Text-to-speech and Audiobook

Texts are in a book. Speech is a form of audio. When we convert text to speech, we should get an audiobook, right? Not quite!! In fact, text-to-speed and audiobook are quite different.

Text-to-speech

Text-to-speech is a feature or a software which converts words into sounds. The simplest way to do this is

1. Let somebody reads and records the sound of all possible words in a dictionary.
2. When coming across a document, play the pre-recorded sound corresponding to each word in the order they appear in the document.

Try this feature (e.g., using Arobat reader, for example). You will see how horrible it is. You can listen to it, but with difficulty. You can tell right away that it's a machine reading, not human reading. Text-to-speech isn't my kind of choice.

What about Audiobooks?

If I don't like text-to-speech features, it's conceivable that I don't like audiobooks, either. Well again, not quite! Audiobooks are much different from text-to-speech. They are read by profession story-tellers. To get a picture, think back to when you were young. Do you remember when your parent red you bed-time stories. Do you remember how eager you were to lie on your bed and wait for the story. That's the feeling you get when you read audiobooks.

Audiobooks and Me


I am not a book reader. In the first 30 years of my life, I have read about 2 books for leisure. Here are 2 excuses I made when I have to read a book.

• I don't have time. Life is too busy.
• Reading is boring.

But audiobooks change everything. Last year, I read (or should I say "listen"?) more than 10 audiobooks! How's that?

Listening and Attention

First, among our five senses, I find listening requires only little attention. I can listen when I go to gym, when I walk, when I drive, and even when I bursh my teeth (I spend about 15 minutes brushing my teeth "with pleasure reading audiobooks"; weird isn't it?). So I find a lot of time during the day that I can use to listen. But most audiobooks requires quite a bit of attention. So I don't recommend audiobook listening when you are doing an activity for less than 10 minutes (e.g., a short walk). For me, I don't listen while doing nothing. Again, life is busy, right?

Audiobooks and The Gym

A lot of audiobooks are captivating. I used to feel so tired when I jog on a treadmill. I panted and wanted to stop. But when I listen to audiobooks, I just forget how exhausted I am. My mind focuses more on the story and I am more eager to get on a treadmill.


Audiobooks and Traffic


If you live in Bangkok, Thailand, you will know how bad the traffic here is. I usually get very frustrated while driving. The frustration reduces substantially, thanks to audiobooks. One day I was listening to the audiobook, Twilight saga. I think it was the last episode "breaking dawn". It was so vivid. My mind was visualizing the characters in the novel. But this time, there was no traffic. The cars moved very fast, and I got quite anxious. I did not want to arrive my destination cause I would have to stop listening.

Audible.com is my choice

You have to try it to see what I mean. The reason I started listening caz I get a free trial promotion from a show call security now. I thought I would give it a try and cancel it before I have to pay. But I got hooked! Now, I am paying $22.95 per month, again with pleasure.

My first book wasn't that impressive. But by the time I got to my third audiobook. I couldn't stop. And I subscribed for platinum membership ($22.95 per month).

Audible Subscription Plan

You can read the details at audible website. But I will give you brief description. Audible does not usually sell you audiobooks. It offers the following membership plans for their clients.

	Credit per month	Cost per month	Cost per credit
Gold membership	1	$14.95	$14.95
Platinum membership	2	$22.95	$11.475

If you go directly to audible.com, you will get a deal where you can pay only $7.49 per month for the first three months, and become a Gold Member afterward ($14.95 per month).

But what I would recommend is a 14-day free trial. Audible gives you the first audiobook for free. Just [click here]. Personally, I think this deal is much better. You get to keep the book, even if you cancel the membership. Well, Audible knows you are gonna get hooked :)

Usually I don't do advertising blog. But this is the one which fits me really well. And, I want to share it with you guys. Give it a try!!