Kia ora everyone. As always I’m looking forward to the next time we get together for another episode of Mosen At Large.
Among other things, This week we’re going to be talking a lot about audiobooks. Understandably, many blind people love them and consume a lot of them. Will you share your audiobook wisdom with us?
What, for you, are the qualities that distinguish a great audiobook narrator from a mediocre one. Have you ever given up on a book you were really looking forward to because the narration was just too intolerable for you to continue? And if so, what did you do? Did you abandon the book altogether or did you use another method, like text-to-speech?
Bonnie is of the view that as audiobooks have become available commercially, some of them have turned more from readings of the books to dramatic performances. Do you agree? Are you in favour of the multiple narrator trend that has increasingly become a thing?
Is there anyone else like me out there who generally prefers reading with Braille or TTS to audiobooks? If so, what would make you listen to an audiobook over TTS? For me, I always choose the audiobook when the narrator reads their own work.
Who is your favourite audiobook narrator and why?
And I have a treat for you. This week, we’ll be talking about Libro.fm. This is a website that offers over 150,000 audiobooks for purchase as you go or through a credit system. Think it sounds like Audible? Well it differs in two exciting ways. First, the books are in good old MP3, meaning they aren’t copy protected in any way. You can keep them on your hard drive and transfer them to any device or app you like, as well as using their own Libro app. Second, by buying through Libro.fm, you can support your local bookstore. It’s a pretty cool site and I’m looking forward to talking to one of its creators as well as an accessibility advisor who has been working to ensure we can use the site well.
Plus, I have a giveaway and a sweet deal thanks to Libro.fm to help you read more.
More old technology memories are coming into the show and I look forward to sharing those with you.
QR codes seem to be taking off around the place, but if you don’t know precisely where they are, they can be really problematic. Is this a problem for you?
We’ll also be talking CAPTCHA, learning Braille in your 50s, the new Envision smart glasses and more. Plus I recently sat down for a great interview with Steven Scott of Double-tap Canada about the Apple public beta petition and why it’s so important that we state very clearly that blind people are members of the public too. We’ll run that interview this week.
You are very welcome, and in fact encouraged, to get contributions in ahead of time. Please don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you. To contribute, send an email with an audio attachment or just written down to Jonathan at MushroomFM.com, or call the listener line, +18646066736, that’s 1-864-60Mosen.
The best way to hear Mosen At Large is when it airs live and in full on Mushroom FM at 2 PM Eastern, 7 PM UK on Saturday. It will then be available in abridged form on the Mosen At Large podcast, available anywhere you get podcasts.
Thank you so much for listening and contributing to the show, and see you soon for Mosen At Large.