annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing http://www.sharp2017.com/ |
Conference
| Conference | sharp 2017 |
|---|---|
| Number | 25th annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing |
| Location | University of Victoria Libraries |
| Country/Territory | Canada |
| City | Victoria, BC |
| Period | 09/06/2017 → 13/06/2017 |
| Internet address |